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"Exceptional Korean drama ... emotionally devastating. Five stars." – SBS
When 13-year-old Han Gong-ju is forcibly transferred from her rural school to another far away in the city, it's clear that something dangerous hangs in her past. Welcomed into her new home and finding salvation in song, Han starts to rebuild her shattered life, but some truths can only be escaped for so long.
Fresh from breaking box-office records in Korea and award-winning festival runs in Busan, Marrakech and Rotterdam (where it won the Tiger Award), Han Gong-ju is the assured debut feature from writer/director Lee Su jin. Handling the most delicate of subject matters with rare insight and an uncommon narrative grace, this is socially conscious filmmaking of the highest order, and a remarkable feat of storytelling unafraid to visit the darkest of places.
"Han Gong-ju is outstanding in mise-en scene, image, sound, editing and performance. I have a lot to learn from this movie and I can't wait to see Lee Su jin's next film." – Martin Scorsese, Marrakech Film Festival jury president