Korean Adoption Films

Forget Me Not follow three pregnant unmarried women at the institution "Aeshuwon" on the South Korean island called Jeju. Paradoxically, the nickname for Jeju Island is "Honeymoon Island" due to its popularity as a destination for all newly wed Koreans. 15 women are currently living at the institution, which is isolated in the beautiful countryside of Jeju, and run by founder Mrs. Im and her staff. The film follow the three women and their process towards the difficult and painful decision - whether to keep the baby or give it away for adoption. A decision strongly influenced by a huge pressure from the outside world. Typically the disgrace of the family, the reluctance of the boyfriend and the disdain of Korean society towards the women's behavior and the unborn child, have a huge impact on the women's final decision. However, at Aeshuwon the strong-willed Mrs Im supports the women and their fight for independence. But in the end the choice will always be the women's own and the consequences will be up to the single individual to handle. Forget Me Not is an emotional journey of three unwed women's life at Aeshuwon and how they make the decision that will change their lives forever.

Comic-book artist Jung returns to Seoul for the first time since he was abandoned at the age of 5.

An 8-year-old girl is adopted by an American family only to discover, years later, that she has a birth family in Korea.

Myoung-ja, who has sent her son Brent (Sung-wook) abroad to be adopted meets him after 30 years and spends a special time with him. They meet for the first time on national TV, then part ways and meet repeatedly, trying to become a family again. Unfortunately, they are faced with problems that so many families with adopted children experience, such as the language barrier and the cultural gap. Myoung-ja takes part in a movement against international adoptions and tries to build a firm base for her life as she takes care of children born to single mothers. The process of becoming a mother and son unfolds dramatically through interviews and observations that take place over an extended period of time.

In the 1960s just before being adopted from a Korean orphanage by an American family, my identity was switched with another girl named Cha Jung Hee. I was told to keep the switch a secret, then sent to America. In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee is a personal essay that chronicles my journey to find my double, while exploring the ethical and social dimensions of international transracial adoption. The film is a poignant reflection on memory, identity and what it means to walk in someone else's shoes.

Adopted from South Korea, raised on different continents & connected through social media, Samantha & Anaïs believe that they are twin sisters separated at birth.

An adopted woman, on her first return to Korea searching for her birth family and her roots, sheds light on the social stigmas surrounding adoption in Korea's present day society.

In this powerful tale about the rise of Korea's global adoption program, four adult adoptees return to their country of birth and recover the personal histories that were lost when they were adopted. Raised in foreign families, each sets out on a journey to reconnect with their roots, mapping the geographies of kinship that bind them to a homeland they never knew. Along the way there are discoveries and dead ends, as well as mysteries that will never be unraveled.

One winter, a pastor finds an abandoned infant on his church steps, and builds 'a drop box' to rescue any others.

Two Danish-Korean adoptees return for the first time to the country they were once born in. Confronted with the spirit of their Motherland and the personal stories of the fellow adoptees they meet in the city of Seoul, Karoline and Thomas are hurled into an emotionally disorienting journey that forces both of them to question and face their own destiny and identity. Operating in a hybrid field THE RETURN is partially based on director Malene Choi's personal experience as well as stories shared by adoptees that Malene encountered in Seoul while shooting the film.

A Korean orphan is adopted by a Swedish couple and moves to Europe. She is renamed 'Susan'. Her new mother is very abusive and Susan unsuccessfully attempts suicide. The first chance she gets, she moves out of her home and into the highschool dorm. Unfortunately, life does not get any easier there.

As a Korean-American man raised in the Louisiana bayou works hard to make a life for his family, he must confront the ghosts of his past as he discovers that he could be deported from the only country he has ever called home.

Reject examines the serious impact of social rejection through the findings of social and biological scientists, lessons from the classroom and the justice system, and first-hand accounts from children and their families. From neuroscientists to broken-hearted moms, our lead characters are rejection experts, by choice or by fate, and will lead us on a journey from rejection to acceptance. With the rise in school shootings and youth suicides, the devastating and potentially lethal consequences of social rejection must be understood. New science supports that the root of pain and conflict may lie in one person rejecting another person. Could the solution be as simple as fostering acceptance?

Five adoptees share their common experiences of being separated from their countries and families of origin as children to be brought up in families abroad. Based on testimonies not dissimilar to her own, the filmmaker draws a political reflection on the complex matter of international adoption.

Separated at the end of the Vietnam war, an "Americanized" woman and her Vietnamese mother are reunited after 22 years.

A man creates a remarkable community for abandoned children, with no higher purpose than giving its young members the joys of childhood.

When a young mother reconsiders abandoning her baby, she discovers a scheme selling foundlings for adoption.