Han Gong-ju

Korea 2013, 112 min, English subtitles
The teacher’s mother doesn’t understand why her son brings the girl, a former student of his, to live with her. The 17-year-old Han Gong-Ju is distraught and withdrawn. At her new school, too, she keeps to herself. The grumpy old woman and the constantly downcast girl make an unlikely pair who somehow manages to find common ground. Little by little, Gong-Ju also opens up to another girl at school, and she joins the school choir. But then the appalling “incident” for which she was banned from her old school and town becomes known. Can she, alone, put the past behind her?
Tiger Award International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014

Lee Su-jin (*1977) has been represented at Korean film festivals for years with short films. Honors he has received include the prize for Best Film at the 2007 Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival for “Enemy’s Apple.” His long-film debut, “Han Gong-ju” (2013), has been recognized worldwide.