We continue with our list of feature films that you shouldn’t miss at the Seoul Independent Film Festival, running from November 28 to December 6, 2024, in Seoul, South Korea.

K-Number by JO Seyoung – South Korea | 2024 – 112 minutes

Mioka, who was adopted from Korea to the United States as a child, has attempted to find her roots multiple times but failed repeatedly. Just as she was about to give up searching for her parents, she learns about ‘Banet’ from other adoptees, a Korean women’s group that helps overseas adoptees find their roots, and enlists for their help. As Mioka and Banet follow the adoption papers to trace her roots, they discover that most of the adoption documents are either inaccurate or hidden. Documents that are barely obtained after multiple requests, inconsistent information across different papers, all hinder Mioka’s search for her parents. Will Mioka be able to find her parents? Mioka and Banet comes to face an absurd truth beyond their mission of finding parents. (SIFF 2024)

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Merely Known as Something Else by JO Heeyoung – South Korea | 2024 – 146 minutes

Soojin, Inju, and Yoojung each have unique connections with Jungho. In the wake of his sudden disappearance, the lives of these three women unravel and intertwine. Soojin, Jungho’s current girlfriend, is having an affair with Hoonsung. Inju, who secretly admires Jungho, discovers she may have a terminal illness which prompts her to confess her feelings. Yoojung, Jungho’s ex-girlfriend, struggles with unresolved guilt over Jungho’s past suicide attempt, causing dissonance in her current relationship with Wooseok. (SIFF 2024)

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My Missing Aunt by YANG Juyeon – South Korea | 2024 – 78 minutes

On a winter night, Juyeon receives a call from her father. In his drunken voice, he leaves strange remarks, “Don’t become like your aunt who committed suicide.” Stunned by the family secret, she starts chasing the traces of her aunt, who resembles her strikingly. Juyeon breaks the suffocating silence and recreates her aunt’s lost voice through animation.(SIFF 2024)

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PIG THAT SURVIVED FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE by HUR Bum-wook – South Korea | 2024 – 105 minutes

‘Pig H’, who alone survived foot-and-mouth disease by sheer will, makes a resolution. To avoid dying like trash, he must become a human being. He is convinced that it is the only way, to become completely human, body and face. He is prepared to pay any price, to give up all that he has.

‘Choi Jeongseok’, who has been constantly bullied since childhood, makes a resolution. He will give up this unbearable human life and become a beast instead. A perfect primitive beast that is true to its instincts, one that cannot even wish for death. He is prepared to give up all that he has. (SIFF 2024)

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Silver Apricot by JANG Man-min – South Korea | 2023 – 122 minutes

Jung-seo, an artist who draws vampire webtoons, goes to her father Young-joo, who runs a restaurant in Mukho Port in Gangwon-do, with a saxophone that her mother Mi-young had kept as an IOU, to collect an apartment down payment. There, Jung-seo gets tangled up in the goals and dreams of her unfamiliar family members. As she confronts her roots and shaky present, Jung-seo makes a choice for herself. (SIFF 2024)

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Tango at Dawn by KIM Hyo-eun – South Korea | 2024 – 117 minutes

Ji-won, who had cut ties with everyone, takes a job at a factory where lodging and meals are provided. She finds her roommate Ju-hee, a friendly girl who dances ‘Tango’ all the time, both burdensome and intriguing. Despite being new to factory life, Ji-won is quickly promoted to a team lead and gets somehow involved in Hyun-woo’s accident. Ji-won gets annoyed when Han-byeol, the one who actually caused the accident, gets away with it, leaving Ju-hee bear all the blame. (SIFF 2024)

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The Final Semester by LEE Ran-hee – South Korea | 2024 – 105 minutes

In the final semester of vocational high school, Chang-woo applies for but fails to get an internship at a mid-sized company for employment. His homeroom teacher recommends a small company that offers both college admission and military service exemption, and Changwoo starts his internship there. While he can endure the physical difficulties of his first work experience, the psychological pressure is harder to bear. His supervisor (Deputy Manager Song) compares inexperienced Chang-woo with his highly skilled colleague (Seongmin). To break free from Song’s influence, Chang-woo learns welding on site. His supervisor changes to Team Leader Han, and Chang-woo gains recognition for his welding. He feels satisfaction in buying chicken for his family and gifts for his sibling with his first internship payment. However, the military service exemption opportunity is given only to his colleague, and moments carelessly overlooked on site lead to unexpected consequences. (SIFF 2024)

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The Meryl Streep Project by PARK Hyo-Sun – South Korea | 2024 – 103 minutes | World Premiere

What began merely as an entertaining performance, the ‘Meryl Streep Project’ has transformed into an icon of resistance, exposing the realities of women’s rights in South Korea. However, following the COVID-19 pandemic, the project has taken an unexpected turn. (SIFF 2024)

The Sense of Violence by KIM Mooyoung – South Korea | 2024 – 116 minutes

The film traces the trajectory of cinema by uncovering the particular intersections shared by the historical contexts of anti-communist art during the Park Chung-hee regime. Notably, the censorship and intervention on anti-communist film images by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency symbolically reveals the presence of power and ideology that exists between image and reality. The images reproduced by power in the name of ideology mirror reality but paradoxically also intervene in it. The massacre scenes, which frequently appear as clichés in anti-communist films, impact the reality in which the families of massacre victims, long forgotten, are still living. (SIFF 2024)

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The Waves of Winter by Lee Han Ju – South Korea | 2024 – 114 minutes

Moonyoung who works as a train driver in Seoul, endures life in pain due to depression after witnessing fatal accidents. One day, she receives a call from her old friend Jonghyun, and heads towards her hometown she had been trying to forget. Then there is Sangwoo, who works as an elementary school teacher. Sangwoo too begins his belated journey following Moonyoung. (SIFF 2024)

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Time to Be Strong by NAMKOONG Sun – South Korea | 2024 – 99 minutes

Three friends, former members of an idol group who had faded out of the spotlight, embark on a belated school trip to Jeju Island, driven by lingering regrets about missing their school trip back in their student days. However, the journey they had been planning for a long time starts going awry from the very first day. (SIFF 2024)

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Waterdrop by CHOI Jong-yong – South Korea | 2024 – 108 minutes

Thirteen-year-old Su-yeon is left alone after her gradmother passes away. Su-yeon’s friends and neighbors, whom she hoped would take her in, gradually turn their backs on her. Faced with being placed in a childcare facility if she can’t find a guardian, Su-yeon notices a couple who have adopted a seven-year-old girl named Seon-yul, immersed in happiness. Su-yeon tries to get close to Seon-yul, but she finds Seon-yul’s behavior somewhat suspicious. (SIFF 2024)

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When This Summer is Over by JANG Byung-ki – South Korea | 2024 – 115 minutes

Ki-jun’s family moves to a village in the countryside where a new town development plan is in place. While completing the transfer procedures at his new school, Ki-jun’s sneakers go missing. The suspected shoe thieves are brothers from a well-known broken family in the neighborhood. Ki-jun’s family also suspects them but decides to let it go, thinking it’s just a pair of shoes. (SIFF 2024)

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For more information, please visit: https://siff.kr/en/siff/