Screening of Geographies of Kinship

Geographies of Kinship, as part of California Film Institute’s community screening series, exposes the history of adoptees affected by war, money, and political as well as societal climates from the 1950s after the Korean War.  Four adult adoptees recovering their personal histories when they returned to their birth country, Korea, sheds light on the consequences of war, money, problematic policies, and socio-cultural practices on adoptees whose sense of self, belonging, dignity, and purpose were something they had to struggle to gain.

The four protagonists have become advocates for birth family and adoptee rights, support for single mothers, and historical reckoning.

​Director Deanne Borsay Liem, who was available for Q&A after the screening, drew a connection between the history of Korean adoption and the division of the Korean peninsula where families are forced to sever ties.