Koryo Saram—The Unreliable People
credits:
Directors: Y. David Chung, Matt DibbleProducer: Y. David Chung
Writers: Japhet Asher, Matt Dibble, Y. David Chung
World Premiere
USA 2007 | 57 mins | DigiBeta | Kazakh, Korean, Russian w/E.S.
IN PERSON (at select screenings): Y. David Chung, Matt Dibble
In 1937, Josef Stalin began a campaign of massive ethnic cleansing, forcibly deporting everyone of Korean origin in Far East Russia to the unsettled steppe country of Central Asia, 3700 miles away. Y. David Chung and Matt Dibble’s groundbreaking documentary charts the extraordinary untold history of the Koryo Saram (the Soviet Korean phrase for Korean person), dubbed “The Unreliable People” by Stalin. Through never-before-seen historical footage and emotional personal accounts from the original Koryo Saram, a lost history is pieced together, one that survived Stalin’s mandate to eradicate the Korean language and tradition. Whether in Kazakh, Korean or Russian, the film asks questions that all immigrants can relate to: how to hold onto one’s traditions, and how to save one’s culture from being overwhelmed.
—Lynne Connor
This film is preceeded by the following short:
Motherland
USA, Cuba, South Korea | 2006 | 40 minsDirector: Dai Sil Kim-Gibson
Pioneering filmmaker Dai Sil Kim-Gibson (SA-I-GU; SILENCE BROKEN) returns with her most personal film to date, a fascinating exploration of identity and motherland told through the lens of modern Cuban and Korean histories. Shot primarily in Havana, MOTHERLAND counterpoints the personal history of Martha, a Korean Cuban, with Kim-Gibson’s own diasporic journey from North Korea to the U.S. What results is a riveting look into deeply held ideas of socialism, capitalism and social justice, and how these larger processes shape who we are.
—Lynne Connor
