KFN Summer Nights: House of Hummingbird

  • Director

    Kim Bora

  • Cast

    Park Ji-hu, Kim Sae-byuk, Jeong In-gi, Lee Seung-yeon

  • Genre

  • Release Date

    2018

  • Runtime

    138 mins

  • Cert

    12A

  • Awards

    Berlin International Film Festival (2019) - Grand Prix for Best Film in Generation 14+
    Busan International Film Festival (2018) - Winner NETPAC Award, Winner KNN Audience Award
    Tribeca Film Festival (2019) - Best Actress in an International Narrative Feature Film, Best Cinematography in an International Narrative Feature Film, Best International Narrative Feature
    Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival (2019) - Best Feature Film Award, FIPRESCI Jury Award for Best Feature Film

In a rapidly expanding Seoul in 1994, Eun-hee’s chaotic life is bearable thanks to her secret boyfriend and best friend at Chinese class. At home, however, her parents are overbearing and distant, focused more on scolding her than addressing their own issues. Eun-hee’s world changes when a new Chinese teacher arrives who takes an interest in her feelings and teaches her about things beyond her own experience. But even the good things in her life seem like they won’t last forever. A new friend’s advances complicate her perception of self, and there is the small concern of a mysterious lump behind her ear.

Fifteen-year-old Park Ji-hu takes on her first leading role with grace, while Bora Kim’s autobiographical touch imbues House of Hummingbird with loving tributes to the joys and confusion of adolescence, using a notorious summer in Korean history to exemplify a period of profound discovery and change.

Chris Cassingham