The Gorals 산양들
YOO JAEWOOK 유재욱
2025 • Fiction • 107 min
Friday, October 23, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Korean Cultural Center New York
(122 E 32nd Street, New York, NY 10016)
* Muju Film Festival(MJFF) Choice
Synopsis: With 200 days left until college entrance exams, while everyone is focused on studying, In-hye, who is in charge of the animal pen, is busy lecturing a duck. One day, as punishment for carrying a knife, Seo-hee joins In-hye in cleaning the animal pen. The two discover an abandoned meadow and lose Hee-seon(the duck) there.
Meanwhile, teacher Kim Ah-tae gathers four students—In-hye, Seo-hee, Jung-ae, and Soo-min—who have been given up on by their school, parents, and even themselves, and forms a “college interview prep group.” On the day of their university interviews, In-hye and Seo-hee ditch school and head to the meadow in search of Hee-seon. They pitch a tent and spend nights in the woods, gradually adapting to life in the wild.
Director’s Note: “When I was in high school, I felt like one of the small animals in the enclosure.”
This film began with a desire to tell the story of breaking free from a stifling school life to create a refuge of their own. In-hye, Seo-hee, Jung-ae, and Soo-min are all facing the confusion before college entrance exams. They’re expected to aim for universities chosen based on their grades, but none of them know what they want to do. In their journey to rescue small animals and build a shelter in the wild, they begin to feel their own strength for the first time.
The Gorals is a story about sanctuary, both for teenage girls who are forced into the pressure of the entrance exam system, and for small animals denied the dignity of being seen as living beings.
“Teenage Girls’ Adventure Drama”
Outcast girls who are labeled as problem children are building a friendship while surviving in the wild. They form a group called The Gorals and set off on a rough, unpredictable journey to protect small animals. This film portrays a kind of girlhood friendship and adventure unlike anything we've seen before, and wants to show a different kind of 'girl movie'.
14th Muju Film Festival — Chang: Korean Feature Competition
30th Busan International Film Festival – Vision Section, Official Selection
51st Seoul Independent Film Festival – Feature Competition, Official Selection
25th Asian Film Festival of Dallas – Official Selection
◆ YOO JAEWOOK directed the feature film Limecrime and the short films Campus and A Room of One’s Own.
In Collaboration with Muju Film Festival(MJFF)
