Screening
International Tertiary Students Group (Short Film) Finalist
A Distant Spring
Kan Po Yi (Chung-Ang University)
South Korea / 30'00'' / In Korean, Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles
“Where are you from?”
For Ji-won, who was born and raised in South Korea to ethnic Korean-Chinese parents, this question has never been easy to answer.
When a government land acquisition forces the relocation of her grandmother’s grave, Ji-won and her estranged father, Seong-ho, return to China’s Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture to attend the reburial. There, they uncover the grandmother’s final wish: to be laid to rest in her hometown of Chongjin, a city in North Korea.
Determined to fulfill his mother’s wish, Seong-ho insists on carrying her ashes back to North Korea, a decision that leads to conflict with relatives and culminates in his impulsive theft of the remains. Seeking a legal route, the father and daughter turn to a travel agency in hopes of joining a tour to North Korea, only to be rejected due to their South Korean citizenship.
At the agency, a mysterious young woman quietly observes them and unexpectedly offers her help. As she enters their journey, the trip move closer to the border, where the growing sense of danger exposes long-suppressed tensions between father and daughter—conflicts rooted in nationhood, identity, and belonging.
Following a grandmother’s last wish across forbidden borders, the film traces a journey in search of home, memory, and the meaning of who we are.
For Ji-won, who was born and raised in South Korea to ethnic Korean-Chinese parents, this question has never been easy to answer.
When a government land acquisition forces the relocation of her grandmother’s grave, Ji-won and her estranged father, Seong-ho, return to China’s Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture to attend the reburial. There, they uncover the grandmother’s final wish: to be laid to rest in her hometown of Chongjin, a city in North Korea.
Determined to fulfill his mother’s wish, Seong-ho insists on carrying her ashes back to North Korea, a decision that leads to conflict with relatives and culminates in his impulsive theft of the remains. Seeking a legal route, the father and daughter turn to a travel agency in hopes of joining a tour to North Korea, only to be rejected due to their South Korean citizenship.
At the agency, a mysterious young woman quietly observes them and unexpectedly offers her help. As she enters their journey, the trip move closer to the border, where the growing sense of danger exposes long-suppressed tensions between father and daughter—conflicts rooted in nationhood, identity, and belonging.
Following a grandmother’s last wish across forbidden borders, the film traces a journey in search of home, memory, and the meaning of who we are.
