Fighter
Ajyal Competition, Ajyal at Vox - Ajyal Film Festival 2021
Jéro Yun / Feature Narrative / South Korea / 2020 / 103 min / Colour / DCP / In Korean / Arabic, English subtitles / MENA Premiere
Rated: Parental guidance is advised for viewers under the age of 13. Individuals under the age of 13 are not admitted into cinemas unless accompanied by an individual aged 18 or older.
Synopsis
After a courageous escape from North Korea, Jina spends some time in a social inclusion facility in the south before moving to a small studio in Seoul. Free from the regime that controlled every aspect of her life, she takes the first tentative steps towards independence by taking a job as a cleaner. Money she desperately needs in order to rescue her father, who is still trapped in the north. While working at a local gym, she notices female boxers as they train. Awakening a fighting spirit inside her, Jina decides to enter the ring and compete. However, as any first-generation immigrant can attest, Jina’s fight is not confined to the ring.
At every corner, she faces challenges from isolation and discrimination to trouble gaining employment, potential exploitation, and the persistent culture shock of living in a modern capitalist economy. Burdened by a sense of abandonment and displacement born of her mother’s desertion when she was only twelve, Jina finds herself battling internally as well as externally. Seong-mi Lim, who portrays Jina, gives an award-winning performance in this confronting drama about a refugee’s fight for freedom where few seem to be in her corner.
About the Director
Born in Busan, South Korea, Jéro Yun studied art, photography and film at the ENSAD in Nancy and Le Fresnoy in Paris. His short documentary ‘Promise' (2011) won the Grand Prize at the Asiana International Short Film Festival, and his omnibus short ‘The Pig’ (2103) screened at Cannes and Busan. His feature documentary ‘Mrs. B. A North Korean Woman’ (2016) won the best documentary award at Moscow Film Festival and Zurich Film Festival. In 2018, his debut feature film ‘Beautiful Days’ opened the Busan International Film Festival.
Credits
- Director
- Jéro Yun
- Screenwriter
- Jéro Yun
- Producer
- Kim Min-kyoung
- Editor
- Jéro Yun
- Production Designer
- Han Ju Ye-seul
- Executive Producer
- Mo Sung-jin
- Cinematographer
- Lim Chang-wook
- Sales Company
- M-Line Distribution
- Production Company
- Haegrimm Pictures
- Sound
- Kim Dong-han
- Mixing
- Seo Kyeong-won
- Distributor
- M-Line Distribution
- Cast
- Lim Seong-mi, Baek Seo-bin, Oh Kwang-rok