''Tiger Spirit'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by

Min Sook Lee Min Sook Lee (; born 1969) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, academic, and political activist. Early life Lee was born in South Korea and immigrated to Canada with her family at the age of three, growing up in downtown Toronto, wh ...

and released in 2008.Bernard Pérusse
"Docs of all kinds, including a must-see about kind docs in Ukraine"
''

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

'', November 8, 2008. Inspired in part by Lee's efforts to learn more about her own family background after it was fractured by the

division of Korea The division of Korea began at the end of World War II on 2 September 1945, with the establishment of a Soviet occupation zone and a US occupation zone. These zones developed into separate governments, named the Democratic People's Republic of ...

, the film explores the complicated prospects for

Korean reunification Korean reunification is the hypothetical unification of North Korea and South Korea into a singular Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification of the peninsula while still maintaining two opposing regimes was started by the Ju ...

through various angles, including North Korea's 2000s lottery system that allowed some South Korean residents to visit North Korean relatives, and the efforts of South Korean journalist Lim Sun Nam to find proof of his beliefs that the

Siberian tiger The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies ''Panthera tigris tigris'' native to Northeast China, the Russian Far East, and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korea, Korean Peninsula, but currently ...

is not actually extinct in Korea, and that the Korean people will be healed and reunited after he finds one. The film premiered at the 2008

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and Jun ...

. It was screened at various documentary film festivals in 2008, and was commercially distributed as a television broadcast, airing January 26, 2009 on

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

. The film won the

Donald Brittain Award The Donald Brittain Award is a Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to honour the year's best television documentary on a social or political topic. Formerly presented as part of the Gemini Awards, s ...

for Best Social or Political Documentary at the

24th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 24th Gemini Awards were held on November 14, 2009, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Ron James, took place at the Stampede Corral in Calgary and was ...

in 2009."Gemini Award winners". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'', November 15, 2009.

References

External links

* 2008 films 2008 documentary films Canadian documentary films Documentary films about North Korea Documentary films about South Korea Donald Brittain Award winning shows National Film Board of Canada documentaries 2000s English-language films 2000s Canadian films Films directed by Min Sook Lee Films scored by Mark Korven Asian-Canadian cinema English-language Canadian films English-language documentary films {{2000s-Canada-documentary-film-stub