The 2022 documentary “Free Chol Soo Lee,” which tells the story of a Korean immigrant wrongfully convicted of killing Yip Yee Tak in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1973, won the award for outstanding historical documentary at the 45th News & Documentary Emmy Awards on Thursday.
Directed by Julie Ha and Eugene Yi, the film follows Lee’s fight for freedom after being sentenced to life in prison and later death row. His release in 1983 came after unprecedented advocacy from the Asian American community that led to a retrial and to his conviction being overturned. “The very act of us making the film, it allowed these activists to go on this journey of catharsis and maybe even coming to peace with what happened to Chol Soo Lee, and that actually is quite important,” Ha previously told NextShark. The film premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and is now available on Amazon Prime Video.
