Seoul Searching

Seoul Searching, directed by Benson Lee and drawn from his own experience in 1986, follows a group of teenagers from the global Korean diaspora, disconnected from Korean culture, who come together at a government sponsored summer camp and navigate friendship, romance, and identity. The film is frequently described as "a Korean Breakfast Club." The project began at Sundance in 1998 and took 16 years of financing and writing before completion; it had its world premiere at Sundance in January 2015 and won Best Narrative Feature at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival. Who it's for: anyone curious about a Korean diaspora film based on a director's own teenage experience, completed after a 16 year production journey, frequently compared to The Breakfast Club. Who it's not for: viewers looking for a quickly made, contemporary production, since this personal project took 16 years from conception to release.