Karma 회생
KIM Myunwoo 김면우
2026 • Documentary • 89 min
Friday, October 16, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Korean Cultural Center New York
(122 E 32nd Street, New York, NY 10016)
* Intro and Q&A with KIM MYUNWOO and KIM SUNAH
* Jeonju International Film Festival(JEONJU IFF) Choice
Synopsis: Inside a small judicial scrivener’s office at the Seongnam Branch of Suwon District Court, people arrive daily carrying the weight of debt. The father helps them file for rehabilitation and bankruptcy, though he himself is drowning in what he owes.
Eight years ago, the filmmaker - who once dreamed of becoming a poet - abandoned his studies and took a seat beside his father, fearing that debt might one day drive him to suicide. As a clerk, he witnesses the endless circulation of suffering caused by money, obligation, and survival.
Threaded through this struggle is the quiet presence of his mother, a Buddhist nun who returned to monastic life to repay the debts of her temple, and who eventually achieved financial peace. Between a father still struggling and a mother who endured, the film searches for a modest hope: not redemption, but the possibility of continuing to live.
Director’s Note:
"I hoped that the film’s Korean title, Rehabilitation (Hwe-saeng), and its English title, KARMA, would sit side by side - the former embodying the outer shell of my judicial scrivener father, and the latter, the inner lining of my Buddhist nun mother.
To my younger self, these were two worlds that should never have crossed paths. Yet, in this film at least, I wanted to believe that the sacred and the secular are not truly separate.
To place these two seemingly hostile worlds onto a single screen, I suffered quite a bit in between.”
27th JEONJU International Film Festival (JIFF) – Korean Competition: Special Jury Prize & Special Category: Documentary Award
2026 EBS International Documentary Film Festival (EIDF) – Festival Choice Competition: Grand Prix
◆ KIM MYUNWOO is a South Korean filmmaker born in 1995. He was raised in a Buddhist temple from the age of seven. Once aspiring to be a poet, he explored storytelling through short films before joining his father’s company. KARMA is his first documentary feature.
Co-presented with Korea Creative Content Agency New York Center
In Collaboration with JEONJU International Film Festival (JIFF)
