The film Sorrow Even Up in Heaven (1965) by director KIM Soo-yong, known to be missing at home, was rediscovered in Taiwan and digitally restored. On April 21st, the Korean Film Archive (KOFA) revealed that they recovered and restored the Korean classic. The film was found as an internegative (an original release print), which is a copy of its original negative for cinema screening.

“It is deeply moving, as if a dead friend returned to life” director KIM said at a press conference held in KOFA in Sangam-dong, Seoul. SHIN Bong-seung, who wrote the film and actress CHOI Nan-kyung, along with director LEE Jang-ho and CHUNG Ji-young, attended the conference. 

 

The film is about a boy, suffering from poverty, who lived a hard life. Stars of the day appeared in the movie, such as SHIN Young-gyun, JO Mi-ryung and WHANG Jung-soon. It was released in 1965 and became the biggest hit of that year, drawing 285,000 viewers in Seoul alone. Furthermore, it recorded the second biggest box office performance at that time after SHIN Sang-ok’s Seong Chun-Hyang (1961).

KOFA came to the conclusion that Devotion for the Parents (秋霜寸草心), mislabeled as a Chinese film in the Chinese Taipei Film Archive (CTFA), was in fact KIM Soo-yong’s movie. “There are many movies that were exported china which exist as prints with Chinese dubbing. But this film has its original Korean sound with Chinese subtitles. So we were able to recover the original audiovisuals including its music,” said KOFA. CTFA loaned the film to KOFA in March for the restoration process, and a digital cinema package was created using a copy of the film print. The original film will be returned to Taiwan next month.

Sorrow Even Up in Heaven (1965) will be shown to the public at a film showcase for the 40th anniversary of KOFA’s founding next month.