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Attention.Bow.Begin.

"Attention.Bow.Begin." focuses on Grandmaster Dong Keun Park, a living legend from South Korea who currently lives and trains out of New Jersey. Grandmaster Park is one of the founders of TaeKwonDo, a martial art practiced by over 50M people around the world. Today, it is one of only two martial arts contested in the Olympics (along with Judo).

In an effort to elude foreign government officials, Grandmaster Park's parents escaped to the northern hills, dropping their son off at a Buddhist Monastery along the way, knowing that they could not properly look after their 8-year-old while on the run.

For the next decade, Dong Keun Park learned the ancient hand to hand fighting technique, Taekkyon, the tenets of which he used to form his special brand of TaeKwonDo,

With South Korea finally free from foreign rule in the 1950s, the government devised a variety of strategies to reintroduce itself to the world. One the strategies was bringing its national martial art, TaeKwonDo, to the masses. Grandmaster Park was integral to that strategy.

After leading South Korea to an epic win in an international martial arts competition against rival Japan in 1965, Grandmaster Park was asked to go to America to help teach the superpower both the physical and the spiritual beauty of TKD. In the 1970s and 1980s Grandmaster Park helped open a series of Dojangs in the New York/New Jersey area, as well as in Florida.

Grandmaster Park was so successful that, in 1992, he was asked to coach the USA TaeKwonDo Olympic team that competed in Barcelona, Spain. That '92 contingent was the first US team to win gold in this new Olympic sport.

Amazingly, at the age of 80, he continues to train "future champions" from his home Dojang in Jersey City, NJ, as well as self-defense programs at both West Point and the Naval Academy.

To this day, Grandmaster Park remains South Korea's lone undefeated champion with over 200 international martial arts tournament victories.

Besides chronicling this incredible immigrant success story, we also wanted to do our part in highlighting the beauty of an Asian story. With the rise in Asian Hate crime happening in 2021, we are hoping to humanize Asian culture with this inspiring piece. And ideally get enough exposure via this Film Festival run to convert this short film into a full documentary feature.

  • John Bernardo
    Director
    Co-Director of A PELOTON OF ONE, a documentary feature on child sex abuse: 2020 Audience Award winner at the Greenwich International Film Festival; and 2020 entrant in the Golden Door International Film Festival as well as New Jersey Documentary Film Festival. The film will be released in 2021.
  • Steven E. Mallorca
    Director
    Co-Director of A PELOTON OF ONE, a documentary feature on child sex abuse: 2020 Audience Award winner at the Greenwich International Film Festival; and 2020 entrant in the Golden Door International Film Festival as well as New Jersey Documentary Film Festival. The film will be released in 2021.
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    16 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 15, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    50,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - John Bernardo, Steven E. Mallorca

Steve is an award-winning filmmaker who graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has directed a large body of work that spans across narrative, documentary, commercial, corporate, and music video film fronts. His debut feature film Slow Jam King (2005 San Francisco International Asian American FF, Opening Night - San Jose), won Asian Cinevision’s Emerging Director Award, and was picked up for distribution by Unitel Pictures International (Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, Imelda). The New York Times hailed Slow Jam King as “Do it yourself filmmaking at its purest… with spirited characters and high levels of comic energy.” Steve’s second feature film screenplay, Alternate Side, was a finalist for the 2008 IFP Emerging Narrative Screenplay. Steve also served as the Director of Photography and Editor of the 2015 lacrosse documentary, The Lost Trophy, which was picked up by ESPN and had multiple airdates on ESPNU. In 2020, Steve directed the documentary feature, A Peloton of One, which won the Audience Award at the Greenwich International Film Festival, and also appeared at the Golden Door International Film Festival as well as The New Jersey Documentary Film Festival. This film on the controversial topic of Childhood Sexual Abuse will be released in 2021.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

It was a privilege to document the story of living legend, Grandmaster Dong Keun Park, one of the founding fathers of TaeKwonDo, a South Korean martial art practiced by over 50M+ worldwide -- including a wide array of high profile followers such as actor Jessica Alba, champion golfer Phil Mickelson, and, of course, Chuck Norris.
To elude foreign government officials occupying South Korea, Grandmaster Park's parents escaped to the northern hills, dropping their son off at a Buddhist Monastery along the way knowing that they could not properly look after their 8 year old while on the run. For the next decade, he learned ancient hand to hand fighting techniques, the tenets of which he used to form his special brand of TaeKwonDo that he used to dominate national and international martial arts. To this day, he remains the only undefeated TaeKwonDo champion with over 200 wins to his credit.
With South Korea finally free from foreign rule in the 1950s, the government constructed a variety of strategies to introduce itself to the world. One the strategies was bringing its national martial art, TaeKwonDo, to the masses. Grandmaster Park was integral to that strategy. After leading South Korea to an epic win in an international competition against rival Japan in 1965, Grandmaster Park was asked to go to America to help the superpower learn both the physical and spiritual beauty of their martial art. In the 1970s and 1980s Grandmaster Park helped to open a series of Dojangs in the New York/New Jersey area and in Florida. Grandmaster Park was so successful that, in 1992, he was asked to coach the USA TaeKwonDo Olympic team that competed in Barcelona, Spain, and won the gold medal. Amazingly, at the age of 80, he continues to train "future champions" from his home Dojang in Jersey City, NJ, as well as self-defense programs he teaches at both West Point and the Naval Academy.
Besides chronicling this incredible immigrant success story, I also wanted to do my part in highlighting the beauty of an Asian story. With the rise in Asian Hate crime happening in 2021, we are hoping to humanize Asian culture with this inspiring piece. And ideally get enough exposure via this Film Festival run to convert this short film into a full documentary feature.