Sleeping Beauty

Up-and-coming writer-director Lee Han Na breaks the mold with her independent feature Sleeping Beauty. This striking omnibus consists of three moody short stories meditating on self and family. "My Cousin" revolves around a middle school girl who forges a bond with her cousin as the adults prepare for their grandmother's funeral. "Winter Sleep" is about a middle-aged woman who was abandoned by her husband, and now lives with her elderly and senile father. "Sleeping Beauty" follows the emotional journey of a young woman forced to marry an older man for her mother's sake. In a glimpse of what's to come for both the promising young director and Korean indie productions, Sleeping Beauty has managed to reach a far larger audience than the typical independent film thanks to a new distribution strategy. After a very limited theatrical run in late 2008, Sleeping Beauty was made available online and attracted and has since reached close to 200,000 viewers, a very impressive feat for a Korean indie film.