바르도

On the shores of Jeju Island, a fierce group of South Korean divers fight to save their vanishing culture from looming threats.

Jeju-do is the largest of Korean islands and lies between Korea and Japan. There, for hundreds of years, women dive without breathing apparatus, to the ocean floor and collect shellfish, octopus, and urchins that they sell. The divers are in their sixties and seventies and their daughters do not want to inherit their work, lifestyle, and health problems that go with diving. As a filmmaker I was privileged to meet many of these women and dive with them. Their stories of hardship and pride confirmed my desire to record this unique and ancient tradition.

Everglow begins with the cute struggle of Kyung-hoon (Ji Hyun-woo), who visited Jeju to make a documentary about Jin-ok (Ko Doo-sim), a female diver. Kyunghoon’s work becomes a sincere mission for the souls buried in the deep sea and mountains.

A girl who went missing after an accident returns 10 years later and reunites with her grandmother.

Yeong-joo, a former synchronized swimming athlete goes to Jeju Island to put together a synchronized swimming team for a performance. She slowly befriends the haenyeo, or female divers, and gradually begins to fit into their way of life.

Na-young works at a post office and is sick and tired of being around her shamefully unyielding mother and her pushover father who's excessively nice. The only thing that she can look forward to is her trip abroad in a few days. But one day, her father leaves home without any notice. Her mother doesn't care what happens to him and doesn't care to look for him. Na-young has no choice but to give up her dream trip abroad and to search for her father instead. Once she arrives at her parents' hometown, Na-young is shocked to meet someone she'd never expect, even in her dreams.

Hae-jin, 29, struggles to adapt to life in Seoul and returns to her hometown of Jeju. There, she reunites with her mother, Ok-ran, and her grandmother, Kang-ja, who has spent her life as a haenyeo. Hae-jin decides to become a haenyeo, but Ok-ran strongly opposes it. The conflict between them intensifies, while Kang-ja is diagnosed with dementia.

During the 1970s, in Kunchon, there were women divers who were able to dive without equipment, including two best friends Choon-ja and Jin-sook, Jin-sook's brother and Hammer. They always collected seafood under water for living. But, as fewer factories started to be built near the beach, the women divers started to have trouble with what they were doing for living. Without any choice, the ship crews decided to join the smuggling business in the water to seek a way for their living. But the smuggling business in their village got too big for Jin-sook's family to handle and the peaceful village was gradually broken.

Seven months pregnant and apprehensive of the effect motherhood would have on her career as a professional freediver, Kimi Werner took a trip to the island of Jeju in South Korea to meet her heroes, the haenyeo – a group of freediving and fishing women often regarded as Korea’s first working mother’s whose culture dates back centuries.

In Jeju Province, located off the southern coast of Korea, are the women of the sea, those who hold breath for life. These women still exist and they still dive the old way, without tanks. They go into the waters of 10- to 20-meter depth to harvest seaweed and shellfish to make a living. They make a living in the same sea, but each haenyeo’s sea of life is different. The community is divided into three tiers- Group A, B and C, based on skills and capabilities. One’s rank is determined by sum or breath. Sum, is pre-determined at birth. Therefore, sum is desired. However, the ocean is harsh. May you desire! But seek what is not yours, the ocean will devour you. Life, for these women of the sea, is about holding one’s breath, and containing and controlling one’s desire. The film is a six year record of the lives of the haenyeos in Udo, an islet in the province of Jeju, known to be the birthplace of haenyeo. It is a close look into the lives that stand on the boundary of life and death.