PHOTOGRAPHIC JUSTICE: THE CORKY LEE STORY
Film Poster for "PHOTOGRAPHIC JUSTICE: THE CORKY LEE STORY". A camera lens layered on top of the American flag.
PHOTOGRAPHIC JUSTICE: THE CORKY LEE STORY
Film Poster for "PHOTOGRAPHIC JUSTICE: THE CORKY LEE STORY". A camera lens layered on top of the American flag.
Photographer Corky Lee's epic quest to document Asian American history, culture and activism for five decades

PHOTOGRAPHIC JUSTICE: THE CORKY LEE STORY

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BEST DOCUMENTARY - Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival | RUNNER-UP for Audience Award - DOC NYC | OFFICIAL SELECTION - Center for Asian American Media Film Festival | OFFICIAL SELECTION - Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival | OFFICIAL SELECTION - Asian American International Film Festival | JASON D. MAK SOCIAL JUSTICE AWARD - DisOrient Film Festival

Mainstream vs Ethnic Press • Contributions of AAPI to American History • Photographic Justice • Immigrant Experience In USA • AAPI Activism • Police Brutality • Ethnic Studies Movement • Photography • Art & Politics • Social Change • Diversity of Pan Asian Community • Pandemic


Date of Completion: 2022 | Run Time: 87 & 55 minutes​​ | Language: English | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Director/Producer: Jennifer Takaki | Producer: Linda Lew Woo | Executive Producer: Lily M. Fan | Co-Executive Producers: George & Hillary Hirose | Editor: Linda Hattendorf

For 50 years, Chinese American photographer Corky Lee documented the celebrations, struggles, and daily lives of Asian American Pacific Islanders with epic focus. Determined to push mainstream media to include AAPI culture in the visual record of American history, Lee produced an astonishing archive of nearly a million compelling photographs. His work takes on new urgency with the alarming rise in anti-Asian attacks during the Covid pandemic. Jennifer Takaki’s intimate portrait reveals the triumphs and tragedies of the man behind the lens.

Director Jennifer Takaki has a background in journalism. Her focus is on people, history, food and culture. She believes in the importance of knowing one’s own family history and has worked as a hired documentarian to help people tell their family history in a film format.

Her feature documentary film, “Photographic Justice” provides a first-hand account of fifty years of Asian American activism through the lens of Chinese American photographer Corky Lee. She can speak to the importance of documentation and archival footage, knowing one’s own history, as well as the power of photography as a tool for action, advocacy and social change.

George Hirose is a photographer, artist, film producer, curator, educator, activist, and lifelong New Yorker. He is a former President and current Vice-President of the Japanese American Citizens League NY Chapter, serves on the Board of Directors of the Japanese American Association and is involved with several other Asian-American community and advocacy organizations.

Until he retired from teaching in 2022, he was an Associate Professor in Photography at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. As a fine art photographer, he has been widely exhibited in one person and group shows in the United States and abroad.

George began his creative career as a film maker focusing primarily on experimental film work which segued into fine art photography. He is currently working on a book “Midnight in the People’s Garden: Night Photographs from NYC Community Gardens”.

In recent years he has moved into film production mainly centering around social-justice documentary, and it is through this medium that he feels he can support and fight for what is right. His production credits credits include PHOTOGRAPHIC JUSTICE: THE CORKY LEE STORY in 2022, “The Other Side of the Sea” 2022, “Call Me Mule” 2023, Hear, Eat, Home” (in production) and “Stop Asian Hate!” 2024.

For more information please visit: www.georgehirose.com,
ghirose60 on IG, and George Hirose on FB.