Director Jung Yoon-chul‘s new film ‘Sea Tiger’, which is garnering attention for shedding light on the sacrifices and adversities of the Sewol divers, has confirmed its release in the first half of next year.

‘Sea Tiger’ is a work based on the true story of the late diver Kim Gwan-hong, who died from the aftereffects of decompression sickness during the recovery process of the Sewol ferry disaster, and is the winner of the feature-length film scenario category of the ‘3rd 4.16 Foundation Cultural Content Contest’ in 2021. The original work is the novel ‘It’s a Lie’ by author Kim Tak-hwan, and the directing is by director Jung Yoon-chul, who created ‘Marathon’, ‘Army of Conflict’.

Director Jung Yoon-chul said, “I felt that I had to make people aware that among the victims of the Sewol Ferry disaster, there were civilian divers in addition to the bereaved families,” and “I wanted to create a piece that shows how they suffered, how they were forced to take absurd responsibility, and how the state neglected and treated them after the disaster, and I wanted to create a sense of social consensus.”

What‘s more noteworthy is the unique and experimental production method. In a situation where it was difficult to secure large-scale production costs due to the coronavirus pandemic and the slump in the film market, director Jeong Yoon-cheol boldly introduced a theatrical format, filmed solely on an indoor set with a low budget, and added rich sound effects and sounds during post-production to make the audience imagine the actual space.

Even the underwater diving scene inside the Sewol ferry was recreated solely with the actors’ mime acting and sound effects. The audience who participated in the monitoring screening held at a large theater in Seoul last August said, “We were surprised that a movie could be made in such a new and creative way,” and “Above all, it was interesting because it was the story of the Sewol divers, whom we did not know much about, and it was novel in that it approached the Sewol disaster through the divers.”

The production company said, “We are planning to do social funding starting in January to secure distribution, promotion, and marketing costs for the release in the first half of next year,” and asked for a lot of interest and active participation.


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com