Trailer for the documentary AKA Dan.
“Is anybody out there?” So wonders rapper Dan Matthews on his latest album, though it could be the question of his life thus far. Born in Korea and adopted by a white family in Los Angeles, Dan sought an answer last year and found his biological parents. The search yielded not just anybody, but a twin brother he never knew existed and a community of fellow adoptees whisked across continents by the fateful whims of globalization.
AKA Dan follows the SDSU and SDAFF alum on his Seoul trip, less a homecoming than an initiation by booze, laughs, and camaraderie. Asian American cinema has no shortage of adoption documentaries, but AKA Dan proves unique in its depiction of discovery timed to a pop beat, with the pep of a scavenger hunt and the wide-eyed wonder of a travelogue.