HAWAI’I KOREAN ADOPTEES HOST FILM FESTIVAL ON O’AHU

International Participants to Gather in Honolulu in October

Korean Adoptees of Hawai’i (KAHI), a nonprofit organization based on O’ahu, is pleased to announce the first-ever Asian Adoptee Film Festival, to be held in conjunction with the Asian Adult Adoptee Gathering in Honolulu from Oct. 10-13, 2008. Screenings of films by artists adopted from Asian countries will primarily be held at the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Academy of Arts on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008.

KAHI invites film submissions that are original works addressing the theme of adoption or the experience of being adoptees, either directed, written or produced by adult Asian adoptees. Films may be narratives, documentaries or features of any length. Multiple submissions are encouraged.

Entries should be submitted in DVD format no later than March 30, 2008, to:

Korean Adoptees of Hawai’i

ATTN: Film Festival Selection Committee

47-671 Hui Kelu Street, Unit 2

Kaneohe HI  96744-4627

USA

Entries will not be returned. For more information or for additional submission guidelines, please contact KAHI at info@KAHawaii.org, or visit www.KAHawaii.org/mini08.

The Asian Adult Adoptee Gathering and Film Festival is an event that has evolved from previous international gatherings of transnationally adopted Koreans, held since 1999 in locations including Seoul, Oslo and Washington, D.C., and smaller-scale gatherings in U.S. cities such as New York, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and Minneapolis. This is the first-ever event of its kind to be held in Hawai’i.

The Asian Adult Adoptee Gathering and Film Festival is a celebration of the range of experiences - from the unique to the unifying - found among the diverse diaspora and global community of adoptees of Asian descent. The Gathering and Film Festival are expected to draw upward of 100 visitors from Hawai’i and the mainland United States, and such international locations as Sweden, Denmark, Australia and South Korea.

KAHI will also welcome members of the general public to the Oct. 11 film screenings, which will represent a unique aspect of the Asian-Pacific immigrant experience that has been historically underrepresented in the mainstream and even art-house film circuits. The Doris Duke Theatre will manage ticketing for this special event this autumn and will feature selected films in its newsletter.

Businesses, organizations and individuals interested in sponsorship opportunities for the film festival or the Asian Adult Adoptee Gathering are invited to contact KAHI for further information.

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Korean Adoptees of Hawai’i (KAHI) is a nonprofit organization founded upon the experiences of adult Korean adoptees, working to build a supportive community in Hawai’i through public outreach, networking, education and sharing resources. KAHI believes in fostering awareness about adoption and identity, recognizing that we, as a community, can extend our reach beyond what we can accomplish individually.

Korean Adoptees of Hawai`i are pleased to host:The Asian Adult Adoptee Gathering & Film Festival
October 10-13, 2008 Honolulu, Hawai`iPlease visit www.kahawaii.org/mini08 for more information and film submission guidelines.Please pass this along!Mahalo,

Kino Kwon, a graduate from Grittith University, Queensland and independent indi filmmaker is seeking information and experiences from Korean adoptees in the Sydney area.

 Kino has a personal connection with adoption. His  biological sister was adopted to a Danish family and he met her last year for the first time in 20 years. A short clip about their reunion can be seen on youtube.

Kino can be contacted at Kinomans(at)hotmail(dot)com

Foster care better for I.Q. than orphanage, study finds

By Benedict Carey

Thursday, December 20, 2007

The results of U.S. research in Romania, being published on Friday in the journal Science, found that toddlers placed in foster families developed significantly higher I.Q.’s by age 4, on average, than peers who spent those years in an orphanage.

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Hello,

We are making a film called RESILIENCE, a documentary about Korean birth mothers and international adoption. We hope this film will create greater awareness and deeper understanding about a side of adoption that has been rarely looked.

An independent film project this size is costly, and we still have a long way to go in raising the necessary funds to finish the film. We are currently looking for personal donations and financial sponsors to help fund the film’s completion. The funds raised will be used for film production costs, including costs for equipment and rentals, editing, labor and translations. We have been actively raising funds for the film but have yet to raise enough.

We need your help in bringing this important film to completion. Please consider making a donation to this significant project and help us make these women’s stories heard, and please pass on this info. For more info about the project, please view the attached press kit.
Thank you very much,

Tammy Chu
Director/ Co-Producer, RESILIENCE
www.resiliencefilm.com

December 23, 2007

Where Boys Were Kings, a Shift Toward Baby Girls
By CHOE SANG-HUN

SEOUL, South Korea � When Park He-ran was a young mother, other women
would approach her to ask what her secret was. She had given birth to
three boys in a row at a time when South Korean women considered it
their paramount duty to bear a son.

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Deborra-lee’ s adoption victory
Article from: The Associated Press

By Ellen Connolly

December 23, 2007 12:00am

ACTOR Deborra-lee Furness and The Sunday Telegraph have won
a major victory in a campaign to overhaul Australia’s
anti-adoption culture.

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January 13 - January 16, 2008!

WANT TO GET AWAY?� NEED A MID-WINTER BREAK IN THE SUN?

Come to Las Vegas January 13 - 16, 2008 for some great fun, sun and entertainment…you might even learn a thing or two!� For a small registration fee of only $60, you will get some great workshops, 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners, and be able to see some old friends, and make some new ones, too!� This is primarily for adoptees, but friends and family are invited, too!

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Emily Saunders finds the missing piece of her puzzle

http://www.startrib une.com/local/ 12916351. html

For five minutes, Emily Saunders was alone.

Then her twin sister was born.

Their mother, a poor South Korean woman who was not expecting twins
and gave birth out of wedlock, made a fateful decision. She would give
one girl up. That was Emily, who was adopted when she was 4 months old
by Jackie and Eric Saunders of Wyoming, Minn.

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Hello!

My name is Nari Baker and I am putting out a request for interviews
of adoptees who have lived in Korea for at least one year. I have
been living in Seoul since July 2007 on a U.S. Fulbright grant for
the purpose of completing several oral history projects. Below I
describe all three projects that I am working on. I am open to
volunteers picking and choosing any combination of the three
projects they would be interested in contributing to.

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