11/9/2022

The Life of Filipina-Korean Marriage Migrants

In the 1990s, the South Korean government began encouraging foreign women to come to Korea and marry rural bachelors after Korean women had fled the countryside for city jobs. Fe Calo and her sister-in-law, Marilou Quitiquit, are among over 25,000 estimated Filipina “marriage migrants” who have moved to Korea since then, following an industry of wedding brokers and policies in both countries facilitating migrants to raise families in Korea. Often, the women arrive without knowing the challenges that await them in a foreign land. Luckily for Fe, Marilou lives nearby in their remote village Ttangkkeut (“End of the Earth”) at the southernmost part of the Korean peninsula. With her husband Marilou grows the Filipino produce that Fe missed so dearly when she first left home and sells it to a wide network of Filipino-Korean multicultural - or “damunhwa” - families living throughout Korea. Among the village’s 5,906 residents, half the children now share Filipino ancestry. While “damunhwa” kids still face bullying and dismissal, the brilliant and resilient Filipino-Korean youth are undeniably part of Korea’s next generation. This story was supported in part by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

About the Filmmaker

11/9/2022

The Life of Filipina-Korean Marriage Migrants

In the 1990s, the South Korean government began encouraging foreign women to come to Korea and marry rural bachelors after Korean women had fled the countryside for city jobs. Fe Calo and her sister-in-law, Marilou Quitiquit, are among over 25,000 estimated Filipina “marriage migrants” who have moved to Korea since then, following an industry of wedding brokers and policies in both countries facilitating migrants to raise families in Korea. Often, the women arrive without knowing the challenges that await them in a foreign land. Luckily for Fe, Marilou lives nearby in their remote village Ttangkkeut (“End of the Earth”) at the southernmost part of the Korean peninsula. With her husband Marilou grows the Filipino produce that Fe missed so dearly when she first left home and sells it to a wide network of Filipino-Korean multicultural - or “damunhwa” - families living throughout Korea. Among the village’s 5,906 residents, half the children now share Filipino ancestry. While “damunhwa” kids still face bullying and dismissal, the brilliant and resilient Filipino-Korean youth are undeniably part of Korea’s next generation. This story was supported in part by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

About the Filmmaker

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Break the Frame: Asian Americans in Hollywood

Asian artists have achieved great success in Hollywood, in recent years, but getting that seat at the table has not been easy. Asian stars of the past like Anna May Wong, Sessue Hayakawa, and Miyoshi Umeki paved the way through challenging paths. Their journeys are a tale of resilience, adversity, and strength on the quest for authentic representation.Wong, Hayakawa, and Umeki dealt with constant typecasting into stereotypical roles, despite their undeniable star talent. Their experiences underscore the serious challenges faced by Asian women and men in breaking free from stereotypes. Beyond limited film choices, these stereotypes also meant financial hardships. Anna May Wong received unequal pay in 'Daughter of The Dragon’ in comparison to her white costar, even though she had a larger role. Even Miyoshi Umeki, who won a 1958 Oscar for 'Sayonara,' was confined to submissive Asian female roles, showcasing the challenging choices confronting minority actors. Hayakawa faced major criticism from the Japanese-American communities for perpetuating harmful racial stereotypes as an Asian man in Hollywood.While recent progress in Asian representation deserves celebration, lingering challenges persist. The industry must learn from the struggles of these trailblazers to ensure meaningful representation and break free from the historical erasure of Asians in Hollywood. The legacies of Wong, Hayakawa, and Umeki continue to shape the narrative for future generations of Asian artists.

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The UFO Summoner From Ishigaki Japan

Ishigaki Island, Japan. Everyone's heard about people running into aliens. And everyone thinks generally the same thing: those people are crazy. Claims of encounters with extraterrestrials are usually dismissed as superstition or hallucination. So, when we heard reports of numerous and consistent UFO sightings on Ishigaki -- a modest, neighboring island to Okinawa in southwest Japan -- we arrived as skeptics. When we got to the island, we met Naoyoshi Watanabe, a resident who's heard of a creature with freaky features..."like some sort of mummified octopus, but with a face, arms, and legs." He says his friends came across the creature while fishing in the popular tourist spot, the "Blue Cave." Weirdly, about a week after they told Naoyoshi-san about their encounter and request to look into it, they'd forgotten about it entirely. When Naoyoshi-san's tried to follow up, they don't know what he's talking about. That's weird. But it's one story, and we weren't fully convinced. So we trekked up to the northernmost tip of the island to meet with Suekazu Maeda, a man who claims to regularly 'summon the vehicles of the legendary beings.' He was excited by captive audience, and walked us through his tried and true method - flashing a light into the night sky. Initially, nothing happened, just as expected: no outer-world being appeared. But then, almost as if on command, spheres of light as big as the stars were bursting into the night sky. Over the course of an hour, we were in awe as we witnessed around 8-9 flashes of light interacting with each other in the sky. We were shocked--it felt like being in a daze. Maeda-san, however, was unfazed. He's seen them before, many times, even heard them make noise. He only wishes he could see their faces.

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The Life of Filipina-Korean Marriage Migrants