South Korean-North Korean Matchmaking Doc Premieres At Sheffield Fest

EXCLUSIVE: In South Korea, a matchmaker is testing whether love can bridge a Cold War chasm.

Yujin Han, “a sharp, charismatic entrepreneur” who founded the matchmaking firm LoveStorya endeavors to pair North Korean refugee women with South Korean men, a romantic and political challenge explored in the documentary North South Man Woman. The film directed by Norwegian filmmaker and artist Morten Traavik and Sun Kim – a cultural mediator between the two Koreas – makes its world premiere Friday (June 20) in International Competition at Sheffield DocFest in the UK.

We have your first look at the film in the clip below.

A release about the project describes North South Man Woman as “an insightful, humorous, genre-defying exploration of love, longing, and identity, set in Korea… As Yujin navigates her roles as business owner, counsellor, and cultural bridge, she guides her clients through a minefield of social prejudice, emotional trauma, and ideological tension. Her own North-South marriage serves as the poster image for her work — but behind the scenes, her personal life begins to unravel, forcing her to confront the very challenges she helps others face.”

The release continues, “Filmed over five years, with rare access and powerful archival footage, North South Man Woman is a raw, layered, and unexpectedly playful look at love in the shadow of history — where personal and political borders collide in the most intimate of ways.”

Among the participants in the film – and a LoveStorya client – is Jaewu Jeong, a South Korean man who finds a mate in lovely North Korean refugee Hyoju Han.

“The first time I saw her, I thought she was a fairy who spoke our human language,” he gushes. “Perhaps not all men are like this but, generally speaking, when a man meets their ideal woman, wedding bells are already ringing in his head. It was like that with Hyoju – I knew the first time I saw her, my heart knew.”

The first time Hyoju saw Jaewu, however, she wasn’t quite so enraptured.

“Everyone has their ideal type and, to be honest, Jaewu fell a bit short of my expectations,” she confesses. “But after we got to know each other more, I saw what kind of person he was – the kind that would drive three hours right after work to take care of me when I was sick, by bringing me porridge and medicine. I was still new to the South and struggling a bit, so I was really touched by his acts. Love is love, and because his love for me was sincere, I wanted to meet him again.”

In addition to Friday’s world premiere, North South Man Woman will screen at Sheffield DocFest on Sunday (June 22). DocFest, the UK’s leading nonfiction festival, runs from June 18-23 in the South Yorkshire area of England.

Director Sun Kim says of the LoveStorya matchmaker, “I was drawn to Yujin’s story because we usually encounter the North Korean story as one full of trauma and hardship. There are numerous films and books detailing the harrowing tales of defectors who have escaped North Korea to freedom. But what happens after they arrive in South Korea? How do they find their happily ever after? And, is happiness or love possible despite the cultural differences between the two Koreas? I wanted to see these unicorns myself, flesh out and share their stories, and create an easier entry point into the tale of two Koreas that is laden with so much political and military drama.”

Director Morten Traavik has collaborated with North Korean artists and cultural authorities and is an “authorized cultural affairs liaison” for the secretive country led by hereditary ruler Kim Jong-un.

“Documentary filmmaking to me,” Traavik comments, “is a unique and irresistible mix of being a director, a researcher, a detective, a psychologist, a hunter-gatherer, an editor, and a storyteller – sometimes in different stages of the process, sometimes some or all at once.

“The human stories we have uncovered in North South Man Woman are in and of themselves fascinating and moving. But the dating and coupling of prospective life partners from both sides of the barbed wire is also like a microcosm of the Korean peninsula, with its divisions, military tensions, armed skirmishes and attempts at diplomacy.”

North South Man Woman is a production of Remont (Films) of Norway, in co-production with VFS Films (Latvia), and Mirror & Story (South Korea). Dogwoof is handling international sales.

Watch a clip from the documentary below. Beneath the clip, you can watch the trailer for North South Man Woman.