Asian Cinema Fund

ACF Asian Cinema Fund

Asian Network of Documentary(AND) Fund

2011 Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund

LIST Nora Noh

Category	Hyowon Fund
Project	Nora Noh
Director	KIM Sunghee, KIM Ilrhan
Country	Korea
Director's Profile	Kim Sunghee: Kim Sunghee worked as a multimedia education instructor since 2007. She was assistant director for the documentary [3xFTM] (2008) and a screenwriter for [Miracle on Jongno Street] (2010) and [The Time Of Our Lives] (2009). Kim Ilrhan: Kim Ilrhan directed several documentaries such as [Mamasang: Remember Me This Way] (2005) and [3xFTM] (2008), and was a producer on [Miracle on Jongno Street] (2010) and [The Time of Our Lives] (2009). She is currently making a documentary, [Two Doors], about the conflict with police in Yongsan over redevelopment and the displaced population.

Synopsis: In December 2010, fashion designer Nora Noh won the presidential award at Korea Fashion Awards. She dominated the Korean fashion industry between the 1950s and 1970s, but few remember her now. Born during Japanese Colonial Rule, she married at 17 in order to avoid being sold into sexual slavery and subsequently divorced at the age of 19. She became a fashion designer in 1947 and came home to Korea from the USA. The year after she opened a boutique in Myungdong in Seoul, the Korean War broke out. Fortunately, even during the war, culture and fashion prevailed. She found fame through making stage costumes for EUSA (the Eight United States Army) show and plays. She became a director of Miss Korea and made clothes for famous actresses during the 60s and 70s. But now only a handful of actresses regularly come to visit her boutique. What has made people forget? Which part of history is remembered and forgotten?

Director's Note: Our present is built up by the small victories we achieved in the past. During the course of modernization from the 1950s to 1970s in Korea, women were torn between cravings for western culture and respect for tradition. This film tells the story of 84-year-old fashion designer, Nora Noh and the older generation who remember her. In the process, the film examines local women’s contribution to cultural history after the Korean War.

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