Treeless Mountain

The frozen space in a little girl's heart gradually begins to warm thanks to the love of her older sister in director So Yong Kim's portrait of a young innocent forced to come to terms with feelings of loss and abandonment. Six-year-old Jin (Hee Yeon Kim) and her younger sister, Bin (Song Hee Kim), live in a cramped apartment with their single mother. Though their lives are on the edge of disaster, both girls remain completely oblivious to the threats of the outside world. One morning, after Jin wets the bed, their mother packs up all their belongings and sends the girls to live with their alcoholic Big Aunt (Kim Mi-hyang). Suddenly thrust into a hostile and unfamiliar environment, the girls are given a piggy bank and a promise that their mother will return when it's finally been filled. Wrestling with feelings of abandonment despite the fact that she's not mature enough to understand why their mother has left or what may become of her and Bin in the future, Jin showers her younger sibling with affection in order to prevent her from feeling as if all hope has been lost.