Cambodian-French filmmaker Davy Chou creates an intimate, unpredictable character study in Return to Seoul, which documents a young woman’s journey to find her biological family in South Korea. Ji-Min Park gives an excellent performance as the headstrong and defiant Freddie – a character that’s close to Chou’s heart. He speaks to us about how the truth is stranger than fiction.
“The story of comes from, was having its world premiere at a film festival in Korea. I was super excited to go to Korea, and then I received a phone call from a friend who I used to study with. At that time she would never talk about Korea – she had never been back there, and I didn’t talk about Cambodia as I’d never been there either. Strangely enough, at the age of 25 we both went to our countries of origin. She spent a while in Korea, and then came back to France thinking she would never go back to Korea. But when she heard I was going, she called and said she’d like to come with me. So we embarked on that journey together, and she warned me before, ‘We won't meet my father. I met him twice, but I don't want to see him.’ But then after two or three days in Korea, she told me, ‘I just texted my father, I’m seeing him tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?’ So we went on a bus drive similar to the one in the film, with a friend who we asked to come and translate for us. Two hours later, we’re facing her Korean father and grandma. It was the same feeling of awkwardness, dryness, heaviness – things that were impossible to totally express and frustration with being unable to communicate clearly. A lot of contradictory feelings, and we’re witnessing all that. It was just so strong. I took notes. I thought about it again after making (2016), and I talked to my friend about the idea and she was super positive about it. I’d been going to Korea a lot for work, and loved the country, so I said, ‘Okay, let’s do it. Let’s go.’
