북쪽 바람 (and the sun)

A tragic teenage love story set in the divided country of Korea.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Samuel Kiehoon Lee
Producer: Chae Myung-Jin

Filmmaker’s statement

My connection to North Korea started long before I was born.

The country that is currently called the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (a.k.a. North Korea) was where both my parents were born and raised.Over a decade after the Korean conflict they immigrated to Canada where I was born.

I grew up understanding that the people of Korea had been divided by war and I have adopted my parent’s hopes and dreams for the reunification of the two nations. I have never considered North Korea the ‘enemy.’

It was my intent to create not only an emotionally engaging text about a troubled teenager learning about love and hate, but also make a subtle comment on the various foreign policy engagements towards the isolated country of North Korea. The moral of the parable makes the obvious statement that compassion makes for a much better pacifier than aggression.

The title of the film is taken from Aesop’s fable of The North Wind and the Sun from which the Sunshine Policy’s name was taken.

About Samuel Kiehoon Lee

Splitting his time between Seoul and Toronto, Samuel’s features and shorts have travelled the world and won several awards including the popular How to Make Kimchi: According to My Kun Umma which currently has over 150,000 views on YouTube.

A consummate Gemini, thematically Samuel’s films often delve into the duality of life regardless of the genre he is working in.

During his time at the Canadian Film Centre he shot Rattan, a comedy/horror about a killer bicycle basket.

From documentary to experimental videos, Samuel claims he hasn’t met a genre he didn’t like.

Samuel is currently working on Gyopo, a feature-length project about Korean diaspora living in Seoul.