Adoption Documentary: Resilience

“Brent Beesley was born in South Korea and adopted by American parents when he was an infant. He is the subject of a documentary about finding his biological mother and how he is trying to build a relationship with her and his half-sister.”

“After his daughters were born – Lexi is 14, Alyssa 9 – he became curious about his Korean family. He wanted to obtain medical information that might prove useful as his daughters grew.”

He started to slowly search. He then found the Korean organization Global Overseas Adoptee’s Link  (G.O.A.’L) that is an “NGO consisting of overseas Korean adoptees (OAKs) and native Koreans working together to locate birth families and experience Korean life and culture. ”

From there he was “given the chance to meet his mother on a popular television show called “Beautiful Forgiveness.” Participants learn the background to past events, then are sent to a soundproof booth to decide whether they can forgive the other person.” He reconnected with his mother Myungja Noh on the show.

In a reenactment, Beesley learned that Noh “left baby Sungwook with her husband and his family while she went in search of work.

The paternal grandparents took Sungwook to her parents’ house, leaving him on the ground on a cold winter’s day.

Details blur a bit here. Noh’s family apparently decided she must not want Sungwook and took him to an orphanage. But after she returned from her job search to claim her baby, they would not tell her where he had been taken.

She spent years thinking he was living with a rich Korean family, she says in the documentary.”

Resilience is being shown at film festivals this Spring.

Filling Gap Left by Adoption
[Argus Leader 4/12/11 by Jill Callison]

The documentary’s website is  here.

For screenings in your area, check  here.

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