Screening of “Crossings” (2021) plus Q&A with director Deann Borshay Liem
Join us for a screening of "Crossings" (2021), followed by Q&A with director Deann Borshay Liem.
About the film: In "Crossings," a group of international women peacemakers sets out on a risky journey across the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, calling for an end to a 70-year war that has divided the Korean peninsula. The groundbreaking mission of Women Cross DMZ is captured in an intimate cinema vérité style, framed with historic newsreels of the Korean War, punctuated with dramatic contemporary news coverage.
From threats of annihilation to promises of peace, U.S.-North Korea relations provide key moments of drama throughout the story. But the film's protagonists are thirty women activists who dare to tread forbidden territory to draw global attention to the unresolved war and demand a seat at the table in bringing about peace. Korean American Christine Ahn rallies the group, including feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem and Nobel Peace Laureates Leymah Gbowee and Mairead Maguire.
The intrepid team faces daunting political hurdles as they make their way toward the DMZ. The challenges the women face, the obstacles they overcome, and the solidarity and trust they build as they forge a path to peace with their Korean sisters, is an inspiring story of bridge building and collective action.
About the speakers:
Deann Borshay Liem is an Emmy Award-winning documentarian known for films that explore war, memory, family and identity including her landmark adoption films "First Person Plural," "In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee," and "Geographies of Kinship." Her work on the Korean War, including "Memory of Forgotten War," "Crossings," and the oral history project, "Legacies of the Korean War," explores divided families and women's role in peacemaking. She is a producer for the ITVS-supported film, "Vivien's Wild Ride," and is directing a new documentary that looks at the intersections between US military occupation, Korean military brides, and transnational adoption.
Professor Suzy Kim is a historian and author of the prize-winning "Everyday Life in the North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950" (Cornell 2013). Her latest book, "Among Women across Worlds: North Korea in the Global Cold War," was completed with the support of the Fulbright Program and the National Endowment for the Humanities. As a public scholar, she has advocated for social justice and peace in Korea with Amnesty International USA, Truth Foundation, and Women Cross DMZ.
