Sisters on the Road

Colour, 35 mm
South Korea, 2008, 90 min
IP – International premiere
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

Two sisters who’ve long been separated meet up once again at their mother’s funeral. They are opposites in character due, among other things, to having different fathers. Older, earthy Myung-ju is a single mother who works at a fish market and lives at her mother’s house with her aunt. Younger, sophisticated Myung-eun long ago severed ties to the family, and she now lives a yuppie life in the city. The funeral, however, reawakens the impulse to seek out her father. She has an address on an old envelope to aid her in her quest, not to mention her sister, who remembers Myung-eun’s father from the time he lived with their mother. One of the most mature South Korean debuts of recent years expands the concept of the road movie into a journey during which it doesn’t matter where the characters physically go, but rather how they change internally. The movie’s original, precisely constructed screenplay is refreshing in its artful use of a melodramatic frame in order to depict the elusive situation hidden under its generic surface.

About the director

Boo Ji-young (b. 1971, South Korea) graduated in educational psychology from Korea’s prestigious Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, as well as from the Korean Academy of Film Arts. She made her first short movie, Spark, in 1997. In 2000-2001 she shot a trio of short DV/16 mm films, which were screened at a number of domestic festivals. Her fourth short film, A Drop of Clear Salty Liquid (Nunmul, 2002), took the Special Prize at the Daegu Independent Short Film Festival. Sisters on the Road is her debut feature.