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Time to Be Strong
Institute of Contemporary Arts
Time to Be Strong, dir. Namkoong Sun, Korea 2024, 99 min., Korean with English subtitles, 12


Book tickets

“Finding our way is difficult,“ says Su-min (Choi Sung-eun) in voice-over, as she emerges from Jeju Island’s airport with Tae-hee (Hyun Woo-seok) and Sa-rang (Ha Seo-yoon). They certainly look lost, out of place, even shell-shocked - like ex-cons or extra-terrestrials - and soon, Sa-rang will leave her baggage on the airport bus. At 26 they are trying to have the excursion that they missed out on as high schoolers, but these surviving members of two recently disbanded K-pop groups will spend the next few days confronting their damage, grief and guilt, and trying to find their lost youth - with help, appropriately, from a local woman (Kang Chae-yoon) who works at the Lost and Found office.

This trip through trauma exposes the seamy side of Korea’s manufactured entertainment industry, and its horrific, scarring exploitation of young people. Namkoong Sun’s story of confused kidults’ rest, recreation and recovery is indeed difficult but ultimately rewarding.
 
Book tickets
04:30 pm
Sat, 08 Nov 2025
Cinema 1
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Cinema 1
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