Motherland

Cuba Korea USA

A film by Dai Sil Kim-Gibson

US/Cuba | 2006 | 41 minutes | Color | DVD | Spanish | Subtitled | Order No. 09942

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SYNOPSIS

How do we decide where is home? Feeling increasingly isolated in her adopted homeland, accomplished documentarian Dai Sil Kim-Gibson (SILENCE BROKEN: KOREAN COMFORT WOMEN) travels to Cuba to unearth stories from a relatively unknown group in the Asian diaspora. On the island, she meets Martha, a woman of Korean descent who identifies herself as Cuban. Like many of her contemporary countrymen and women, Martha possesses family ties that span multiple nations, cultures and politics. Her story inspires Kim-Gibson to travel to Miami to meet Martha's émigré sister and the rest of their mulitcultural family, in a journey that reveals how very different worldviews can co-exist in one family separated by place and ideology.

Asking probing questions about identity and economic and social justice, Kim-Gibson explores the ways in which we determine our ethnic, national, and cultural loyalties. The compelling stories in Motherland Cuba Korea USA weave a complex web and illuminate the search for an understanding of "motherland" in a globalized society.

PRESS

“[R]ecommended, especially for ethnic studies collections.” EMRO

Educational Media Reviews Online Brian Falato

“With high production values and clear and correct subtitles, Kim-Gibson’s film brings… divergent ideologies front and center for interested viewers.”

Library Journal

“If anyone can give a new twist…[on] the ubiquitous topic of identity in an original way…it's this veteran.”

Catherine Manabat Asia Pacific Arts

“Riveting…a fascinating exploration of identity and motherland told through the lens of modern Cuban and Korean histories.”

Lynne Connor San Francisco Int’l Asian American Film Festival

“Inspiring...Convinces me that solidarity…among immigrants…could create a new meaning for this world and make it a more peaceful home for all of us.”

Mingwei Song Asst. Prof. of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Wellesley College

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Pusan Int’l Film Festival, South Korea
  • San Francisco Int’l Asian-American Film Festival
  • Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
  • Asian American Int’l Film Festival, New York
  • Tulipanes Latino Art and Film Festival, MI

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Dai Sil Kim-Gibson

Dai Sil Kim-Gibson is an independent filmmaker/writer, known for championing the compelling but neglected issues of human rights. All of her films garnered many awards, including the Kodak Filmmaker Award, and were screened at numerous festivals worldwide, in addition to national broadcast on PBS and on the Sundance Channel in the United States. She has received grants from the Rockefeller and MacArthur Foundations. Formerly professor of religion at Mount Holyoke College with a Ph.D in religion from Boston University, and an author of many articles, "Silence Broken: Korean Comfort Women" is her first book (The Philadelphia Inquirer, "unforgettable") and her second book is "Looking for Don: A Meditation." She has also complied and edited a memoir by her late husband, Donald D. Gibson, "Iowa Sky." Her own memoir, "Korean Sky" is now available at Amazon.com. (3/16)

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