The screening for Dream Palace will be shown at TIFF Bell Lightbox 3.
South Korea2022112:00Korean with English Subtitles International PremiereDrama
Hye-jeong leaves a protest group of closely knit families, mourning the victims of an industrial accident, to which she also lost her husband. To move on with her life, she buys a sparkly new apartment with the settlement money, but things go awry when she notices the unit's construction defects that render her and her son without any usable water. When she attempts to get the problem fixed, an unexpected group stops her in the act: her new neighbours. Beyond being ostracized and called a traitor for accepting the settlement money, Hye-jeong must now stand up against her neighbours, who would do everything in their power to stop her from making the defects publicly known, for fear of their real estate getting devalued.
Having a place you can call your own in this day and age is a luxury, amid skyrocketing housing prices. That is why what seems very local and realistic in Dream Palace also resonates internationally. Seasoned actress Kim Sun-young of Three Sisters (2020) plays Hye-jeong, while the film makes a new discovery with Lee Yoon-ji, who puts up her most persuasive performance to date. The fresh yet ironic struggles between victims against victims will leave an unsettling aftertaste that tears one apart between conscience and the desperate need to survive.
– June Kim
Kim Sun-young
Lee Yoon-ji
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Busan International Film Festival, 2022
Ka Sung-moon 가성문
Ka Sung-moon was born in South Korea, studied film since high school, and is the winner of 2019 Korean Film Council’s screenplay competition. Dream Palace is his first feature following shorts Story about K (2006) and Mongrels (2017). Mongrels screened at several film festivals domestically and internationally, including the Brussels Short Film Festival.
13 Nov, 2022 5:00 pm
TIFF Bell Lightbox 3The screening for Dream Palace will be shown at TIFF Bell Lightbox 3.
RATED PG (RATING DESCRIPTION)
CONTENT WARNING
Violence, Coarse language, Smoking, drinking
Kiran, a first-generation Punjabi truck driver, is about to become a father, but he is preoccupied by questions and reflections on family, fatherhood, and responsibility.
Considering the need to keep creating within Asian Canadian cinema, this panel gathers filmmakers and artists to discuss the implications, complexities, and pressure one might face when delivering their second artistic work. Together, they offer tips, anecdotes, and lessons learned in bringing their stories into the foreground for the second time around.
These films do not shy away from difficult and layered stories, distant memories, and buried feelings. Our characters ground, trace, and reconnect pathways toward recognizing the resiliency within oneself through their roots and relations to the places around them.
Founded in Toronto in 1997, Reel Asian is Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival and a year-round cultural organization dedicated to championing Asian and Asian diasporic artists and storytellers. What began as a grassroots film festival has grown into a national platform supporting filmmakers and audiences through screenings, education, industry initiatives, artist development, and community programming presented across Toronto, the GTA, and online across Canada.
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Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 Canada
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info@reelasian.com
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