Update: Watch the documentary now.
A new documentary presented by NBC Asian America, and in production with International Secret Agents (ISAtv), will make its debut at the 17th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival in San Diego, Calif., on Nov. 6, 2016.
“AKA SEOUL” is a follow up to the documentary series “AKA DAN,” which chronicled the 2013 journey of alternative rapper and Korean adoptee Dan Matthews as he reconnected with his biological family, including a twin brother he never knew about. Three years later, audiences will see Matthews and four other Korean adoptees visit Korea during the summer of 2016 and shed light on other aspects of the adoptee identity.
“We’re focusing on other individuals with unique stories that I hope are going to impact not only the adoptee community, but other communities at large,” Matthews said. “That’s the one thing I’ve discovered is that although this might be adoptee-oriented content, the themes of family, searching, and self discovery are universal.”
Profiles include:
- Dan, an alternative rapper from Los Angeles, California. Three years after first meeting his biological family, he returns to Korea to introduce his adoptive and biological mothers for the first time.
- Siri, a Swedish adoptee experiences Korean culture for the very first time.
- Peter, an artist and professor from Boston seeks to discover his artistic muse.
- Chelsea, a woman from Minnesota who was rejected by her adoptive parents because of her sexuality, reclaims her identity in Korea.
- Min, a transgender man from the San Francisco Bay Area, experiences Korea for the first time as a man.
Along with screening at the San Diego Asian Film Festival, "AKA SEOUL" will be released in digital episodes beginning Nov. 10, 2016, as part of "NBC Asian America Presents...," a digital video channel that features original content centered around themes and voices found in Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. "NBC Asian America Presents..." videos can also be watched on NBC Asian America's Facebook page, NBC News' official YouTube channel, and the NBC News app available on mobile devices, Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV.
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