Two schools. Two scripts. Two stories that took a look at how ancient hatreds are affected by culture and history.

Two groups of students came together this summer, first in Korea, then in Orange, California, to shoot two films and become fast friends in the process. They crossed oceans and language barriers together, shared Korean and American barbecue, were surprised by their different yet the same working styles as filmmakers, and saw new worlds as well as their own worlds with new eyes.

Such was the result of a cross-cultural filmmaking exchange between Dodge College and the Seoul Institute of the Arts. Born from meetings started last year between Dean Bob Bassett, Professor Janell Shearer, and faculty of the Seoul Institute of the Arts, the first exchange took place this year under the supervision of Chapman Professor Michael Kowalski and Seoul Institute Professors Jihun Chang and Ho-Jung Kang.

The films, which will be completed this fall, concern a Korean grocer and the tension he feels working with his African-American employee and the tension between tradition and desire among three siblings who are about to inherit their father’s property. The students worked together over a five-week period to shoot scripts that were developed over the previous semester especially for this project.

For the students, the biggest surprise was how much they had in common. “The thing I took away most is how it’s just not that different,” says producer Stephanie Altishin (BFA Film Production, ’09). “Yes, the language is different and the way they make films and teach filmmaking is different, but they have the same goals we do. They want to make films that mean something. We’re all kids trying to make a difference, through film.”