A premiere at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Julie Ha and Eugene Yi’s documentary Free Chol Soo Lee examines the story of a 20-year-old Korean immigrant in 1970s San Francisco who was wrongly convicted of murder, and the unprecedented pan-Asian American movement that freed him. Picked up by MUBI, the acclaimed film will get a release on August 12 at the IFC Center in New York, followed by a special, one-night-only screening event in movie theaters nationwide on August 17th, then a larger rollout. Ahead of the release, the first trailer has now arrived.
John Fink said in his review, “Shedding light on the life of the Korean-American cause cél`èbe, Julie Ha and Eugene Yi’s Free Chol Soo Lee captures a unique moment in Asian American history and ultimately the story of a young man who may have never had a chance. Arriving in Chinatown, San Francisco in the early ’70s, Chol Soo Lee worked odd jobs, among them barker for the local strip clubs. One day his manager shows him a gun that he borrows for no reason at all, leading to an accidental discharge in the bedroom of the flop house he’s occupied. Five days later he’s arrested for murder after a random killing is committed on the street, before a hundred witnesses, with the same type of gun he’d been playing with.”
See the trailer and poster below.
Free Chol Soo Lee opens in NYC on August 12, followed by a one-night-only nationwide event on August 17 then a wider roll-out. Learn more here.