feminist/visual/culture: A 30th anniversary celebration of women make movies
A videotape by Tammy Tolle
Thomas 110
“Searching for Go-Hyang’s exquisite design and rich, densely layered
imagery penetrate deeply into that sacred territory of family and our
fantasies of it.”
Patricia R. Zimmerman,
Ithaca College
Searching for Go-Hyang
1998
32 minutes
Color, Video
Saturday April 6
9:30 A.M.
A moving personal documentary, Searching for Go-Hyang traces the return of twin sisters to their native
Korea after a fourteen year absence. Sent away by their parents for the promise of a better life in the
US, they instead suffered mental and physical abuse by their adoptive parents, including the erasure of
their cultural heritage and language. Reunited with their biological parents and brothers, the young
women explore their past in an attempt to reconnect with their “Go-Hyang”, their homeland, which they
find they may not have a place in anymore. Thousands of Korean and Chinese girl babies have been
brought to the US for adoption in the last twenty years. This beautiful video is a rare feminist look at the
issues of cross-cultural adoption and national identity.