Newly released documentary, Free Chol Soo Lee, selected as the opening night film at 40th CAAMFEST

（SAN FRANCISCO）Free Chol Soo Lee , a documentary which tells the story of a Korean American inmate on death row wrongfully convicted of a 1973 Chinatown gangland murder in San Francisco, was selected as the opening night film by CAAMFEST.

The documentary is co-directed by two Korean Americans, Julie Ha and Eugene Yi, and was first released at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, which was running online from January 20-30.

Choo Soo was born in Seoul in 1952 by a single mother who was raped. He was first raised by his uncle and brought by his mother to San Francisco Chinatown when he was 14 years old. Choo Soo had a hard time learning English with limited education. Without parents' guidance and not speaking English well, he had a difficult life.

Before Chol Soo was arrested in June 1973 for the murder of Yip Yee Tak, a Chinese gang member of the Wah Ching in San Francisco Chinatown, he had served time in the California Youth Authority.

In the 1970s, continuing gang war between the Wah Ching and Joe Boys occurred. Tak was gunned down at the intersection of Pacific and Grant Avenues in Chinatown. Chol Soo lived in an apartment on Broadway in Chinatown. He was identified by several eyewitnesses, who were all white males, as the killer and arrested by San Francisco Police Department.

Chol Soo was convicted of first degree murder in 1974 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He maintained his innocence. Investigative reporter K.W. Lee from the Sacramento Union believed Chol Soo was not guilty of the Chinatown murder. He interviewed Chol Soo in jail and published a series of articles on the murder case. The investigative series brought the public attentions to the case.

The Korean community organized a Free Chol Soo Lee movement nationwide. The State Appeals Court ruled to retry the case. A San Francisco Superior Court jury acquitted Chol Soo in the retrial and released him in 1982, 10 years after he was arrested for the murder.

Chol Soo admitted in the film that it was very difficult for him to adjust to the new life after spending 10 years in jail. He was associated with the Chinese gang members.

In 1991, Chol Soo and a friend were hired to burn down a house belonging to Peter Chong.

But Chol Soo suffered third-degree burns over his body and was arrested for the arson. He was able to survive. Later on, he testified in court on the arson and was under federal witness protection program.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Chong was the leader of the Chinese gang Wo Hop To in the 1980s to early 1990s. Chong was found guilty of racketeering, murder-for-hire, extortion and arson at federal court in 2002.

Ha and Yi, both filmmakers of the documentary, were former journalists working together at the Korean American Press. They admired K.W. Lee and learned the story of Chol Soo when they were young.

Since 1983 when Chol Soo was released from jail, he lived in San Francisco until he died in 2014 at the age of 62. Ha attended his funeral and had an idea of making a documentary on Chol Soo with Yi together in 2015.