Becoming Kim: Chuncheon Film Fest Opening Film

The 2026 Chuncheon Film Festival has selected director Kim Susanna's documentary film 'Becoming Kim' as its opening film. The festival will be held for four days from June 25 to June 28 in various locations around Chuncheon.

'Becoming Kim' was filmed primarily in Wonju, Gangwon Province, and is a work that captures, with humor and a warm perspective, the emotional changes, cultural clashes, and wavering identity experienced by German-born filmmaker Susanna during her marriage to her Korean husband, Jeong Rae. The director explores the confusion she faced within different cultures and relationships as a wife, mother, and artist, through camera performances and documentary-style recording.

Ham Yu-seon, programmer for the Chuncheon Film Festival, stated, "'Becoming Kim' is a work that artistically expresses the intimate emotions of confusion, unfamiliar sensations, and identity shifts that arise from cultural differences and relationship discord." She added, "We selected it as the opening film with the expectation that this deeply personal record will resonate widely with many audience members."

Director Kim Susanna shared her thoughts, saying, "Gangwon Province is where I first and most deeply experienced my impressions of Korea." She continued, "I have fully captured the sounds and scents of nature, as well as the unique Korean emotions and landscapes, encountered in the hometown of my mother-in-law, Sunja, within the film."

The 2026 Chuncheon Film Festival, under the slogan 'Spring of Cinema,' plans to showcase a diverse range of films that encompass genre imagination and contemporary sensibilities.