Forget about fish tails—we’re talking about women who can submerge themselves hundreds of times a day and hold their breath for minutes at a time.
These women from Jeju Island, South Korea, are known as haenyeo divers, and they have been collecting seafood by free-diving (without oxygen) for generations.
Since the majority of them are now in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, their customs and way of life are in jeopardy due to the decline in the number of younger women entering the field and the possibility of the ocean altering drastically.
These facts led US-Korean filmmaker Sue Kim to collaborate with Nobel Peace Prize recipient and advocate for women’s education, Malala Yousafazai, in order to share their narrative with it.
Kim, a US-born Korean immigrant’s daughter, first saw the haenyeo while on vacation in South Korea as a young child.
They really amazed me for the same reasons you see in the movie: they were so daring, colorful, and self-assured. Lee claims that in addition to being incredibly boisterous—both fighting and laughing—they also exuded a strong sense of energy and filled their area without hesitation.
When I was a little girl, I simply fell in love with that whole mood and enormous intensity. It was for this reason that I grew up to be fascinated by them. She continues, “They were an image of Korean womanhood that I was drawn to and aspired to imitate.”
