IKAA Gathering 2010 Film Festival
August 6-7, 2010
Friday August 6 at 9.30 am Special Screening
"A BRAND NEW LIFE"
Director: Ouenie Lecomte - Producer: Lee Chang-Dong
Location: B2 Cinceube, Heungguk Life Insurance Building
Friday, August 6:
A Brand New Life, 9:30 am at B2 Cinceube, Heungguk Life Insurance Building
Going Home, 1:30 pm at Seoul Museum of History
Made in Korea, 3:00 pm at Seoul Museum of History
Adopted, 4:30 pm at Seoul Museum of History
Saturday, August 7
The Woman, The Orphan, and the Tiger, 2:00 pmat Lotte Hotel, Emerald Room
Resilience, 3:30 pm, at Lotte Hotel, Emerald Room
Program
Going Home
Director: Jason Hoffman
USA, 2008, 73 minutes
Jason Hoffmann has always identified himself as being a true New Yorker. Having grown up in liberal Greenwich Village with Jewish parents, he was content with the American life that had been chosen for him nearly two decades earlier when he was adopted from South Korea. Jason never expected to explore his complicated and concealed family history, but as he grew into adulthood, he became increasingly more curious about his mysterious roots. In the documentary, Jason finally summons up the courage to initiate contact with his birth mother. Without confirmation that a face-to-face meeting would even be possible, Jason takes a risk and sets out on a life-changing journey halfway around the world with his Korean girlfriend, Mikyung by his side.
Made in Korea: A one-way ticket Seoul-Amsterdam?
Director: In-Soo Radstake
The Netherlands, 2006, 73 minutes
Adopted from Korea as a baby by a Dutch couple, In-Soo Radstake is now searching for his true identity. His search takes him to seek out the other adoptees that came with him on the same flight to Holland, and he visits the orphanage in Seoul where he once lived. In the beginning of the documentary, In-Soo focuses on his fellow adoptees, but as his search progresses, his story gets more personal, and he strives to find his biological mother.
Adopted
Director: Barb Lee
USA, 2008, 80 minutes
Adopted reveals the grit rather than the glamour of transracial adoption. First-time director Barb Lee goes deep into the intimate lives of two well-meaning families and shows us the subtle challenges they face. One family is just beginning the process of adopting a baby from China and is filled with hope and possibility. The other family’s adopted Korean daughter is now 32 years old. Prompted by her adoptive mother’s terminal illness, she tries to create the bond they never had. The results are riveting, unpredictable and telling. While the two families are at opposite ends of the journey, their stories converge to show us that love isn’t always enough.
The Woman, The Orphan, and The Tiger
Director: Jane Jin Kaisen
Denmark, 2010, 75 minutes
The Woman, The Orphan, and The Tiger is the third film in a trilogy of narrative experimental films dealing with international adoption and the ideological, geopolitical, historical, and psychological effects of that process. This film looks at the legacy of international adoption from a feminist perspective and within a transgenerational and transnational scope. It explores the ways in which trauma is passed on from previous generations to the present through a sense of being haunted and points to the politics involved in search. The film attempts to situate international adoption within a longer history of military and patriarchal violence against women and children in the aftermath of Japanese colonialism, the Cold War, and the emergence of U.S. imperialism. The film further explores how bio-political violence onto women’s and children’s bodies became central in geopolitical negotiations between South Korea, the United States, and Japan, and how this part of world history has been systematically silenced, but reverberates in the present moment.
Resilience
Director: Tammy Chu
Korea, 2009, 75 minutes
A story of loss and separation, Resilience is a character-driven documentary that takes a unique look at international adoption from the perspective of a Korean birth mother and her American son. A single story among thousands of stories untold, the film follows the remarkable journey of Myungja as she reconnects with her son Brent (Sungwook) after 30 years apart. Through their initial reunion on national television to subsequent meetings and departures, they attempt to build a relationship amidst family betrayal and the legacy of adoption. But with so many obstacles–language, culture, distance, and unspoken loss–can two strangers find a way to become mother and son?
Q&A with Resilience director, Tammy Chu after the screening.
