Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Free Chol Soo Lee: Seeking Redemption

23/01/2022

By Stephanie Ornelas

When Korean journalist K.W. Lee first wrote to Chol Soo Lee, who was on death row at a California prison, he had just one thing to say: I want to talk to you about the problems you are having in America. His story would soon spur a movement within the Korean community that would last for years to come.

What happens when a group of people decide enough is enough?

The documentary Free Chol Soo Lee follows a 20-year-old Korean immigrant who was wrongfully-convicted and sentenced to death based on flimsy evidence and inaccurate eyewitness accounts. The film follows the intense issues that arise when it comes to racial profiling and how the Korean community rallied together to bring one man justice.

The documentary examines the tragic incidents that came before and after Lee's conviction and the way his story inspired hundreds of thousands of people to stand up for their culture. It provides an interesting perspective when it comes to racial issues, especially in the Asian and AAPI community.

Drawing from a rich archive and firsthand accounts of those who came to Lee's defense, the documentary cleverly explores this miscarriage of justice. But it also reveals what can happen when one person is thrust into the spotlight as a symbol of a movement, as well as the costs - and fatal exhaustion - that come along with it. It ultimately is a film about seeking redemption, but not quite finding it.

During the Q&A following the screening, directors Julie Ha and Eugene Yi, and producers Su Kim and Jean Tsien, truly displayed their passion for this project.

A big reason why I got involved is because I felt the story was really buried and I didn't think that was something that we could allow to happen, says producer Su Kim.

A number of the creators agreed that it was the fact that they were unfamiliar with the story that drew them to the project.

Sebastian Yoon on the other hand, who narrated the voice of Lee throughout the documentary, became familiar with the case when he was writing a paper on Korean American identity in college. Yoon, formerly incarcerated for over a decade, has spent the last few years traveling the country, giving panel conversations and advocating for improved access to higher education for incarcerated people. That's where he met Su Kim.

She reached out to me with this incredible opportunity and it was very hard to say no, says Yoon.

The story plays a sort of balancing act when it comes to the overall tone of the film, going from tragic to inspiring and everything in between. And the creators agreed that the task was difficult but necessary.

Chol Soo Lee's life was quite tragic in many ways, but we wanted to make sure that we had a chance for him to have agency and tell his story, and to be able to explain why it was so hard for him, says Ha.

Not just because of the injustice, but also because of the scars of his entire life that made it difficult for him to go on, she adds.

And part of telling his story is shining a light on how much Lee was loved and admired, despite those scars. He became a part of something that was bigger than himself, as his story propelled many young activists to make social justice a lifelong pursuit.

I think in many ways the film is a release for all the people connected to the story - the supporters, the activists, says Ha. There was a deep ache that I know they felt [for Lee]. They revelled in the victory of this movement.

And because Lee stumbled so much after his release, and ultimately died seeking redemption, Ha and Yi wanted to give these activists a chance to go through a catharsis themselves and get closure.

The film does a tremendous job of capturing the audience by telling a tragic tale of a man who never really found his place in society. Bringing the documentary full circle with it's emotionally-charged ending, the viewer is left feeling as though they knew Lee on a personal level, just as K.W. Lee did the moment they met for the very first time.
LINK: https://www.sundance.org/blogs/festival-blog/free-chol-soo-lee-seeking...
See more stories from sundance

North America Stories

10/09/2026

Tedial to introduce Media Business Hub at IBC 2026

Tedial is introducing Media Business Hub (MBH) at IBC 2026, a new business enablement platform designed to help media organizations unlock the full value of the...

10/09/2026

Globecast Unveils Next Phase of Media Orchestration at IB...

Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will unveil the next phase of its transformation at IBC2026 with a preview...

10/09/2026

Fabric Data and TMT Insights Merge to Create Fabric Insig...

Fabric Data and TMT Insights today announced that the two companies are combining to create Fabric Insights, uniting authoritative data, purpose-built software,...

10/09/2026

Operative Launches Unified Platform to Transform Advertis...

Operative, the preferred advertising and broadcast management provider for the world's leading media brands, today announced a comprehensive slate of new pr...

10/09/2026

Leader announces new Sx2 handheld Test and Measurement se...

Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, has announced the launch of its latest range of handheld signal generation, analysis and monitoring ...

10/09/2026

Kiloview Partners with Zixi to Deliver Reliable IP Video...

The partnership begins with native Zixi protocol support on the Kiloview D350 and will extend to deeper product integration and joint go-to-market initiatives ...

10/09/2026

Avid and FilmLight announce strategic partnership to reimagine the color pipeline for post production

Avid and FilmLight announce strategic partnership to reimagine the color pipelin...

10/09/2026

Maxon Brings Exclusive Preview of Fall Innovations to IBC2026

Maxon Brings Exclusive Preview of Fall Innovations to IBC2026 Brie Clayton September 10, 2026 0 Comments IBC attendees will get the first look at new ...

10/09/2026

Three Boston Conservatory Dance Alums Honored for Their Early-Career Promise

Three Boston Conservatory Dance Alums Honored for Their Early-Career Promise India Hobbs and Demetrius Lee received Princess Grace Awards, while Lilly David t...

10/09/2026

MonoNeon Returns to Berklee to Kick Off Signature Series

MonoNeon Returns to Berklee to Kick Off Signature Series The Grammy-winning bassist and alumnus performs with students and faculty from the Planet MicroJam In...

10/09/2026

Study: NFL Ad Revenue to Hit a Record $6.3 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Teradek Unveils Bolt 7 With 900MHz RF Pipeline

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Survey: Roku Remains Most Popular Streamer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Sony Unveils Fourth Generation Of DWX Wireless Mics

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Scripps Revamps Local Media Regional Leadership Structure

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Boots on the Ground: WARDOGS' Goes All Out on GeForce NOW at Early-Access Launch

Gear up: The latest PC games and major updates are ready to play on GeForce NOW ...

10/09/2026

d-Matrix Adopts NVIDIA NVLink Fusion for Rack-Scale XPU Deployment

AI inference chipmaker d-Matrix today announced it will use NVIDIA NVLink Fusion to connect its next-generation Raptor XPUs to NVIDIA's AI infrastructure pl...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Sony Introduces SEL814G Fisheye Zoom G Lens

Sony Electronics has announced the SEL814G, the company's first fisheye zoom G Lens for full-frame Alpha E-mount cameras. The lens will be available in Octo...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Telestream Expands Practical AI Capabilities Across Vantage and UP Platform

Telestream has announced an expansion of its Practical AI capabilities across th...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Chyron and Haivision Announce Camera-to-Cloud Live Production Integration

Haivision and Chyron have announced a technology partnership integrating Haivisi...

09/09/2026

ManningCast Reveals 2026-27 Season Schedule with Heist Mini Movie

Omaha Productions has released ManningCast: Heist, a short film featuring Peyton and Eli Manning attempting to break into NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's o...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Imagine Communications to Showcase XVR Updates

Imagine Communications will demonstrate the next evolution of XVR at IBC2026 (Stand 1.B73, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14). XVR is Imagine's channel-in-a-b...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: swXtch.io Launches AI Broadcast Orchestration Tool abbe

swXtch.io has announced abbe, an AI-based orchestration layer for live media workflows, making its world premiere at IBC2026 (Meeting Room 5.MR13, Hall 5, Septe...

09/09/2026

Inside the NFL Returns to X for Second Season, Marking 50th Anniversary

NFL Films has announced the second season of Inside the NFL on X as an X Original, premiering Wednesday, September 9. The series marks Inside the NFL's 50th...

09/09/2026

LiveU Expands AP Partnership with LU900Q Fleet and MAM Integration

LiveU has announced an expanded partnership with The Associated Press, deploying the largest fleet of LU900Q intelligent production units in the industry as par...

09/09/2026

Diversified to Consolidate New Jersey Operations into New Newark Facility

Diversified has announced plans to consolidate its four existing New Jersey locations into a new facility in Newark, expected to be fully operational by the end...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Wisycom Showcases MATF Antenna Matrix, PFL RFoF Box, and MPR60 Updates

Wisycom will exhibit new RF products at IBC2026 (Stand 8.D60, September 11-14), including the MATF Wideband Antenna Matrix, PFL Portable RF over Fiber Box, and ...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: G&D and VuWall to Introduce vsNEO KVM-over-IP Platform

Guntermann & Drunck (G&D) and VuWall, both Panoptec companies, will introduce vsNEO at IBC2026 (Stand 8.B63, September 11, RAI Amsterdam). Pre-orders open in ea...

09/09/2026

Mo-Sys Completes Restructuring, Promotes Selin Kemal to Managing Director

Mo-Sys has completed a business restructuring and relocated to a new facility in Canada Water, London. As part of the reorganization, Selin Kemal has been promo...

09/09/2026

Aicox and TAG Video Systems Power Monitoring for Telefnicas TSAmediaHUB

Aicox has integrated TAG Video Systems' Core monitoring platform into Telef nica's TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure....

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Blackmagic Design Releases DaVinci Resolve 21.1

Blackmagic Design has released DaVinci Resolve 21.1, a free update available now through the Blackmagic Design website. The release adds new AI tools, workflow ...

09/09/2026

ESPN and Apple Music Collaborate on Monday Night Football Music Curation for 2026-27 Season

ESPN and Apple Music have announced a collaboration on music curation for Monday...

09/09/2026

Sacramento Production Services Deploys Wisycom RF System at Sutter Health Park

Sacramento Production Services has completed a wireless audio overhaul at Sutter Health Park, home of the Athletics during their three-year residency in Sacrame...

09/09/2026

NDI and NVIDIA Collaborate on AI-Powered Multilingual Content Workflows

NDI and NVIDIA have announced a collaboration to develop AI-powered workflows enabling broadcasters to create and distribute multilingual content from a single ...

09/09/2026

Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Announces the Class of 2026

Christopher Chip Adams, Troy Aikman, Jim Dove, Jim Eady, Bucky Gunts, Robert A. Iger, Charlie Jablonski, Robert Kraft, Tom Rinaldi, and Dick Stockton to be ho...

09/09/2026

NBC Sports Opens 21st SNF Season With Expanded Schedule, Traveling Studio Show, and Bulked Up Toolkit

ND2 returns as the primary unit, While FNIA gets SSQC and new flexible Rover...

09/09/2026

Nielsen launches CTV Ad spend data into its Italian Ad Intel product

Italy launch follows UK and Germany as Nielsen expands product across EMEA Milan, Italy, September 9, 2026 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, ...

09/09/2026

Gracenote Expands AI Product Roadmap with Sports MCP Server, Entertainment SLM and Agents

Planned solutions tackle accuracy, cost and latency barriers to deploying AI at ...

09/09/2026

Dalet Promotes Brian Doheny to CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

Studio Technologies Expands StudioComm Monitoring With In...

Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, introduces its new Model 791 Control Console at IBC 2026 (N...

09/09/2026

Maxon Brings Exclusive Preview of Fall Innovations to IBC...

Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects and visualization, is headin...

09/09/2026

NUGEN Audio Leads the Dialog Intelligibility Conversation...

NUGEN Audio unveils DialogCheck v1.2, the latest evolution of its intelligent dialog intelligibility and compliance tool, at IBC 2026 (Pod P27). With a sharpene...

09/09/2026

Trusted Partner Network Launches Fix It or Risk It to Hel...

Trusted Partner Network Launches Fix It or Risk It to Help the Entertainment Industry Tackle Everyday Security Risks Industry-Wide Campaign Launches at IBC2...

09/09/2026

FCC to Vote on Opening Up Spectrum for Satellite, IoT

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

NDI, NVIDIA Collaborate On Real-Time AI Multilingual Content

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

83 percent of UK advertisers are using AI but speed and n...

AI has moved firmly beyond experimentation in UK advertising, with more than eight in ten marketers (83%) now actively using or piloting AI in production, accor...

09/09/2026

Pixitmedia by DataCore to showcase cloud and connected pr...

IBC2026 - Stand 7.D22 At IBC2026, Pixitmedia by DataCore will showcase its latest capabilities designed to simplify distributed production, accelerate workflow...

09/09/2026

Net Insight Showcases Open Live Media for Controlled Live...

Stockholm, Sweden September 9th, 2026 At IBC2026, on booth 1.B47, Net Insight will showcase Open Live Media, its architecture for delivering resilient live ...

09/09/2026

Net Insight and DMC expand repeatable remote production m...

Net Insight today announced that DMC Production Norway is continuing the use of its Open Live Media technology for premium European football, deploying Nimbra 5...