Director Lee Min-sook Confronts Mother's Suicide in Personal Documentary 'Lost Words'

At the 27th Jeonju International Film Festival, acclaimed documentary director Lee Min-sook presented her deeply personal film, 'Lost Words.' This powerful work confronts the profound trauma of her mother's suicide when Lee was just 12 years old, an event that irrevocably shaped her life and became a central, albeit difficult, theme she has grappled with for decades. Lee Min-sook, who immigrated to Canada at age 3, has previously garnered attention for her documentaries examining social issues, including the plight of migrant workers and political corruption.

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It was the most powerful and painful experience that made me who I am today. It's a theme I've thought about my whole life, but I never had the courage to speak about it.

'Lost Words' is the culmination of Lee's long-held need to understand the reasons behind her mother's tragic choice. The catalyst for finally tackling this deeply sensitive subject was the COVID-19 pandemic. Fearing that her elderly father might pass away from the virus, leaving her mother's story completely erased from existence, Lee felt an urgent need to ask questions she had long avoided. She initiated conversations with her father, with whom she had limited communication, and reached out to relatives and acquaintances in her mother's hometown in Hwasun, South Korea, as well as friends from her childhood in Canada.

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I felt a sense of urgency, thinking that if my father, who is over eighty, were to die of COVID, my mother's life would be permanently erased from the world.

Through these interviews, Lee meticulously reconstructs fragments of her mother's life, revealing a narrative far more complex than a simple tale of immigrant hardship. The film unearths the stifling patriarchal structures and the turbulent history of modern Korea that deeply impacted her mother's experience. While her mother was remembered in Hwasun as a strong, capable woman, her life took a drastic turn after meeting Lee's father, a man with a shadowy past tied to South Korean intelligence agencies. The film explores how his violence and the societal stigma of her mother being labeled a 'mistress' within the small Korean community in Canada contributed to her despair. The official cause of death, listed as 'homesickness,' belies the deeper, systemic issues at play, prompting Lee's continued search for truth.

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My prayer is to have this mural installed in the US before or during the FIFA World Cup, when the eyes of the world are watching. When that moment comes, I want people everywhere to see the truth - to understand the brutality of the Islamic regime and the reality that children are being targeted.