Screening of the Documentary Feature Film "Earl." directed by Ty Kim

50 George Square, The University of Edinburgh

50 George Square, EH8 9JU, Newington, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

The Documentary Feature Film "Earl." Team hosted by the Samuel Beckett Society Conference 2025

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A Los Angeles-based director, producer and writer, Ty Kim earned six Emmys, the National Edward R. Murrow Award, nine Golden Mikes, the Associated Press award for California, and other awards. Ty worked for years at CBS News with Mike Wallace and Ed Bradley at the television news magazine "60 Minutes" where Ty served as an Associate Producer, Co-Producer, and Producer on over fifty pieces for the broadcast. He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and his undergraduate degree at Stanford University.Ty served on the national board of directors of The Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra Foundation (HROF), and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI), and is the founding Emeritus Board Chair and former Chief Operating Officer of The Aronson Cello Festival (ACF) honoring the late Lev Aronson who mentored a generation of artists. In his current non-profit role, Ty heads The Andrew B. Kim and Wan Kyun Rha Kim Foundation, Inc. which has supported the arts and education for thirty-five years.For his films, television and consulting work, Ty runs a privately held production company in Los Angeles.Ty is married to Felicia Paik Kim. They have two young adult children. Ty’s son, Ryan, graduated from Harvard College in 2023. Ty’s daughter, Sabrina, is a junior at the University of California, Berkeley. Ty’s wife, Felicia, is a former columnist and staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and a former senior editor for Forbes. She serves as the Director of Admissions at the Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles.The Mission of "Earl."For the first time, the story of Earl Kim (1920-1998) will be shared with the public.The award-winning documentary feature film "Earl." profiles this brilliant American composer and Harvard professor. The film's director conducted over thirty-three interviews on three continents, including lifetime artists such as the violinist Itzhak Perlman who recorded an album of the composer's violin concerto with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The project took more than two years to complete.Earl's story starts in the scorching fields of Dinuba, a Central California farming community, where Earl's parents, two Korean immigrants, picked vegetables and fruit. Earl's parents tended to their three sons, living in poverty. The youngest child, Earl, learned the keyboard with free piano lessons from the church organist who admitted after one year that Earl needed to find a teacher who could further help him with real training.The family uprooted and moved to Los Angeles. That's where Earl was often chased down and beaten up while living in a downtown multi-racial neighborhood. Earl's mother found her son a Los Angeles piano teacher named Homer Grunn who was a composer and touring artist. After hearing Earl play, Grunn agreed to give Earl free piano lessons for seven years. Through grit and determination, Earl lifted himself out of his surroundings by first enrolling at Los Angeles City Community College. When he heard the modern composer Arnold Schoenberg was teaching at UCLA, Earl transferred and became a student of one of the greatest composers and teachers of the modern era. He later transferred to UC Berkeley where he studied with Ernest Bloch and Roger Sessions.Earl's life and career was interrupted by war. In 1941, he was drafted and served as a United States Army Air Force Combat Intelligence Officer. Earl endured harsh racism and threats on his life from his own servicemen. He earned the rank of captain and sharpshooter. He flew over the ashes of Nagasaki one day after the atomic bomb was dropped. This harrowing experience changed his view on the world and as an artist. He later co-founded Musicians Against Nuclear Arms (MANA) with his wife in 1981 and led the organization for four years.Earl's music has been compared to Bartok, Stravinsky, Shostakovich and other major composers of the 20th century. Earl was a man of principal. He endured harsh racism and threats upon his life while serving his country--those threats came from his fellow servicemen. When Earl returned home after the war, he stood up to McCarthyism by refusing to sign the Loyalty Oath, defying UC Berkeley's demands. It cost him his job. Earl went on to teach at Princeton for 15 years, and Harvard for 23 years.Notably, Earl visited Paris in 1965, and convinced Samuel Beckett (who later won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969) to allow the writer's texts to be set to the composer's music, resulting in a daring, innovative and startling form of composition that included chamber music, song, the spoken word, dance and even film. Earl had found his artistic voice. Earl's magnum opus "Exercises en Route" (composed from 1963-1970) debuted at Harvard University.The documentary "Earl" has been invited around the country and abroad to standing room only audiences at Carnegie Hall, Princeton, Rice, and many other locations. On March 25, 2025, the Korea Institute and the Department of Music at Harvard are hosting the film to be screened on campus.The story of the American composer Earl Kim defies categorization. It crosses boundaries from music to education to politics to war to even weapons of mass destruction. Most of all, it is a story about the enduring power of art to transform lives. It is a story about a rebel. A pioneer. An innovator. A fearless man of principle. A teacher who taught a generation of young artists who rose to global prominence. It is also the story of facing one's cultural identity."Earl." is the story of a classic underdog who through education and the arts managed to overcome the odds. Most of all, the lessons of his integrity and as a man of peace and of the arts are more relevant today than ever.