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KIM JONG-BOON OF WANGSHIMNI

By Jin-Yeoul KIM

Biography - Completed 2021

Festivals
& Awards

Busan IFF 2021

Wide Angle - Documentary Competition

- Year of production
- 2021
- Genres
- Biography, Documentary
- Countries
- KOREA (South)
- Duration
- 102 mn
- Director(s)
- Jin-Yeoul KIM
- Synopsis
- The life of Kim Jong-boon, who has been a peddler in Wangshimni for 50 years, is admirable. At the age of 83, she no longer has to earn a living at her street stall, but she keeps working because she still has customers. The same goes for her customers: because Kim Jong-boon is there, they come to her. Kim Jong-boon′s street stall, where people squat and share steamed corn and grilled rice cakes, seems like the smallest and simplest paradise on earth. To overcome the sorrow of her daughter′s death, Kim kept her place in the streets, imagining the world that her daughter had dreamed of. Eventually we learn that she is the mother of the late activist Kim Kuejeong. Director Kim Jin-yeoul, who has keen eyes for those hidden in the shadows of our society, filmed this documentary, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the death of Kim Kuejeong, in an unexpected way. It is an often heartbreaking but warm tribute to a wonderful life.