Tiger Spirit

Korea is a divided nation. The psychic scar shared by families divided during the Korean War in the 1950s is symbolized by the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing communist North from capitalist South. Along this infamous border, filmmaker Min Sook Lee begins a revelatory, emotion-charged journey into Korea's broken heart, exploring the rhetoric and realism of reunification through the extraordinary stories of ordinary people. Lee joins one man's quest to prove the tiger, a symbol of resilience in Korean mythology, still lives in the DMZ. But Lee delves deeper than symbols, asking the crucial question-how will the two Koreas be put back together? In the South, we meet elderly Koreans waiting for news of relatives and young defectors haunted by memories of escape. In the North, we visit an inter-Korean economic project and gain unprecedented access to a state-sanctioned family reunion. An eloquent tale of longing and hope, Tiger Spirit is an unforgettable portrait of Korea at a crossroads.

La Corée est une nation divisée. La cicatrice psychique que portent les familles déchirées par la guerre de Corée au cours des années 1950 est symbolisée par la zone démilitarisée (DMZ) qui sépare le Nord communiste du Sud capitaliste. Longeant cette frontière tristement célèbre, la réalisatrice Min Sook Lee entreprend un voyage révélateur et empreint d'émotion au cœur même de la Corée brisée où elle explore la rhétorique et le réalisme de la réunification dans les histoires extraordinaires de gens ordinaires. Tandis qu'elle embrasse la quête d'un homme cherchant à prouver que le tigre, symbole de résilience dans la mythologie coréenne, est encore bien vivant dans la DMZ, la réalisatrice fouille néanmoins au-delà des symboles et pose une question cruciale : comment réunira-t-on les deux Corée? Au Sud, nous rencontrons des Coréens âgés vivant dans l'attente de nouvelles de leurs proches, ainsi que des jeunes transfuges hantés par le souvenir de leur fuite. Au Nord, nous visitions un projet économique entre les deux Corées et nous avons le privilège d'assister à une réunion familiale sanctionnée par l'État. Récit émouvant de nostalgie et d'espoir, L'esprit du tigre brosse un tableau inoubliable d'une Corée qui se trouve aujourd'hui à la croisée des chemins.

In a land beset by endless strife, honour can come at a high price - even for the innocent. Mena, a young, beautiful bride-to-be, lives in a small, remote village in northern Afghanistan, a harsh landscape that still shimmers with breathtaking colours. Respecting the deeply conservative local customs, she and her fiancé, Rahmat, have little contact yet cherish a special bond. The arrival of a Canadian film crew briefly opens a window on a new world for Mena, a foray beyond the boundaries of convention that leads her inexorably down a dangerous road. Directed by Nelofer Pazira, the star of Mohsen Makhmalbaf's acclaimed Kandahar and co-director of the documentary Return to Kandahar, Act of Dishonour is a compelling drama in which East and West, love and honour, modernity and custom clash with tragic consequences. In this rich microcosm of a fractured society, many stories intertwine, including those of Mejgan (played by Pazira), the Afghan-Canadian translator who befriends Mena, and thoughtful Ali, a member of an ethnic minority who wrestles with the prospect of eternal exile from his childhood home. Act of Dishonour shuns easy answers, challenging rigid moral paradigms and preconceptions on both sides of the cultural divide. This eloquent, nuanced portrait of life in Afghanistan is part lament against injustice, part testament to the spirit of a people who have survived decades of war.