Iris Ng – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

THE LAST OF THE SEA WOMEN – Review by Loren King

September 30, 2024October 5, 2024 Loren King Eunsoo Cho, haenyeo, haenyeos, Iris Ng, Jeju Island, Justin Turkowski, Malala Yousafzai, south korea, Sue Kim, The Last of the Sea Women

Director Sue Kim’s The Last of the Sea Women, set on Jeju Island in South Korea, opens with stunning underwater photography by the film’s team of Iris Ng, Eunsoo Cho and Justin Turkowski. The gorgeous, otherworldly scenes capture the work of the haenyeos, a group of women now in their 60s, 70s and 80s, who’ve spent a lifetime in the long tradition of diving for sea food in shallow waters by natural breathing only, with no oxygen tanks. It’s a lively and illuminating look at a vanishing way of life, since there are very few successors to carry on the storied haenyeos’ culture.

Festivals

HOT DOCS 2024: Feminist Wrap – Emma Badame reports

May 6, 2024May 6, 2024 Emma Badame Hot Docs 2024, Hot Docs International Film Festival, Iris Ng, toronto, Wet’suwet’en First Nation, Yintah

Of this year’s slate of 168 films, 54% of them featured women behind the camera. Many focussed in on lived experiences of those they admire (Helen and the Bear) or intriguing names both big and small (A Photographic Memory); others shone the spotlight on the oppressed or inspired (Nice Ladies), LGBTQ+ trailblazers (Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story), the people fighting for justice (The Sharp End of Peace) or just a better world (Once Upon a Time in a Forest), or just the consistently curious (Synchrony). As it does every year, the festival wrapped with the announcement of this year’s cohort of award winners. 15 prizes were handed out in recognition of outstanding Canadian and International contribution to the documentary field, nine of which went to female filmmakers