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Johnny Ma’s 2024 film The Mother and the Bear tells the story of Sara, who finds herself in the unexpected role of caring for her daughter Sumi in the unfamiliar city of Winnipeg. Korean actor Kim Ho-jung brings Sara to life as a woman navigating not just a new culture but also the challenges of modern family dynamics.

The film begins with Sumi, a young piano teacher originally from Seoul, suddenly hospitalized after slipping on icy sidewalks in her Canadian home. With Sumi in an induced coma, her anxious mother Sara flies north from Korea. As she waits at Sumi’s bedside, Sara discovers her daughter has kept many secrets. Trying to ensure Sumi’s future, thoughtful but overwhelmed Sara impulsively signs her into online dating.

Through it all, the devoted mom shines in Kim’s nuanced performance. We see past stereotypes to understand Sara as a full human—confused yet determined,...

Johnny Ma‘s Canadian diaspora feature “The Mother and the Bear” packed the Royal Alexander Theater for its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival last week. The charming comedy follows the adventures of Sara (Kim Ho-jung), a Korean mother who flies over to Winnipeg, Canada for the first time. The circumstances of the visit are not quite opportune, however. Her daughter has fallen into a deep coma; the biting Winnipeg winter seeps into her bones; and worst of all, there seems to be no real Korean food wherever she goes. As Sara learns to adjust in this foreign land without family, she stumbles upon a handsome Korean boy – and his father, a restauranteur (Lee Won-jae) – in the neighborhood. One thing leads to another, and before she knows it, Sara is on the dating apps supposedly for her daughter’s sake.

We spoke to director Johnny Ma and actors Kim...

South Korean film festival also announces Wide Angle juries.

The 20th Busan International Film Festival (Biff) (Oct 1-10) has announced that Berlinale Panorama director Wieland Speck is to receive this year’s Korean Cinema Award.

The award is annually awarded to individuals who have contributed to the promotion of Korean Cinema to worldwide audiences.

Biff decided to award it this year to Speck who has screened a total of 29 Korean films in his 23 years at his post.

Speck’s selections included Im Kwon-taek’s Seopyonje (1994), and films by Ryoo Seungwan, E J-Yong, Lee Songhee-il, and Kim Ki-duk.

Speck said: “Korean cinema remains ever surprising, a vivid mirror of its diverse societal developments - which makes selecting for the Berlin International Film Festival so exciting.”

Past winners of the Korean Cinema Award include Cannes’ Gilles Jacob, Tokyo Filmex’s Hayashi Kanako and Film Society of the Lincoln Center’s Richard Pena.

Wide Angle Juries...

“Sunny” has been one of the biggest hits of the year in Korea, perhaps somewhat surprising given that it’s essentially a nostalgic comedy revolving around a middle aged woman reminiscing about her childhood. In the hands of writer director Kang Hyung Chul (“Speedy Scandal”), this fairly unremarkable premise is transformed into something truly special, and the film is easily one of the best and most life-affirming of 2011, as reflected in the fact that it pulled in over seven million admissions at the domestic box office. A critical as well as commercial success, the film also brought home Best Director at the Daejong Film Awards, and recently played the London Korean Film Festival, where it was similarly well received. Television actress Yoo Ho Jung plays straight-laced forty something housewife Na Mi who runs into high school friend Chun Hwa (Jin Hee Kyung, “Married to the Mafia”) after having not seen her for many years,...