Bardo

Daughter of the Sea

August 2023 •English

Battling deep depression, Jaeyoun returns to her roots on the island of Marano, South Korea, to visit her family of female free fivers known as haenyeo. To her surprise, she finds a connection to nature and her ancestors that literally saves her life.

Lessons from Jeju

May 2020 •English

Seven months pregnant and apprehensive of the effect motherhood would have on her career as a professional freediver, Kimi Werner took a trip to the island of Jeju in South Korea to meet her heroes, the haenyeo – a group of freediving and fishing women often regarded as Korea’s first working mother’s whose culture dates back centuries.

Smugglers

July 2023 •Korean

During the 1970s, in Kunchon, there were women divers who were able to dive without equipment, including two best friends Choon-ja and Jin-sook, Jin-sook's brother and Hammer. They always collected seafood under water for living. But, as fewer factories started to be built near the beach, the women divers started to have trouble with what they were doing for living. Without any choice, the ship crews decided to join the smuggling business in the water to seek a way for their living. But the smuggling business in their village got too big for Jin-sook's family to handle and the peaceful village was gradually broken.

Legend of the Waterflowers

August 2023 •Korean

Hyun Soonjik is the oldest living resident in Jeju Island. A natural diver with good skills, she became a high rank Haenyeo at an early age and has led an astonishing career of diving for eighty-seven years. Though she looks more comfortable when she is under water than when she is at home, she quit diving in October, 2020, and goes to sea every day, missing her old life as a diver. When she does, Chae Jiae who has been disciplined by Hyun, accompanies her and looks after her. Together they head for Deulmoolyeo, a place that only Hyun can find, to see the water flowers that bloom under water.

The Last of the Sea Women

September 2024 •English

On the shores of Jeju Island, a fierce group of South Korean divers fight to save their vanishing culture from looming threats.

Everglow

June 2021 •Korean

Everglow begins with the cute struggle of Kyung-hoon (Ji Hyun-woo), who visited Jeju to make a documentary about Jin-ok (Ko Doo-sim), a female diver. Kyunghoon’s work becomes a sincere mission for the souls buried in the deep sea and mountains.

My Mother the Mermaid

June 2004 •Korean

Na-young works at a post office and is sick and tired of being around her shamefully unyielding mother and her pushover father who's excessively nice. The only thing that she can look forward to is her trip abroad in a few days. But one day, her father leaves home without any notice. Her mother doesn't care what happens to him and doesn't care to look for him. Na-young has no choice but to give up her dream trip abroad and to search for her father instead. Once she arrives at her parents' hometown, Na-young is shocked to meet someone she'd never expect, even in her dreams.

Diving Women of Jeju-do

January 2007 •Korean

Jeju-do is the largest of Korean islands and lies between Korea and Japan. There, for hundreds of years, women dive without breathing apparatus, to the ocean floor and collect shellfish, octopus, and urchins that they sell. The divers are in their sixties and seventies and their daughters do not want to inherit their work, lifestyle, and health problems that go with diving. As a filmmaker I was privileged to meet many of these women and dive with them. Their stories of hardship and pride confirmed my desire to record this unique and ancient tradition.

Sumbisori

May 2025 •Korean

Hae-jin, 29, struggles to adapt to life in Seoul and returns to her hometown of Jeju. There, she reunites with her mother, Ok-ran, and her grandmother, Kang-ja, who has spent her life as a haenyeo. Hae-jin decides to become a haenyeo, but Ok-ran strongly opposes it. The conflict between them intensifies, while Kang-ja is diagnosed with dementia.

Mom, the Star, and the Sea Anemone

March 1995 •Korean

Mermaid Unlimited

January 2016 •Korean

Yeong-joo, a former synchronized swimming athlete goes to Jeju Island to put together a synchronized swimming team for a performance. She slowly befriends the haenyeo, or female divers, and gradually begins to fit into their way of life.

Canola

May 2016 •Korean

A girl who went missing after an accident returns 10 years later and reunites with her grandmother.

Breathing Underwater

September 2016 •Korean

In Jeju Province, located off the southern coast of Korea, are the women of the sea, those who hold breath for life. These women still exist and they still dive the old way, without tanks. They go into the waters of 10- to 20-meter depth to harvest seaweed and shellfish to make a living. They make a living in the same sea, but each haenyeo’s sea of life is different. The community is divided into three tiers- Group A, B and C, based on skills and capabilities. One’s rank is determined by sum or breath. Sum, is pre-determined at birth. Therefore, sum is desired. However, the ocean is harsh. May you desire! But seek what is not yours, the ocean will devour you. Life, for these women of the sea, is about holding one’s breath, and containing and controlling one’s desire. The film is a six year record of the lives of the haenyeos in Udo, an islet in the province of Jeju, known to be the birthplace of haenyeo. It is a close look into the lives that stand on the boundary of life and death.

Czech Mate

December 1984 •English

Vicky's ex-husband, John, invites her on a trip to communist Prague. First John disappears, then her passport. Vicky finds herself alone and penniless in Prague and becomes a tragic pawn caught in a web of espionage and murder.

The Blinding Mirror

Invalid date •Spanish

Tami and her mother, Claudia, are estranged due to unspoken issues. One day, Tami notices her skin starting to rot, unaware that her mother shares the same affliction but has kept it under control by suppressing her emotions.

Patient

May 2017 •English

After escaping a cult suicide, a paraplegic hospital patient is tormented by malevolent spirits and cursed to kill whomever hears her voice, unless she offers up the soul of her innocent nephew in place of her own.

5-Headed Shark Attack

July 2017 •English

A beautiful island is home to thousands of species of aquatic life. Now there is a new species: the 5-Headed Shark is all heads and teeth. Shaped like a demented starfish, this monster terrorizes the open ocean before invading the beaches of Puerto Rico, endangering the once peaceful island paradise.

No Such Thing As Monsters

March 2021 •English

A young couple on a romantic weekend in the Australian bush are terrorised by a psychopathic family.

Two Heads Creek

October 2019 •English

A timid butcher and his drama queen twin sister quit the hostile confines of post-Brexit Britain and venture to Australia in search of their birth mother, but the seemingly tolerant townsfolk are hiding a dark, meaty secret.