Written by HyunCheon Kim / Translated by JaeMin Woo

“Divided Families” film project, created by 2nd generation Korean Americans in the Boston area, is struggling to be completed due to the lack of funding.
The two directors, Jason Ahn and Eugene Chung, aim to raise $20,000 through www.kickstarter.c-om and other online sites.
Jason Ahn, a director of the film, said, “It is extremely important to educate the history to young Korean Americans. It will teach them to appreciate the opportunities that are given from sacrifices of our ancestors and allow them to step closer to a successful future. This is the essential goal of making this film.”

Jason Ahn (29) devoted his time to creating this film while working as an emergency medicine resident at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.

He added that he will present a 30-minutes-long promotional clip at Wellesley College with his co-director Eugene Chung to introduce the painful history of Korean division.

They successfully raised a significant amount of awareness by presenting the clip at the U.S. Senate last year. Also, they are promoting the clip at various universities like Harvard Kennedy School of Government and MIT to spread the troubled history of Korea.

They plan on participating at film festivals and airing through TV broadcasting stations, as soon as they finish editing 60 hours worth of films and other video resources to complete the 2-hours-long documentary.

His grandmother lefted Hoiryu-ng, a North Korean town, when she married a man in Seoul, South Korea very before the Korean War. Since she was separated from her family, she has not seen her family again due to war. “I didn’t know that she was a divided family member until I was in college. When I realized, she had already passed away. This family history got me into learning about Korean divided families in the U.S.”

Jason visited Korea as a Fulbright scholar from UC Berkeley in 2007 and planned on creating a documentary to spread information about the issue of divided families. The project began in 2008 along with his fellow Fulbright scholars and has progressed ever since, with the help of co-director Eugene Chung, another descendant of a divided family.

Jason emphasized the lack of funding by saying, “as a medical student, I did not have enough time. However, our biggest problem now is funding.” Also, he expressed the need for full-scale editing and added, “We realized that we can’t do this by ourselves. We need professionals.”

So far, they have found and interviewed 21 divided family members and several historians to explain the background information. Hein Seok, who previously made a tremendous effort in passing a resolution recognizing the pain and suffering of the Comfort Women, took charge of the interviews.

Jason stated, “We do not have much time left. They are mostly senior citizens. If they are gone, we will lose the people who have directly experienced the pain and sorrow of Korean separation and family division. If this happens, I believe Korean unification will be more difficult.” Jason also expressed the urgent need for a reunion program hosted by the U.S. and North Korea while the family members are still alive, and wished to help through his documentary.
To support and help fund the project, visit www.kickstarter.com.

hckim@bostonkorea.com

ⓒ 보스톤코리아(http://www.bostonkorea.com), 무단전재 및 재배포 금지