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Projects



Seeds of a Nation

LEE Catherine Kyungeun

  • Korea, USA, South Sudan, Kenya
  • 90min
  • DCP
  • color

Synopsis

Never did I imagine I would be recording secret phone calls from my friend, from one of the world¡¯s worst political prisons.

Peter Ajak, child soldier turned Harvard graduate, returns to his beloved South Sudan, the world¡¯s youngest and ¡°most broken¡± nation. Peter calls for peace amidst power-driven war — until one day, the president arrests him. This changes everything for Peter, his wife and young children, and even this film. Peter is eventually targeted for assassination and must seek asylum in the U.S with his family. Life in America isn't easy, but it is here that Peter begins to see his role as a visionary, not critic. Peter creates a global coalition of allies for an election in South Sudan – its first ever, after 8 postponements. Most importantly, Peter no longer makes decisions alone. Peter and his wife Nyathon have come from opposite ends -- one obsessed with his young country, the other with her young family -- to realize that these aren't fighting interests. Saying their persecution ¡°is the best thing that ever happened in our marriage," Peter and Nyathon continue on their quest for a South Sudan their children can one day call home. In summer 2023, it is announced that South Sudan will finally hold its first election in December 2024. Despite not yet having his status in the US, which is his only assurance of reentry and reunion with his family, Peter decides to return to his homeland. As when we started filming him 6 years ago, Peter is getting off a plane, leaving the safety of the West and landing in East Africa. This time, it is to run for President.

 

Review

The making of this film has molded me, director Catherine Kyung-eun Lee, deeply. Peter and I met as scholarship students at Harvard in 2005 and within hours, I joked that he¡¯d be a president one day. Never did I imagine I¡¯d be recording secret phone calls from my friend of 17 years from one of the world¡¯s worst political prisons. It has been an immense privilege and responsibility to exclusively access the rise and life-or-death consequences of a man destined for history books – while also accessing the too-often neglected but important character, the family. 

This story embraces a global audience who wants to be taken on an emotional journey, including fathers and mothers, mission-driven dreamers, those who have ever been conflicted between duties, diaspora who are torn between their old and new homes, exasperated youth in authoritarian countries, friends of those who perish too early, and advocates of justice, free speech, and democracy.

As a former humanitarian economist, it is important for me to ensure meaningful, high-scale impact can arise from my work. In the case of this film, the potential impact feels nothing short of giving voice to democracy in the world¡¯s ¡°youngest and most broken nation.¡±

 

Director

  • LEE Catherine Kyungeun

     

Credit

  • Producer¿ÀÈñÁ¤, ·ç½Å´Ù ¿¨±ÛÇÏÆ® OH Heejung, Lucinda ENGLEHART