CHOSEN

Official Selection, 2022 Jeonju International Film Festival

Official Selection, 2022 Asian American International Film Festival

In 2020, five Korean American candidates ran for U.S. Congress—a historic first—against the backdrop of COVID-19, racial reckoning, and economic crisis. Prior to 2018, there was only one Korean American ever elected to Congress.

In this documentary directed by Joseph Juhn (Jeronimo, SDAFF ‘19) and co-executive produced by Lee Ann Kim, we meet David Kim, a young progressive LGBTQ candidate in Koreatown, Los Angeles, whose pastor father is a Trump supporter; Marilyn Strickland, a Black Korean centrist Democrat in Tacoma, WA, whose mother faced years of stigma in Korea for being a “military bride”; Young Kim and Michelle Park Steel, popular Trump Republicans in Orange County; and New Jersey Democratic incumbent Andy Kim—who faces an uphill battle, as no Democrat has been reelected in his district since the Civil War.

Determined to change history, each candidate symbolizes a different narrative of the Korean American experience. Historic events, like the 1992 L.A. riots and recent anti-Asian hate crimes, serve to unify their voices. But the pandemic, and movements like Black Lives Matter and Make America Great Again, amplify their divergent viewpoints.

—Wilda Wong

Screening Sponsor Korean American Coalition.

Underwritten by Ajumma EXP.

Preceded By

Mink!

Directed by Ben Proudfoot

History and policy come alive in MINK! Wendy Mink creates a portrait of her charming mother Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first woman of color to be elected to congress.