Students to travel to Seoul to film documentary

Four USC students are raising money to travel to South Korea and produce a documentary about Jong Rak Lee, a South Korean pastor who cares for disabled and abandoned children.

Shelter · This dropbox in Seoul, South Korea is where disabled or unwanted children can be dropped off for the Pastor to care for. It reads “Baby Box” in Korean. - Photo courtesy of Young Ran Jeong

The documentary, which the students hope will raise awareness of the abandonment of disabled children in South Korea and other countries, will focus on a drop box created by Lee that allows parents to anonymously leave their disabled or unwanted children at an orphanage rather than killing or abandoning them.

“What Lee noticed was within the culture in South Korea, they would outcast people with disabilities because of the way the culture looked at them,” said Will Tober, a junior majoring in broadcast journalism and one of the project’s leaders. “Parents were abandoning their children and because of that and because of his heart for his own child with disabilities, he installed the drop box on side of his house for parents who were planning to abandon their children.”

Brian Ivie, a junior majoring in cinematic arts and critical studies, Tober, and two other USC students, along with four other students from other schools, will spend two weeks in Seoul during winter break.

Ivie and Tober first became aware of Lee’s drop box through an article published in the Los Angeles Times last summer. They sought more information from Lee about the drop box and quickly became motivated to help his cause.

“We were especially interested in [Lee] because it seems like the issue in South Korea was pushed aside and no one knew about it,” Tober said.

To produce the documentary, Ivie and his colleagues aim to raise $20,000 by the end of October. Though they have only raised $3,000 from family and friends thus far, Ivie said he is confident they will reach their goal.

“I have no doubt we will get the money together,” Ivie said. “I believe it is my duty to make this happen.”

Through the documentary, Ivie and Tober intend to establish a foundation for the orphanage at Lee’s house and use Christianity to help spread the message.

“Through this documentary we hope to create a foundation for him and educate people,” Tober said. “This isn’t a isolated incident. We want to use those funds to build a new facility for him so he is able to care for these orphans and use this as a platform to spread a gospel message and show God’s love through this particular person.”

Flashbulb Entertainment — a nationally recognized short-film company Tober and Ivie started during their freshman year — is producing the documentary. Flashbulb Entertainment’s films have helped raise attention to social issues ranging from homelessness to murder.

Tober said faith and passion for various social issues have played a pivotal role in the decision to produce short films and the upcoming documentary on Lee.

“Over the course of the years we’ve grown as filmmakers and our faith has especially been a big part of our to desire to make short-films and this documentary,” Tober said. “Our passion for this particular issue has made us more excited and ready to make a film like this.”

Ivie and Tober said USC has been an integral part of their development as filmmakers and has given them the courage to pursue their goals of raising awareness of social causes through film.

“As a critical studies major, I have been exposed to lots of genres and different styles of great filmmakers as well as professors who encourage you to become a pioneer in the film industry,” Ivie said. “At the same time, the major allows me the autonomy and flexibility to create several personal films so I can work in the field, make mistakes and get them out of my system.”

Bryce Komae, a junior majoring in business administration and music industry and a member of Flashbulb Entertainment, said he has no second thoughts about carving blocks of time out of his schedule to go and work on the documentary.

“We are very fortunate to live in a world where we don’t have many things to worry about that are life-threatening,” Komae said. “When I first heard about this [orphanage], I felt chills coming through my body because there are kids that are not loved or cared for and they don’t enjoy the privileges like quality education that we take for granted.”