A Letter from Kyoto
Kim Min-Ju
South Korea. 2022. 102 min

Hwa-ja has raised her three daughters by herself after her husband died. One day, Hye-young, the middle child, who dreams of becoming a writer, comes back to Yeongdo in Busan after having some mishaps in Seoul. Yeongdo is a lively neighborhood where a lot of foreigners move to; according to a myth, once you enter Yeongdo, you will have trouble leaving it. The eldest, Hye-jin, works to support her family financially and the youngest, Hye-joo, dreams of going to Seoul to study after she graduates from high-school. While spending time with her mother, Hye-young comes across a letter written in Japanese that arouses her curiosity. She starts to question Hwa-ja about her past and learns new stories she had never heard of. In the meantime, something in Hwa-ja’s heart that she had kept buried for decades slowly comes back up. “Sometimes, when you follow the past, you can take a step for- ward.”» Kim Min-ju.