NAKASEC and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Present: Tiger Spirit, an unforgettable portrait of Korea at the crossroads
Join us this Friday, May 1, at 7:00 PM for a special screening of “Tiger Spirit” by award-winning filmmaker, Min Sook Lee.
FRI, MAY 01 - 07:00 PM | Directors Guild of America located at 7920 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood.
Tiger Spirit
Korea is a divided nation. The psychic scar shared by millions of people separated from their families during the Korean War in the 1950s is symbolized by the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides communist North from capitalist South. Here, along this infamous border, award-winning filmmaker Min Sook Lee sets out on a revelatory, emotion-charged journey into Korea's broken heart, exploring the rhetoric and realism of reunification through the extraordinary stories of ordinary people. TIGER SPIRIT begins in the Korean foothills, where the filmmaker joins former TV videographer Lim Sun Nam in his obsessive quest to prove that tigers still live in the DMZ's swath of wilderness. A powerful symbol of resilience in Korean mythology, the tiger once roamed the peninsula but is thought extinct in the region. Lim believes finding the tiger will reconnect Koreans to their spirit and fuel the reunification train. But a tiger's stripes extend beyond its fur. Inspired by her desire to understand the country she left as a child when her family moved to Canada, Lee takes us deeper than symbols, asking the crucial question-- how will the two Koreas be put back together? We meet stoic elderly Koreans holding out for news of long lost relatives in the North. We encounter the fractured lives of younger defectors, including a woman who relives her harrowing escape story every day working as a tour guide at a war memorial site. Crossing the DMZ into North Korea, we visit an inter-Korean economic project in Kaesong, the ancient capital. We also gain unprecedented access to state-sanctioned family reunions held at a high security 'resort,' where we witness the Kim family's heart-wrenching meeting with a relative they haven't seen for 50 years. An eloquent tale of longing and hope, TIGER SPIRIT is an unforgettable portrait of Korea at a crossroads.
Min Sook Lee
Born in Korea, Min Sook Lee came to Canada as a child and grew up to become a writer and award-winning documentary director/producer. With a focus on social justice issues, her work includes BORDERLESS (2006), a docu-poem about the lives of undocumented workers in Canada. Her 2005 HOGTOWN: THE POLITICS OF POLICING was awarded Best Feature-length Canadian Documentary at the 2005 Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival. Min Sook Lee’s first feature, EL CONTRATO, was a 2005 Gemini nominee for the Donald Britain Social/Political Award. In 2005, Min Sook was presented the Cesar E. Chavez Black Eagle Award for her contribution to building awareness of migrant workers’ rights in Canada.
Tickets
General Admission: $12
Students: $10
Seniors: $10
Purchase tickets at http://www.vconline.org/festival/program.cfm?program_id=2
The 25th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival will take place during Asian Pacific Heritage Month from April 30th- May 7th at the Directors Guild of America, Laemmle’s Sunset 5, Aratani/Japan America Theatre, National Center for the Preservation of Democracy and Downtown Independent. To purchase tickets or for more information, please visit http://www.vconline.org/festival/promote.cfm