London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Documentary screening: Daniel Kim’s Halmoni

The second screening in the KCC’s Living Memories season of documentaries is Daniel Kim’s debut feature.

Living Memories season: Halmoni

with pre-recorded Q+A
Dir: Daniel Kim (2017, 65 mins)
Date: Thursday 4 August 2022, 7pm
Venue:
KCCUK | Grand Buildings | 1-3 Strand | London WC2N 5BW | | [Map]

Tickets: Free | Register here
Halmoni

Jo Ok Sim, the Halmoni of the title, reflects on her life as she tends the flowers in her nursery farm at the southernmost tip of Argentina, Ushuaia. Arriving here in 1974 with her schoolteacher husband, he noticed that nobody grew lettuce, and persuaded the government to give him some land so he could try. This is the story of how one unassuming family changed the landscape of this beautiful but remote region. Made by her grandson, director Daniel Kim, this personal, understated film weaves home movies and photographs through observational cinematography, to tell the story of their adventure, and how the current generations preserve their Korean identity. Daniel Kim’s first documentary feature is a sensitive, loving, homage to his grandmother that will move audiences, as he reveals a woman who is as resilient and beautiful as the orchards she says can, ‘grow anywhere.’

Paula Maguire