Kim Bo-ra
138 mins
Seoul, 1994: fourteen-year-old Eun-hee’s chaotic life is bearable thanks to her secret boyfriend and best friend at Chinese class. But at home, her parents are overbearing and distant, while her brother beats her. Eun-hee’s world changes when a new, free-spirited Chinese tutor arrives at the school, taking a genuine interest in her feelings, and teaching her about things beyond her own experience. But for Eun-hee, even the good times seem like they won’t last forever. This warmly nostalgic coming-of-age story uses the historical backdrop of South Korea in the summer of 1994 to evoke the teenager’s feelings of discovery and change. In her debut feature, director Kim Bo-ra pays tribute to the confusion and joys of adolescence, assisted by a captivating performance from Park Ji-hu in her first leading role.
Kim Bo-ra is a filmmaker whose short film The Recorder Exam won numerous prizes including a Student Film Award from the Directors Guild of America. Her debut feature House of Hummingbird premiered at Busan where it won the NETPAC Award and the KNN Audience Award.