Twenty-year-old Ju-hee has just started his training to become a farmer. He is learning to turn the soil because the only other alternative is to turn into a homeless bum in the city. Learning that Korea's agriculture based mainly on rice may die out under the WTO trade regime, Ju-hee joins the Save-Our-Rice Walkathon and meets various people. He walks on, struggling with the heat, disputes among the participants, as well as his own devil. Along the path under the scorching sun, some abandon ship and some stay aboard. Ju-hee stays on, warring with his old self, his dreams to return to the soil at stake. And along the way, he makes some friends. His old buddies from the youth shelter in Seoul become new buddies as they walk with him. As grown-ups leave one by one, youngsters keep walking and keep maturing. Ju-hee reveals his weaknesses, shame, hesitation and uncertainties to his fellow travelers, but he never loses hope. The Walkathon that began in mid-summer finally ends! In Seoul. Having taken the final step, Ju-hee now draws on the strength that his new friends gave him and returns to his training to become a proud farmer.

I had the fortune of meeting people from various walks of life during the 100-people 100-day Save-our-Rice Walkathon. They had different reasons for joining the Walkathon, but one common motive was to raise public awareness about the threat to the agricultural industry posed by trade negotiations on rice market liberalization. Agreements reached at the 1994 Uruguay Round put off trade negotiations on farm produce for 10 years. But agricultural policies remain inept, and market liberalization has become a fact of life. Underlying the Walkathon proposed by peasants was the urgent need to tell citizens about the rural community crisis. The Walkathon started from the simple thought that 100 people walking for 100 days would move the heavens, but unexpected trials and tribulations beset them along the way. One of the participants was twenty-year-old Lee Ju-Hee from Saesamtuh Community, a shelter for drug-addicted youths. Ju-Hee ran away from home as a child and wandered the streets for a long time before choosing to become a farmer. He is currently training to return to the soil. He took part in the Walkathon to put his commitment as a future farmer to the test.I thought it would be natural to cover the Walkathon from Ju-Hee's point of view. As I walked with him, I discovered a small seed of hope. Ju-Hee and his friends, most of them socializing in a community for the first time, experienced a new turning point in their lives. Their choice might appear small and insignificant, but I tried to capture on film their hearts filled with the simple but precious values of peasants, the guardians of our rural communities, our soil and our lives fed by the fruits of the soil.

제9회 부산국제영화제