The city hums with its usual noise and haste. Unable to keep pace with its restless speed, Se-yeon moves slowly, as if walking through a different time. Every day she brews her tea carefully, hangs her laundry, heads to work, and eats alone. She has a dream, yet never steps into it - only circles around it. Avoiding people’s eyes, she goes to the darkened river after sunset and paints. It is the only moment she feels she is reaching toward her dream, the only moment she feels alive. There, in that night river, is someone else besides Se-yeon. By the same river, Jae-woo dreams as well - a dream of making a fortune by selling river sand. They share the same river, share meals, walk the same path, and spend a season together. At the end of summer, Se-yeon and Jae-woo finally come face to face with each other’s fragile truths.

For the past three years, I have been involved in a movement to protect the wetlands along the Geumho River that runs through Daegu. Through those years, I came to understand that a river exists only in its flow. The stars and sand that rest within its current are no different from Seyeon and Jaewoo, the film’s two protagonists. The starlight reflected on the sandbars connects us - helping us remember how to love one another. As we hold winter and wait for spring to return, Stars and Sand captures this present moment - the river, its people, and the quiet life that flows between them.

World Premiere