Natural State News

"Minari" may have won a Golden Globe Award, but the film's connection to Arkansas are based on a true story about Korean immigrants working toward building their own American dream of growing produce on the farm. 

Lee Isaac Chung, director and writer for "Minari," said the movie is based, at least in-part, on his own childhood. It even addresses some of things he faced growing up in the South, including questions about why he looked different. It's a scene that played out in the movie when the Yi's son David meets a new friend at church.

"For us, church was kinda the way that we found our first entry into community in Arkansas," Chung told NPR's Alisa Chang on All Things Considered. "My parents would drop us off at the First Baptist Church of Lincoln so that we would make friends and we would learn English and a lot of friendships might start in that way where there were some focus on the differences between us and them."

Chung said although those initial talks ultimately lead to good friendships, he thinks that particular scene could add "another layer" to the conversation about racism in America. 

Chung's father still works on the Arkansas farm he grew up on. He even recently told Chung someone used a telephoto lens to snap his picture while cutting the grass.