Private Project

Jeronimo

Born in 1926 to Korean indentured servant parents in Cuba, Jeronimo Lim becomes the first Korean to enroll in university in the same school and year as Fidel Castro. Jeronimo joins the Cuban revolution and later becomes a Vice Minister in the Castro government, and crosses paths with Fidel and Che Guevara. Having experienced poverty and discrimination as an ethnic minority, Jeronimo believed that communism would guarantee equal rights and opportunity as other Cubans.

However, after being disillusioned with the unfulfilled promises of communism, and after visiting the now divided homeland, Korea in 1995, Jerónimo becomes a changed man and dedicates the remaining years until his death to reconnecting to his Korean roots and singlehandedly rebuilding the diasporic Korean community in Cuba.

  • Joseph Juhn
    Director
    Letter to My Children
  • Joseph Juhn
    Writer
  • Joseph Juhn, Roy Choi (Knighted Ventures), Blaine Vess
    Producer
    Letter to My Children, Shangri-LA, XY Chelsea, Ms. Purple, I am Sun Mu, Gook, Flipping Miami, etc.
  • Jeronimo Lim, Monk Bupryun, Park Young-Sun, Rabbi Joshua Stanton, KW Lee, Professor Edward Chang, Professor Wayne Patterson
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 32 minutes 14 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 1, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    130,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Cuba, Korea, Republic of, United States
  • Language:
    English, Korean, Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Asian American International Film Festival
    New York, New York
    United States
    July 30, 2019
    New York Premiere
    Audience's Choice for Best Feature Documentary
  • Dallas Asian Film Festival
    Dallas, Texas
    United States
    July 23, 2019
    World Premiere
  • San Diego Asian Film Festival
    San Diego, California
    United States
    November 7, 2019
  • DMZ International Documentary Film Festival
    Goyang & Paju
    Korea, Republic of
    September 20, 2019
Distribution Information
  • Connect Pictures
    Country: Korea, Republic of
  • Daehan Dramas
    Country: Worldwide
  • Diaspora Film Production
    Country: United States
Director Biography - Joseph Juhn

Joseph Juhn is a Korean American lawyer-turned-documentary filmmaker. Joseph was working as a New York attorney for 4 years at a Korean government agency based in Manhattan, New York, specializing in Intellectual Property and Startup law prior to going to Cuba. A serendipitous backpacking trip to Cuba in 2015 changed Joseph's life when he ran into a Korean descendant by chance, inspiring him to rekindle his storytelling ambitions.

“Jeronimo” is Joseph’s first feature film. His most notable work is a prequel to “Jeronimo”, titled, “Letter to My Children” (2018), a short documentary about Jeronimo’s father. “Letter to My Children” won the best Short Documentary at the 2018 DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival, and was officially selected at Monterrey International Film Festival (Mexico), and 2018 San Diego Asian Film Festival.

Joseph earned a BA in Film & Video at UC San Diego, and a JD at Syracuse University College of Law.

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