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Riceboy Sleeps


Director: Anthony Shim

Date: Fri Nov 4th 2022

Time: 8:30PM
Location: Imperial Theatre

Ticket price:  $18 ($15 for students)

So-young is a Korean single mother raising her adolescent son Dong-hyun in the suburbs of Canada during the 90s. Determined to provide a better life for him than the one she left behind in her native country, she does her best to overcome the constant racial and cultural challenges that confront them. As Dong-hyun gets older, he becomes increasingly curious about his Korean heritage and in particular, about his deceased father – a topic that So-young refuses to address. Instead, she is set on continuing to build on her new life which now includes a relationship with a kind Korean-Canadian man who is eager to take on the role of Dong-hyun’s surrogate father. This only exacerbates the tense relationship between her and Dong-hyun. Then, sudden devastating news prompts the mother and son to return to South Korea for the first time since their initial departure with hopes of reconnecting to their roots and reconciling their tragic past.

Riceboy Sleeps_Still1.webp

Year: 2022    Runtime: 117 min.

Language: English, Korean

Country: Canada

Writer: Anthony Shim

Executive Producer: Giuliana Bertuzzi, Charlie Kerr, Matt Kerr

Producer: Bryan Demore, Anthony Shim, Rebecca Steele

Cast: Choi Seung-yoon, Ethan Hwang, Dohyun Noel Hwang

Cinematographer: Christopher Lew

Sound Design: Matt Drake  

Music: Andrew Yong Hoon Lee

“Nothing less than a heartbreaking, funny and often astoundingly beautiful piece of work, Riceboy Sleeps is a new Canadian classic.”

– Dorothy Woodend, The Tyee

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