Free Chol Soo Lee
On June 3, 1973, a man was murdered in a busy intersection of San Francisco’s Chinatown as part of an ongoing gang war. Chol Soo Lee, a 20-year-old Korean immigrant who had previous run-ins with the law, was arrested and convicted based on flimsy evidence and the eyewitness accounts of white tourists who couldn’t distinguish between Asian features. Sentenced to life in prison, Chol Soo Lee would spend years fighting to survive behind bars before journalist K.W. Lee took an interest in his case. The intrepid reporter’s investigation would galvanize a first-of-its-kind pan-Asian American grassroots movement to fight for Chol Soo Lee’s freedom, ultimately inspiring a new generation of social justice activists.
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Cast
22 people
Chol Soo Lee
Self (archive footage)
Sebastian Yoon
Narrator (voice)
Ranko Yamada
Self - Friend; Defense Committee
K.W. Lee
Self - Investigative Reporter
Jeff Adachi
Self - Activist
David Kakishiba
Self - Activist
Jay Kun Yoo
Self - Chair, Defense Committee
Grace Kim
Self - Vice-chair, Defense Committee
Warren Furutani
Self - L.A. Defense Committee
Also in
Pilgrimage
Leonard Weinglass
Self - Defense Attorney (archive footage)
Josiah “Tink” Thompson
Self - Private Investigator
Gail Whang
Self - Bay Area Defense Committee
Eugene Yi Director · Julie Ha Director Gretchen Jude Composer
Worldwide gross $50K · United States release August 12, 2022 · Produced in United States
Box office
Worldwide gross
$50,083
Production
XTR
Production
ITVS
Production
Center for Asian American Media (CAAM)
Production
United States
Produced in
Languages
Original language
English
Spoken on screen
English · Korean · Spanish
Release dates
United States · January 21, 2022
Premiere · Sundance Film Festival (Virtual)
United States · August 12, 2022
Limited theatrical
Brazil
October 7, 2022 · Digital
Ireland
August 19, 2022
South Korea
October 9, 2022 · Premiere · Busan International Film Festival
October 18, 2023 · Theatrical
August 23, 2024 · TV · EBS International Documentary Festival
Spain
September 9, 2022
United Kingdom
August 26, 2022 · Theatrical
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Some details come from TheTVDB.