Synopsis

In the near-deserted town of Dalpodong, on the verge of complete extinction, 98-year-old Malbun Lee is its last remaining resident. Her days are spent quietly, leaning on walls to support her frail body as she tends to a small vegetable garden in front of her house, awaiting the end of her life. One night, a piercing scream awakens her. Following the sound to the communal bathroom of a nearby apartment building, she encounters Jia, a desperate 17-year-old girl who has come to abandon her unborn child. Drawing from a lifetime of experience, Malbun helps Jia deliver the baby safely. However, unable to accept her reality, Jia leaves the newborn behind and flees. Faced with a crying, feverish infant fighting for its life, Malbun embarks on the longest journey of her life. With fading consciousness and a body barely able to take a step, she sets out to save the abandoned child.

Director's Comment

A Story of Hope for a Society Grappling with Aging, Low Birthrates, and Regional Decline South Korea is currently facing a demographic cliff: 89 regions have been designated as depopulating areas, the national fertility rate hit an all-time low of 0.7 in 2023, and 18.9% of the population is now elderly. While the media often underscores the severity of this crisis, such reports are increasingly consumed as fleeting, sensationalized content on platforms like YouTube. I realized, at some point, that I too had begun viewing these issues with a cynical detachment. This realization became the foundation for 'HOOING'. I felt the urgent need for a deeper understanding and a message of hope. At the heart of 'HOOING' is Malbun, a 98-year-old woman who takes painful, determined steps to save a new life in an abandoned town. Her cries, born from the last reserves of her strength, are more than the echoes of an animated drama—they are a call to action, a plea for renewal. Through this story, I hope to transcend the despair of statistics and inspire a vision of life and hope for a society standing at the crossroads of extinction and revival.

Staff

Program Note

Life is made up of a series of unexpected chance events, like the meeting between a girl who embraces life and an old woman waiting for the end alone in an old apartment on the verge of collapse. The old woman who welcomes death sacrifices her remaining life to save someone else. This paradoxical situation asks us what it is that we must hold onto until the end, even in the final moments of life. There is the saying, “Hope affects the present rather than the future.” We are all part of that hope, each through one another.

KIM Changsoo