I had the privilege of watching the film In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival last month. Deann Borshay Liem produced and directed the film and it's sort of a follow up to her first film, First Person Plural, which is a documentary film about her experience as an international adoptee.
The auditorium of the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley was packed for this world premiere. The audience was very diverse and a group of Korean American adoptees were there as well, as an organized event by AKASF.
The film captured the fascinating story of Deann as she traveled to Korea to find the real Cha Jung Hee. When she was adopted, she was told that her name was Cha Jung Hee and to not tell her adoptive parents her real name, Kim Ok Jin. Deann found out when she became an adult, that she was not Cha Jung Hee and that her identity was switched at the time of adoption, because the real Cha Jung Hee was no longer at the orphanage. Deann's adoptive parents had been sponsoring Cha Jung Hee and wanted to adopt her but instead of telling them that Cha Jung Hee was no longer at the orphanage and therefore un-adoptable, the social worker and other administrators decided to give Cha Jung Hee's identity to Deann and get her adopted instead. In the interview, the social worker said that she thought she was helping Deann to have a better life in America
After the film, I joined AKASF for a dinner reception with Deann at Ohgane Restaurant. (Ohgane graciously donated the food for the dinner.)
I kind of felt like an impostor, not being an adoptee myself... but everyone was very welcoming. I sat with a Caucasian couple who had adopted a Korean baby many years ago, and a Korean adoptee who worked as a life coach and was thinking about going back to Korea short term to learn Korean. I was very impressed with the Caucasian couple, as they were obviously very active and well informed parents who even started a group and newsletter to help other parents. The mom even learned Korean and became close friends with Koreans in her neighborhood so that she could learn about the culture and make sure that her son had people around him who were Korean and "looked like him." She went up to the lady at her local dry cleaning store and asked if she could be her friend!
The film was great and I highly recommend it to anyone interested. I think the DVD will be available soon... at least that's what was announced at the film festival.
- Mary
