KFF25 ODE TO MY FATHER

In December 1950, Hungnam Port is crowded with refugees of the Korean War. Amid the chaos, 12-year-old Duk-soo sees his fate change in the blink of an eye when his hand slips and he loses track of his youngest sister, of whom he promised to never let go. Leaving behind his father who stayed to search for her, Duk-soo and other family members make their escape to Busan and settle down in its bustling Gukje Market, waiting for the rest of the family to come. Taking responsibility for his aging mother and young siblings, Duk-soo starts working all manner of odd jobs and devotes himself entirely to his family. To earn his little brother’s college tuition, Duk-soo goes to Germany as a coal miner and barely escapes alive. However, it is there that he meets Youngja, a fellow immigrant worker and his first love, who eventually becomes his lifelong companion. After enduring all the hardships in Germany, Duk-soo returns to Busan and begins to pursue his dream of becoming a naval captain; but fate intervenes once again and he is left with no choice but to head to war-torn Vietnam to cover his sister’s wedding expenses. Upon his return, Duk-soo sets out on a final mission in the hopes of finding his father and youngest sister, who went missing in Hungnam over 30 years ago. ODE TO MY FATHER is a powerful generational epic that depicts the fierce and intense era of our fathers’ generation through the lifetime stories of one man.