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January 17, 2004
"Repatriation"
It's 4:30 a.m. and this evening started about nine hours ago when I started to help with the cooking for what was billed as an Anime/Singles/Welcome party. I have no idea what that means, really, except that I suspected it would involve anime (Japanese cartoons), single people, and some kind of welcome.
That's not entirely true. I had an idea of what it was going to be. Originally, the evening was going to be an anime party, where a bunch of single people could mingle together, though I think the planners (Soo Sun and Jamie) had a specific pair of people in mind. That changed when Jin Kyoung arranged to have Kim Dong-won of South Korea to show his documentary and speak.
Kim Dong-won. South Korea. Documentary. What's so special about that? Would it make a difference if I said the the documentary was "Repatriation", which will have its North American premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Monday?
Aside from the stress of accommodating the sudden change of plans--it was somewhat tense in the household Thursday night--the night went really well. Those that came early were able to mingle and watch some anime and the documentary didn't start until 10 p.m. or so. There was a long discussion with the film maker afterwards and even more discussion around a bonfire in the back yard until about 4 a.m. Throughout, there was lots of food available and people were stunned at the quantity and quality.
For our parts, as hosts, we were stunned by the turnout. At one point, we had nearly all of one room packed with people with quite a bit of bleed over into a second room while the documentary was showing. We had a VCR hooked up to a projector and a nice expanse of wall which made for easy viewing from a lot of locations in the house.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable and enlightening night. If you get a chance to see the documentary, do so. The subject matter pertains to North Korean spies and their life after prison and eventual repatriation to North Korea, but much of the story is about the sheer force of will and integrity that these men had, despite their terrible treatment at the hands of South Koreans.
And now, sleep.
Posted by KinCross at January 17, 2004 04:34 AM