Coming to POV on September 14: IN THE MATTER OF CHA JUNG HEE
Deann Borshay Liem premiered her sophomore film at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival ten years after her first documentary, FIRST PERSON PLURAL, debuted at Sundance. Like the latter film, which addressed Korean-born Borshay Liem’s adoption by an American family, her new project deals with the ghosts of her past.
When Borshay Liem came to the US, she was identified as Cha Jung Hee – but that wasn’t really her Korean name. While she played along, she’s always wondered why she had to assume a different identity and what happened to the real Cha Jung Hee. This film details her illuminating search, and emerges as an intriguing, involving, multi-layered story. While some personal films can easily slip off the edge into self-indulgence, that’s thankfully not the case here. Yes, this is very much the filmmaker’s story, but, at the same time, it will certainly resonate with other cross-cultural adoptees, as well as with anyone who likes a good mystery.
Jennifer Merin at About.com reviews the film here.
To find out more about the POV screening on PBS, click here.
what (not) to doc 