Free Chol Soo Lee (2022)

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.

IMDb rating	7.2
Producers	Independent Television Service (ITVS), XTR, Center for Asian American Media (CAAM)
Original title	Free Chol Soo Lee
Directors	Julie Ha, Eugene Yi
Writers

Cast

Chol Soo Lee

as Self (archive footage)

Sebastian Yoon

as Narrator (voice)

Ranko Yamada

as Self - Friend; Defense Committee

K.W. Lee

as Self - Investigative Reporter

Jeff Adachi

as Self - Activist

David Kakishiba

as Self - Activist

Jay Kun Yoo

as Self - Chair, Defense Committee

Grace Kim

as Self - Vice-chair, Defense Committee

Warren Furutani

as Self - L.A. Defense Committee

Leonard Weinglass

as Self - Defense Attorney (archive footage)

Josiah “Tink” Thompson

as Self - Private Investigator

Gail Whang

as Self - Bay Area Defense Committee

Jai Lee Wong

as Self - L.A. Defense Committee

Mike Suzuki

as Self - Bay Area Defense Committee

Me Yea Lee

as Self - Mother of Chol Soo Lee (archive footage)

Leonard Tauman

as Self - Defense Attorney (archive footage)

Tony Serra

as Self - Defense Attorney

Stuart Hanlon

as Self - Defense Attorney (archive footage)

Frank Falzon

as Self - San Francisco Police Dept. (archive footage)

Sandra Gin

as Self - Reporter (archive footage)

Sung Soo Yoo

as Self - Defense Committee

Richard Kim

as Self - Professor, UC Davis