Chuseok Festival 2021

CHUSEOK Virtual FESTIVAL 2021

SATURDAY, SEPT. 25 | ON DEMAND

The final day of GKF’s Chuseok celebration is available on GKF’s YouTube channel and features Korean traditional music and dance by the Korean Performing Arts Institute of Chicago (KPAC), as well as performances from local groups, an animated Chuseok story, craft and folk game demonstrations, folktales, and more! Additionally, GKF partnered with the St. Louis Youth Ambassadors to offer free Korean craft kits. The craft kits included the supplies and instructions needed to enjoy making the crafts at home.

CHUSEOK FESTIVAL PERFORMERS/DEMONSTRATORS

PERFORMING ARTS

• Korean Performing Arts Institute of Chicago (KPAC) — Performances will include seoljanggu, gayageum, and sangmo pankut

• Washington University Samulnori

• K:ODE K-pop dance

• St. Louis Youth Ambassadors

CRAFT DEMONSTRATION

• Korean lantern — Demo courtesy of Junie Bae.

FOLK GAMES DEMONSTRATIONS

• Jegi-chagi — Jegi-chagi is a traditional outdoor game similar to Hacky Sack/shuttlecock, in which players kick a paper jegi into the air and attempt to keep it aloft. Demo courtesy of Junie Bae.

• Yut-nori — Also known as Yoot, Yut-nori is a traditional board game in which players toss wooden sticks (similar to tossing dice) to move tokens around a playing board. Demo courtesy of Lauren Janoski Choi and family.

FOLK TALE

• The Moon Rabbit — Courtesy of David Stevenson.

TRADITIONAL CLOTHING DEMONSTRATION

• Hanbok

VIRTUAL SCREENING: FOUND IN KOREA

FRIDAY, SEPT. 17 MIDNIGHT CDT - THURSDAY, SEPT. 23, 7 PM CDT |
ON DEMAND

GKF is pleased to partner with Dillon International to provide a free online film screening of Found in Korea, a film by Meggin Nam Holtz. In Found in Korea, filmmaker and Korean American adoptee Meggin Nam Holtz takes viewers on her 21-day journey returning to South Korea in search of her biological parents. Adopted at six months old, Holtz’s return to her homeland is an emotional and moving tale of the importance of exploring and understanding where we come from and who we are.

SYNOPSIS

Abandoned and left in the streets as a newborn baby, Korean Adoptee (Nam) returns home to find the world she lost as a baby. In search of her birth parents, she attempts to retrace her journey from birth to being adopted by a family in America, but old records and 35 years of economic growth have transformed the Korea of her infancy into a country where information held on paper is a thing of the past, leaving her with no trail to follow. Desperate for more information, Nam travels south to the island where she was born in hopes of discovering unknown files and people who might remember her story. Along the way she interviews social workers, Koreans, and other adoptees, and discovers why over 200,000 children have been sent away from Korea for international adoption. Watch the trailer on YouTube.

RENT THE FILM VIA VIMEO

In case you missed out on the virtual screening provided by GKF and Dillon International, the film is available to rent on Vimeo On Demand.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Found in Korea is a documentary for children and adults.

I was found on the streets of S. Korea as an infant and adopted by a white family in America. Amazingly, my story is similar to thousands of adoptees. As I delved into this production, I discovered a story about identity that is universally healing.

Found in Korea is a gentle foray into simple, complex, and sometimes difficult discussions about adoption. Children with proficient reading skills and adults interested in understanding more about adoption can enjoy this film. Although the film is targeted to adopted children and their families, anyone can enjoy and learn about the endless quest to find one's identity by viewing this film.

It is my hope that Found in Korea will serve as a catalyst for discussions about adoption, and the unique challenges faced by adopted and fostered children around the world.

-남
-Meggin "Nam" Holtz, LMSW 
Director/Producer

FOUND IN KOREA VIRTUAL Q&A

THURSDAY, SEPT. 23 | 7 PM - 8 PM CDT

Following the virtual screening period will be a free virtual Q&A with the film’s director, Meggin Nam Holtz, who will discuss the film and her experiences via Zoom.

ABOUT MEGGIN NAM HOLTZ (SPEAKER)

Meggin Nam Holtz is a Korean adoptee. Nam has been involved in adoption advocacy, awareness, and support for a decade. Her award-winning documentary film, Found in Korea, about birth search, identity, and adoption, was created to serve as a catalyst for conversations about adoption among youth and adults. She served as the Teen Mentor facilitator at “All Together Now,” a support group for adoptees and their families, wrote, “Who Cut My Umbilical Cord?” published in “Flip the Script - an Adoptee Anthology,” and holds an MSW with a focus in child and adolescent trauma in the clinical setting from Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. Nam is currently working in private practice with youth and adolescents with a focus on transracial adoption and supporting worldwide adoption education and advocacy as a public speaker, advisor, and policy activist.

ABOUT LISA WIEDENHAUPT (MODERATOR)

Lisa Wiedenhaupt has a Masters in Social Work and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Lisa has been working in the post adoption department at Dillon International since 2009. Starting out working primarily in heritage camps, Lisa now is Director of Lifetime Support Services Department, mostly working in their clinical services such as counseling, support groups, and teen retreats. Lisa is a certified TBRI Practitioner, trained in EMDR, and a level one theraplay therapist. In her free time, Lisa enjoys traveling and spending time with her husband and three dogs.

WHAT IS CHUSEOK?

Chuseok, which is held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, consists of thanksgiving services in which newly harvested crops and fruits are offered to the ancestral spirits. Generally held to be as important as the Lunar New Year’s Day, Chuseok is when family members gather together and hold a ritual with newly harvested crops and fruits to give thanks to their ancestors and to nature. As it falls in the harvest season, a time of abundance, Chuseok even comes with a saying: “Not more, not less. Just be like Hangawi,” Hangawi being another name for Chuseok.