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UCLA grad student explores issue of migrant marriage in film

Photo courtesy of Lucrieta Stinnette

By

April 24, 2015 12:00 a.m.

Graduate film student Lucretia Stinnette has recently released a film called “Quyen,” a fictional story inspired by her time in South Korea working closely with “migrant wives,” more commonly known as “mail-order brides.” Listen to Stinnette share her experience making this film at dailybruin.com/radio or on the Daily Bruin Radio podcast channel on iTunes.

 

TRANSCRIPT:

STINNETTE: (L2 1:06-1:15) “Okay, I’m going to take the quarter off, I’m going to go to Korea, I am going to spend a lot of money, and hire a crew and hire a cast over there.”

MEHTA: That’s Lucretia Stinnette, graduate film student. She went to South Korea, thinking she would be there for a year teaching English, but ended up staying four years. Stinnette recently released a film called “Quyen” which has been accepted into the Newport Beach Film Festival and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, where it will be screened. The film is inspired by the time Stinnette spent in South Korea working closely with “migrant wives,” whom many commonly refer to as “mail-order brides.”

Quyen is a fictional story that I wrote. It tells the story of a young woman named Quyen who immigrates to Korea for the purpose of marriage. And it’s about the first week of life in her new home with her new husband and his mother.

I guess you could say it kind of gives you a peek into the modern manifestations of arranged marriages and migration, and it tells a story about a woman who is searching for opportunity. And it’s really an honest look at the choices that not just her, but people, have to make for family, and for survival, and happiness.

I think a goal for me was to tell a very realistic story and also to stay away from black and white thinking surrounding an issue.

I think in a lot of ways, I think I can relate to my character because as a black woman I lived in Korea for four years. I totally understand what it’s like to live in a homogenous society when you’re different.

n Korea there has been an increase in international marriages over the past 20 years. And a lot of women in Korea have decided to move out of the countryside to the cities, and as a result, a lot of men in the countryside have difficulty finding wives. And one of the solutions has been international marriages.

I think what part of my inspiration was, was looking at the media in the U.S. I think marriage migrants are judged, and people feel sorry for women who have to immigrate for marriage. And there’s a lot of stereotypes about the type of men who marry women from other countries and stereotypes about the women. And in Korea it’s very similar. Also in Korea, a lot of the news stories surrounding marriage migration were really negative about women being beaten, and murdered, and just a lot of really negative stuff. But at the same time, in my classes, with my students and my friends, I didn’t see that. So I wanted to tell a story that was very realistic about a woman coming to Korea for marriage. The first week of her life in her new home with her new new husband. How difficult that is with the language barrier. But also how she makes her marriage work.

Coming from American society it is easy to judge people who are different, so yeah I was a little judgmental at first, but I soon realized that a lot of my students who became my friends were in happy marriages. And they were in love with their husbands, and they were proud parents, and they had a good life in Korea. So it really challenged me to think about the institution of marriage differently.

MEHTA: Stinnette’s film hopes to bring light to the controversial issue of migrant marriages as she gains exposure through the upcoming film festivals. You can catch “Quyen” tomorrow, April 25, at the Newport Beach Film Festival at 3 p.m. and Tuesday, April 28 at 9:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

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