Growing up as a woman in Korea was tough, but was also a gift at the same time. If I were a Korean man, or a white male in the States, I would not ha… - Kim Bora

From my understanding, there is already quite a lot of independent films with adolescent girls as protagonists. Women have been telling such stories all this time. Couldn’t it be that this period has become more visible as our society is changing? Most of the film markets all over the world are dominated by white men’s stories, and after them come white women, and then Asian men, in this order. Still, I think the reason other female directors are now getting noticed, like with House of Hummingbird, is that Korean society is finally ready to embrace women’s narratives. It might also be that it has finally come to people’s attention not for the particular narratives, but because we are at a special moment.

After House of Hummingbird got released, the ticket sales were amazing. It was very overwhelming to see its success. Whenever I had Q&As with the audience, a lot of the audience – they raised their hand and while they were asking questions, they started to cry. It wasn’t just once. So many people – they couldn’t even finish their sentence because they were so emotional. I also cried. My actors cried. Because it was so touching and it was a very deep, human connection between the filmmakers and the audience.

Cinema takes me to another world. That world is authentic, real, and welcoming. Cinema doesn’t belong to the winner but to the loser/loner. The blissful loser. I like that world.