This was originally posted on Instagram as a shorter caption. The full description is posted here since it’s too long for Instagram.
“DMZFISH” is a short film I made in 2014. (Only 7 yrs ago, so I’m getting better at releasing my content, right? 😅)
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This was released on Youtube on March 1st, in commemoration of Korea's March 1st Movement Day ('Samil Jeol'), the nationwide independence movement in 1919 in protest against the occupation of Korea by Japan, back when both Koreas were still unified as one nation. I’m not posting this to make some penchant political statement or to dredge up past resentments… although it does eerily echo the current state of affairs - unprovoked hostile invasion by a neighboring bully on a repeat basis throughout history. (To my Japanese peeps, I got nothing but love for you.) These are just facts.
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I’m sharing this because this trip meant a lot for me in retrospect, especially these days as I explore the outdoors to the fullest. It was probably my last fishing trip with my buddy Dan before returning to the States. He had just gifted me a new rod and reel, with a beautiful burled wooden handle that his buddy GW (also in the film) had lacquered and assembled. The two veteran fishermen took me out to teach me a few basics on casting, which to this day I still haven’t improved on by much, for lack of practice and patience. Fly fishing is an art. As they say, teach a man to fish… and well, he’s hooked for life. 🎣 Plus, one of my favorite music artists at the time, Lapalux, had just dropped a totally psychedelic symphony, providing the perfect score.
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This day of chasing rivers, streams, and even a salmon run in a construction zone was mostly shot in Gangwon province, just outside of Seoul. A stone’s throw from the DMZ border.
Like many Korean diaspora, my family’s roots are in that small slice of land covered in barbed wire and divided by an imaginary line that was created by two military giants, each with controlling interests in this soil. To this day, the two warring Koreas are only at pause via a paper armistice in a war which is not truly of their own origin, pitting brother vs brother and tearing families apart because of ideological fantasies propagated by opposing puppet masters. The hope for reunification is too a pipe dream, a patriotic romance reserved for displaced families who couldn’t escape to the South, or for us, their immigrant children - who grew up in foreign lands hearing their parents’ war stories and watching them weep as they recounted lost lives and shattered dreams. History is not a kind teacher.😪
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Why do I constantly bring up the past? It’s part analysis, part paralysis, some parts analysis-paralysis. Even though we can only move forward in time, the past informs the future. We need to learn from the past and learn to let go of what needs to be let go and learn how to move forward. Making a short film is my process - of processing my own past, delving into my heritage, documenting life as legacy, and examining the forces that came together to create who I am today, so that I can become who I want to become tomorrow. Thanks for reading this far.🙏 #samiljeol #koreanindependenceday #🇰🇷
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Hope you’ll enjoy watching this short on YouTube.
