The Last of the Sea Women (2024) is a meditative, visually arresting documentary directed by Sue Kim and produced by A24, chronicling the vanishing world of the haenyeo—Jeju Island’s legendary free-diving women. For generations, these women have braved the ocean depths without oxygen tanks, relying on lung capacity, instinct, and unspoken strength to harvest the sea’s bounty. But now, as their average age rises and the tides of modernization roll in, their way of life teeters on the edge of extinction.
Filmed with quiet reverence and a painter’s eye for light and movement, the documentary immerses us in their world—where each dive is both ritual and rebellion. Interviews, both tender and fierce, reveal stories of daughters who chose land over sea, of aging hands still clinging to nets, and of a matriarchal culture that once thrived in silence but now must speak up to survive. Beneath the waves and behind the masks, these women are not merely relics of folklore—they are living testaments to resilience, dignity, and the cost of being forgotten.
Premiering to critical acclaim at TIFF 2024 and winner of the NETPAC Prize, The Last of the Sea Women delivers more than history—it offers a farewell to a legacy fading with each tide, and a plea to remember what the sea, and the women who know it best, still have to teach us.
