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United States of America
South Korea
Colour
English/English
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A person stands on grass in front of the pride flag with Korean writing on it. They are wearing a strapless dark green dress. Their arms are relaxed by their sides with a black purse on their right arm. They are wearing a silver pendant necklace with a black string and black sandals. They have a bob cut of black hair and parted bangs and they are smiling at the camera.
What is it like to go "back" to a country you never knew? Pauline Park was born into a poor family in post-war Korea. Adopted by white American parents, she left Korea as a 7-month old baby boy and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 54 years later, she embarked on a journey of discovering and connecting to her past, where her birth name literally means "the second son". This film follows Pauline Park as she visited her native Korea in the summer of 2015. Park, a transgender rights activist in New York City, also took the opportunity to share her decades of experience in activism with local LGBT communities - first by giving the keynote speech in the Seoul pride festival and then meeting with various local LGBT groups. Although her search for birth family was unsuccessful, Park felt the trip has brought her closer to her birth heritage. She is learning Korean now and hopes to return in the future.
Larry Tung. “Coming Full Circle: The Journey of a Transgendered Korean Adoptee (2016),” n.d. https://www.larrytung.com/coming-full-circle.html.
Pauline Park, a transgender rights activist in New York City, was born into a poor family in post-war Korea. Adopted by white American parents, she left Korea as a 7-month old baby boy and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 54 years later, she embarked on a journey of discovering and connecting to her past in Korea. Park, also took the opportunity to share her decades of experience in activism with local LGBTQ groups, including the Seoul Pride Festival.
Third World Newsreel. “Coming Full Circle: The Journey of a Korean Transgendered Adoptee,” n.d. https://www.twn.org/catalog/pages/responsive/cpage.aspx?rec=1495&card=price.
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