Half-Life is a 2008 independent film directed by Jennifer Phang, starring Sanoe Lake

Sanoe lake

Sànoe Lake is an American actress of Hawaiian, Japanese and English descent.-Biography:She is best known for starring in the 2002 film Blue Crush, but she also wrote a book, Surfer Girl: A Guide To The Surfing Life. Her name "Sànoe" means "Mist of the Mountains." Lake appeared in the films...

, Julia Nickson-Soul

Julia Nickson-Soul

Julia Nickson-Soul is an actress. She first came to the attention of audiences in the United States in the Sylvester Stallone film, Rambo: First Blood Part II...

, Leonardo Nam

Leonardo Nam

Leonardo Nam is an Argentine-born Australian actor of Korean descent.-Early life:Nam was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the age of 6, he moved to Sydney, Australia. Nam attended Sydney Technical High School and studied architecture at the University of New South Wales. Nam left Sydney to...

, Ben Redgrave, Lee Marks, James Eckhouse

James Eckhouse

James Hays Eckhouse is an American actor known for playing Jim Walsh on Beverly Hills, 90210 from 1990 to 1995. He also directed three episodes of the show...

, Susan Ruttan

Susan Ruttan

Susan Ruttan is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Roxanne Melman on L.A. Law . She reprised the role in 2002 for the TV reunion L.A...

 and Alexander Agate

Alexander Agate

Alexander Lee Agate is an American actor. He was born in Ventura County, California.- Filmography :- External links :...

. The film premiered in the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and has since been touring the American and international film festivals circuits. It premiered internationally in the Tokyo International Film Festival in competition, and then in Europe at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival, also in competition. "Half-Life" was the opening night film for the International Women's Film Festival in Seoul, Korea. The film will make a theatrical debut on December 1, 2009 in selected cities.

Plot

Set in the near future amidst accelerating global cataclysms, a troubled young boy, Tim Wu (Agate), and his jaded older sister, Pam (Lake) use their imaginations (depicted as surreal animated sequences) to escape their broken lives after their airplane pilot father suddenly and unexpectedly abandons them. Their mother Saura (Nickson-Soul) struggles to make ends meet and move on with her life while involved with her manipulative boyfriend, Wendell (Redgrave). Pam, who works cleaning airplanes, seeks solace in her friend Scott (Nam), who struggles to be accepted as gay by his willfully ignorant and staunchly Christian, adoptive parents (Eckhouse and Ruttan). Meanwhile, Tim's schoolteacher and Scott's lover, Jonah (Marks), attempts to reach out to Tim.

Awards

The film has won the Gen Art Acura Grand Jury Prize 2008, the Asian American International Film Festival Best Feature Film Award, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival Best Narrative Feature Award, and the Visionary Award at Calgary's Fairy Tales International. It was also nominated for the Tokyo Grand Prix at the Tokyo International Film Festival.