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TREASURED ABOVE GOLD

                                                                                               

          An Historical Travelogue for American Television  

NOW IN DEVELOPMENT

   

           TREASURED ABOVE GOLD will be a one-hour documentary 

exploring one of Asia 's most remarkable stories:

     The story of how Japanese tea ceremony devotees came to treasure

simple, rustic 16th-century Korean teabowls above gold. 

The documentary's host, 

Ms. Brook Lee, Ms. Universe (1997)

 

The threads that will weave this story are:

     --  The adoption of these Korean teabowls for the tea ceremony in the mid- 1500s.

     --  The development of a Japanese ceramic culture that had its foundation in the bringing of captive Korean potters to Japan during late 16th-century invasions of Korea . 

    --     A glorious ceramic past in Korea from which the teabowls have their true heritage. 

    --      The roots of strong affection for Korean tea bowls and other Korean ceramics today among                  

        Japanese collectors. 

--      The 20th-century phenomena today of some world ceramic connoisseurs waxing more eloquently over Korean ceramics than those of China .

        In the 16th century, the love of Korean teabowls and the long-standing awareness of the advanced ceramic technology behind these bowls ultimately caused Japanese war generals to bring back hundreds – some say thousands –- of captive Korean potters during their invasion of Korea in the 1590s. Wanting to start their own pottery-making centers, these generals used this great influx of highly skilled potters and their technology to advance Japan's ceramic arts and industry.  This dramatic flowering went on to also affect ceramic developments in North America  and Europe  for centuries to come. 

                        Yet the world has been virtually left unaware of Japan's debt to Korea's captive potters and Korea’s amazing ceramic tradition that at the time of the Japanese invasions was already thousands of years old.

                          For the first time, TREASURED ABOVE GOLD will bring to Western audiences this little-known story of two countries, Japan  and Korea , which have known animosity for centuries, and their most profound historic ceramic connection.  It's a tale that will fascinate audiences, partly because the story continues today --  Korean teabowls are still the most cherished in Japanese tea ceremony, and the preeminence of Korea ’s ceramic tradition is finally being established in the art world. 

                                This story will come to life as our on-camera host, American television talent Ms. Brook Mahealani Lee -- a fourth-generation Korean American and a former Ms. Universe (1997), journeys to South Korea and Japan to unfold this story through visits with potters, historians, curators, and collectors.  The filming is scheduled to take place in the fall season -- the dramatic kiln-firing period in Korea and Japan .

--      To be shot on 16mm film for high-quality digital broadcast & theatrical release. 

--      Produced by an award-winning team with national broadcast credentials headed by EMMY Award-winning filmmaker Stephanie J. Castillo. 

--      To be tied to a website where viewers, educators and students can interact with the program.

For More Information, Contact

Stephanie J. Castillo

castillosj@aol.com