SILENT VOICES

BY NADINE MISONG JIN

In New York, a Korean immigrant family of four leads separate lives, each facing moments of defeat in their daily existence.

As they navigate complexities of survival and disconnection, they each hide their wounds from one another.

"Silent Voices is a portrait of a Korean immigrant family living in New York. The film follows four family members, observing their private lives as they navigate survival and disconnection in a place where they often feel alienated due to their appearance, culture, and distance from home.

A central core of this film comes from the inexpressibility and emotional restraint commonly found in Korean households that I am accustomed to, and from how suffering is often endured in silence to avoid burdening others. In this film, silence is not only a sign of repression, but also a way the family connects with each other. Through a resistance to language, they have a tender ability to observe, feel, and express themselves in their own way.

However, the film also aims to explore a certain universality: the way an individual is worn down and consumed by society each day. There is an intrusive nature to life, and the film seeks to trace how this quiet sense of defeat, however small or mundane, becomes internalized as part of the everyday. The city does not respond to the characters’ despair or rupture; it continues to move, vibrate, and close over them until it is as if nothing has happened."