Cha Jung Hee Ulsan and Deann Borshay Liem. Photo by Bonhae Ku
In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee had its world premiere in March, 2010, at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, where it won the Comcast Audience Award for Best Documentary. The film also screened to a sold-out audience at San Francisco's Clay Theater; additional screenings in Berkeley and San Jose followed. The film then went on to screen at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, where it won two awards: Special Jury Award, Best Director, and Special Jury Award, Best Editing.
The film is now on the festival circuit. Sites of recent screenings have included the Provincetown International Film Festival and the New York Asian American International Film Festival. Upcoming screening locales include the Rhode Island International Film Festival, the Dallas Asian Film Festival, the Transracial Film Festival and the San Diego Asian American Film Festival.
The film also screened at the Society for Adoption Studies conference and the Secret Histories/Public Policies conference at MIT. A special screening with Minnesota Korean adoptees, hosted by AK Connection, occurred in Minneapolis.
Response to the film has been warm and overwhelmingly positive. Among adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents in particular, the film generates vigorous discussions about identity, belonging, family and the history and practice of adoption. I have not yet had the opportunity to screen the film in Korea, but hope that the film generates similar passions among audiences there.
— Deann Borshay Liem
July 2010