Help Finance the Documentary, Divided Country, Disposable People--exposes over 100 years of US intervention in Korea.
A new documentary on Korean peoples struggle for reunification and self
determination. Film interviews ordinary Korean people explaining 'Haan', a
Korean word for 'suppressed grief'. It was shot in North and South Korea.Santa Cruz Film Foundation
S. Brian Willson
Executive Producer
P.O. Box 5170
Arcata, CA 95518
(707) 826-9197
www.brianwillson.com
e: bw@brianwillson.comMickey Grant
Filmmaker/Director
5813 Turner St.
The Colony, TX 75056
(972) 624-8819
www.creativehat.com
e: mickeyfilm@aol.comJuly 8, 2002
This letter is addressed to all who understand the importance of revealing hidden histories, in recognition of the fact that the human condition continues to be plagued by dangerous human choices made by only a few, due in part to conscious denial and censorship of authentic history that offers critical lessons. Thus, “civilization” remains dominated by oligarchs whose policies are continually enforced in a make-believe world, preempting the understandings necessary for making radical changes in consciousness, awareness, and learning that would enable us to envision and implement truly sustainable and respectful human communities living within the carrying capacity of Earth.
Santa Cruz Film Foundation is currently producing a documentary, “Divided Country, Disposable People,” which will reveal the little known but significant history of the U.S. decision to divide Korea following Japan’s defeat in World War II. Korea had been ruled under the iron fist of Japan effectively from 1905 until their defeat in August 1945. Immediately upon Japan’s surrender Koreans jubilantly celebrated and began preparing for a national sovereign government which was formed on September 6, 1945. Tragically, unbeknown to the Korean people (who had been culturally unified for 5,000 years), the U.S. government had decided even before Japan’s surrender, as part of its victor’s prerogative, to divide Korea at the 17th parallel. This decision was made with the quiet assent of Joseph Stalin, then-premier of the U.S.S.R. U.S. troops began arriving on September 8. The manner and methods of the intervention that followed this decision, actually preceding the officially declared “Cold War” by several years, foreshadowed the cruel nature of U.S. policy that was to follow, the hegemonic aspects of which continue to pose grave implications for the entire world to the present day.
Because the vast majority of Koreans were adamant about maintaining independence from outside powers, their passionate struggle could only be contained by a brutal, systematic campaign of repression. The United States brought a puppet ruler to Korea from the United States, Syngman Rhee (like it did in Vietnam nine years later with Ngo Dinh Diem), then outlawed the new Korean government along with virtually all organized political activities not in explicit support of Rhee. Over a four-year period, hundreds of thousands were murdered and imprisoned, leading to a civil war which in turn led to the tragic Korean War that erupted in 1950 -- the war we have all been told was caused by the “evil” communist North Koreans. Five million Koreans and Chinese were killed during that war. How all this unfolded, and why it remains one of the true crimes of the Twentieth Century, cursing a homogenous people to be divided for the first time in their entire history, is the subject of the documentary, Divided Country, Disposable People.
As you are likely aware, earlier this year George Bush, the selected president of the U.S., identified a new “axis of evil” that includs North Korea, and further threatened that such axis would be targeted for pre-emptive strikes that could include nuclear weapons. Korea and her citizens continue to serve as a whipping post for U.S. policy posturing and rationale for higher Pentagon budgets.
I have made eight trips to Korea, including two to the north, interviewing hundreds of people, cumulatively traveling several thousand ground miles and visiting various parts of the peninsula in the process of gathering information to tell this story. On the last two trips my filmmaker/director partner, Mickey Grant, has accompanied me to each of South and North Korea. Mickey is the producer of the award-winning documentary, Cu Chi Tunnels, a story of the Vietnam War from the Viet Cong perspective. We filmed numerous people telling their personal stories about repression and testifying to the numerous crimes committed against them from the air and on the ground. We also collected archival footage and scenes of Korean life, along with documentation of the issues that contine to nag most Koreans due to the continued division of their country. Ten million Korean families remain divided to this day by their inability to cross the 17th parallel. The division is enforced by 37,000 U.S. military troops stationed at more than eight dozen installations around South Korea, while a militarized wall and fence (cp. Berlin Wall) traverse the 155 miles across the peninsula near the 17th parallel..
We also filmed the unprecedented Korean War Crimes Tribunal held in New York on June 23, 2001, where many Koreans testified as to what happened to them and their relatives in the late 1940s and during the Korean War.
To date we have funded this project out of our own pockets. We have now exhausted our personal resources. We are told by documentary film experts that a film of this kind would likely cost $350,000. Because of our commitment to finish this project this year in order to enter a number of film festivals and various theaters around the world as soon as possible, we need at least $70,000 to complete the documentary.
A breakdown of our financial needs are as follows:
* Assured income to cover Mickey’s expenses and responsibilities
for the next four months so he can focus full-time on editing a first cut. $14,000.* Airfare and per diem costs for travel to Washington, D.C., New York
City and Europe to document final interviews with key persons such
as historians and to copy U.S. archive footage 5,000.* Translation of Korean dialogue into English 5,000.
* Fine-cut editing, development of sound and music mix, broadcast-
quality duplication of original archival footage, and creation of a
dub master and multiple VHS copies. 11,000.*Conversion of video to 35mm motion picture film 35,000.
(This step is indispensable to generate broadcast sales
and participate in film festivals all over the world.)TOTAL NEEDED FOR COMPLETION OF VIDEO AND FILM: $70,000.
Our goal is to have a good quality first cut in ten weeks from the moment that Mickey can focus full-time on editing.
I urge all who believe in the importance of educating the Western public about the authentic origins of the Korean “problem,” and exposing the inane “evil axis” rationale for the U.S. belligerance that threatens to destabilize the entire world, to donate funds for the completion of this timely and important documentary. Gladly, the Santa Cruz Film Foundation now possesses tax-exempt status.
Thank you for seriously considering this appeal.
Sincerely,
S. Brian Willson, Executive Producer
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