Busan’s Asian Project Market introduces the latest feature of Joe Hae-young, the South Korean director produced by Park Se-jin, “The Arrival of Water.” The project explores sadness, linguistic and cultural dislocations through stories rooted in both Korean and Japanese contexts.
Previous works include “The Continuing Land” (2022) and “Simply known as something else,” both screened in Busan, Joe said her new film idea began with her grandmother’s stroke-induced voice disorder. “My grandfather was the only one who could really understand her fragmentary words. After he passed away, I pondered the isolation she was left behind,” she explains. Her own experiences further shaping the direction of the film by living abroad and confronting the “interlinguistic space.” In her vision, water symbolizes “gestures of connection in the face of loss” and “the possibility between two languages.”
The director frames the historical and linguistic relationships between within Korea and Japan, navigating inherited trauma and incomplete communication. “What interests me most is the gap: the moment when words fail and meaning slips,” Joe says. “The words that cannot be translated can become a new kind of language.”
Producer Park, who previously worked with Joe as “known as something else,” said he was drawn to the director’s ability to overlay emotional depth on a seemingly simple story. “Through these experiences, I have come to understand the ‘gaps’ of languages. Not only as a challenge, but as a space where new meanings can emerge. So I was particularly drawn to the “arrival of water.”
The film is developed as a joint production of Korea and Japan with major production and post-production in Korea, with location shooting and casting in Japan. Park emphasized the importance of looking for partners from the development stage to reflect the cultural nuances of the story. While fundraising remains a challenge for intimate, reflective dramas, Park believes its quiet strength resonates with international festivals and distributors.
“The main goal at APM is to find strong co-production partners,” says Park. “We are looking for collaborators who understand the landscapes of Asian and European art houses and respect the director’s artistic vision.”
Joe’s “arrival,” which has returned to Biff for the third year in a row, aims to bridge the individual and the universal, embody both the resonance of local and intercultural resonance.
