Photo courtesy of Deann Borshay Liem.
In The Matter of Cha Jung Hee, a documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Deanne Borshay Liem, is premiering on PBS on Tuesday, September 14th, at 10:00pm.
The documentary follows Liem as she returns to her native Korea to find the original Cha Jung Hee, whose place she took when she was adopted to America. Liem, whose first documentary, First Person Plural, explored her search for her birth family, ends up meeting several women named Cha Jung Hee, and saw what her life could have been.
“For years, Cha Jung Hee was, paradoxically, both a stranger and also my official identity — someone unknown but always present, defining my life,” said Liem to PBS. “I felt I had to search for Cha Jung Hee finally to put my questions to rest by meeting her and finding out how she has fared. In the course of my journey, I met many women named Cha Jung Hee and through their stories imagine what my life would have been like had I stayed in Korea.
If you miss the PBS broadcast, you can buy the DVD here.
