Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min on Return to Seoul, Redefining Family, and Breaking Conventions

February 23, 2023

Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min on <i>Return to Seoul</i>, Redefining Family, and Breaking Conventions

Return to Seoul at NYFF60. Photo by Sean DiSerio.

This week on the Film at Lincoln Center podcast, we’re featuring a conversation with Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min, discussing Return to Seoul at the 60th New York Film Festival with Artistic Director Dennis Lim.

Park Ji-Min plays Freddie, a young French woman, who finds herself spontaneously tracking down the South Korean birth parents she has never met while on vacation in Seoul. From this seemingly simple premise, Cambodian-French filmmaker Davy Chou spins an unpredictable narrative that takes place over the course of several years, always staying close on the roving heels of its impetuous protagonist, who moves to her own turbulent rhythms (as does the galvanizing Park, a singular new screen presence). Chou elegantly creates probing psychological portraiture from a character whose feelings of unbelonging have kept her at an emotional distance from nearly everyone in her life; it’s an enormously moving film made with verve, sensitivity, and boundless energy. 

Watch/listen to the discussion below and don’t forget to subscribe here for more filmmaker conversations.

Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min on <i>Return to Seoul</i>, Redefining Family, and Breaking Conventions
Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min on <i>Return to Seoul</i>, Redefining Family, and Breaking Conventions
Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min on <i>Return to Seoul</i>, Redefining Family, and Breaking Conventions
Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min on <i>Return to Seoul</i>, Redefining Family, and Breaking Conventions
Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min on <i>Return to Seoul</i>, Redefining Family, and Breaking Conventions
Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min on <i>Return to Seoul</i>, Redefining Family, and Breaking Conventions
Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min on <i>Return to Seoul</i>, Redefining Family, and Breaking Conventions
Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min on <i>Return to Seoul</i>, Redefining Family, and Breaking Conventions
Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min on <i>Return to Seoul</i>, Redefining Family, and Breaking Conventions
Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min on <i>Return to Seoul</i>, Redefining Family, and Breaking Conventions

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