Is the project still on track for August?

This is a super ambitious project you've got here. I thought the idolization of unrealistic models of beauty were bad in the States until I taught English in Korea and saw the intense pressure for the kids there. I'm excited to see how this turns out. I hope you make a dent in their perceptions!

I worked as an assistant at an english camp for Korean middle school for a few years during my undergraduates in Korea and I experienced the issues that most girls deal in this documentary - the inferiority complex of accepting one's ability and feature. School days are very stressful as parents expecting only excellent result in academic, and enrollment in SKY universities is the ticket for successful career and life. I am supporting this project in dedication of my students, whom i believe will be high school students by now. I truly enjoyed working with korean kids and teens as they were very talented and happy-go-lucky despite a stressful endeavor for academic success. On beauty, the Koreans should learn to accept that their small eyes feature is unique and beautiful. A stressful stereotype preception on looks such as skinny, big eyes and long silky hair need to be corrected, so that everyone can learn to embrace the inner beauty and true meaning of beautiful. I miss my students and I wish them best for their future undertakings. Can't wait for the film. Congratulations on acheiving the goal. Kudos.

I've been living and teaching in Korea for almost 3 years now. For the past year and a half I've been working at a high school, and the things you're talking about in the film are the same issues that I have been wrestling with regarding my own students. I think this is really important and I'm super excited to see the film. Best of luck!

Congratulations on meeting your goal, I look forward to the final product!

Good luck Kelley. All the best for you and your project! Can't wait to see it when it's finished! 화이팅~!

@M. Hsu: Sorry man, but if you got less manners and smarts than money, no one can help you! It explicitly says "digital copy" only at $10, while it says "signed copy of the final film" for $500, so you can assume that you'll get your physical copy indeed if you donate $150 ! I mean normally you can even get an independent movie DVD for $10, so how come ask such a question and then complain & be stingy. Also you seem to have asked the original question less than 48 hours ago, what do you expect from the poor girl? You don't haven SLA with her!!! (If you don't know what this is, better google it!) Really not necessary... PS: One can't e-mail you either. :p

no reply to my messages or comments so I'm canceling my pledge. =( too bad.. other people from their projects email you back with answers to your questions..

All the best!

Way to go! Kudos! Nice work! I hope this project is successful it looks way awesome. After teaching in Korea for a year I can say exposure of the nature of the Korean education system and concept of beauty is absolutely needed. This project works to further the development of identity for the Koreans and to bridge the gap their world and the outside. I am stoked cant wait for this to launch off. If this does take take off perhaps there could be further success in documenting online gaming, materialism or other quirks of Korean society. Rock on Kelley and crew.~

Thank you for having interest on how teenagers in South Korea think and live their most beautiful period in their lives. I am a pure S. Korean and recently came back from the United States after 2 years of study in NY. Before I go to the States, I had lived just same as those in the film and never thought there is any problem. Because everyone around me, around my age people, was in same situations, about the studying for roughly 16h a day and getting lots of stress from ideal of the beauty that everyone wanted to be. But after I saw the girls in the States who don't care about how they look like or how other people think about their appearances I started to thinking there are a lot of problem among the educatian system and teenagers S. Korea and there is a certain link between those subjects.
I watched this film very well and I hope I could see the final film some time soon. You're doing something right so you can be more proud of what you're doing now. Thank you, Kelley!

Awesome project. I'm living in Korea at the moment so I know what's going on in this education system. Very interesting topic for me, so I couldn't resist to participate!! Wish you all the best for this, I'm sure it will be great. Looking forward to see it when it's finished!! Greetings from Busan :)

Joseph, yes, I believe you cannot isolate the perception of "beauty" with the cultural and economic dominance of the western. (By the way, I wanted to say "am I the only one thinking/believing ~")

I have a question on the rewards. I am currently pledging $150 for your project. Are we to receive physical copies of the documentary or just a digital one? I sent you a message, but you didn't respond. I would very much like a physical copy instead. Thanks.

This is highly reminiscent of my experience as a teacher in Japan, on several levels. I'm certainly looking forward to the finished film. Good luck with the project!

JayHyuck, you make a valid point. i wonder if the "big eyes is beautiful" thing is more related to acceptance than beauty? just thinkin out loud here.

One of the most frequent Asian jokes in North America is about Asians' small eyes. Am I the only one it is somewhat related to the "big eyes are beautiful" concept/belief? (I'm not trying to demean the project or anything. I just wanted to point that out.)

As a teacher in Korea I see what you are touching on in your documentary everyday. Whether it be the male or female demographic in Korea, these kids are under a lot of pressure from society. I think this goes for most developed nations, but from my perspective, Korea is on a whole new level. I have been doing a similar lesson to the one that the native teacher in the short film was covering. Beauty and the pursuit of it, specifically in this country is scary to say the least. I was amazed at some of the responses I received from my students while teaching a lesson on "What is Beauty?" These kids and especially the women in this country are under a lot of pressure to fit into the homogeneous idea of what beauty is. The shelves are stocked with bleaching creams and other beauty products that offer a "western" outcome. Thus, I love and appreciate the fact that you are highlighting what I perceive as serious issues here in Korea. I can't wait for the finished project and I hope you reach your mark of $5,500. I think this is a necessary topic and agree with Megan Deutsch's co-teacher that maybe since it is from an outsiders perspective, Koreans will take it seriously and start to question the society their kids are living in. Not only does this pertain to Korea, but the world in general. This will cross borders and hopefully inspire people to see the natural beauty in themselves. Thank you for your efforts!!

Hi!~
I am impressed by your ambition, talent, and goals for the film. I did my undergrad in visual anthropology (making documentaries) and I have been working at a co-ed, boarding, science high school in Gyeongsangbuk province for almost 3 years. Everything that you so candidly highlighted in your movie, I have seen played out again and again over these past few years. Not just among my students, but among my Korean friends who are in there teens, 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s… These two topics are such defining aspects of society in Korea.
I was curious to hear a Korean’s take on your film, so I sent your clip to my female co-teacher (Mrs. Kwon) and I wanted to share her response with you because it changed my perspective on not just your film, but on my life here in Korea as a marginalized (yet privileged, as I fit the ‘big eyed’ standard) liminal member of Korean society.
I told Mrs. Kwon about your goals [“… reduce the stress of that students receive… in the classroom… academically… to be perfect, and reduce the stress to be perfectly physically beautiful.“] and how ambitious I thought they were, and she brought me down to Earth by saying, “We (Koreans) have to think, we have to change, more. Every Korean knows (about beauty and studying standards), but if a foreigner makes a film, then we will pay attention, we have to. If just a Korean makes it, we will not pay attention. Just by seeing (the documentary) we (Koreans) can change a little… Then the next generation a little more… I cannot think it will be changed very quickly, but we have to start.” So, she liked your vision. :)
The topic of your film is a complex one that not only deals with stress of students, and female body image issues, but also deals with the Korean government, private institutes (for studying), companies that make test prep, test, and study materials, advertising companies, Capitalism (mass consumption of goods- surgery included), how to stand out in a homogenous society, and the colonial presence of the West in Korea, among other factors. I give you kudos for narrowing your lens to a scope that is digestible and humanizing.
I would love to see a part of the film give space for these young women to talk about ideas they have about society, if they are interested in changing beauty standards and if so, how. The film voiced the ideas that girls have about what boys are looking for in girls, but not vice versa, which I found interesting. I think encouraging the girls to share what they want might be empowering. I would also love to see a montage of all of the places in Korea where you can stare at yourself in the mirror (subways, schools, kimbab restaurants, on the street, cell phones, shopping centers, the entrances to many buildings, reflective elevators…). I often wonder about the psychological impact that looking in the mirror so often would play on body dysmorphic issues.
The three goals you have for the film are amazing and massive, so I was wondering, on a more tangible level, if you have thought about how to implement said goals: "... Reduce the stress that students receive, reduce the stress in the classroom, like academically- to be perfect, and reduce the stress to be perfectly physically beautiful." As much as this film has the power to illuminate many a viewer as to the situation experienced by thousands of women in Korea, I would love to see some ideas as to a path or direction for the future... I know that is asking a lot, but I figured I throw it out there.
This film has incredible potential and I am excited to see what develops. Good luck!

i will be interviewing Kelley on GFN 98.7FM in Gwangju today! listen in at: http://www.gfn.or.kr/index.jsp if you're not in Gwangju.

I hope the filmmaker does not mind me advertising on facebook to donate, I'm definitely for the project and I would sincerly like to see it go through. :)