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There Are No Words

Min Sook Lee
2025 | 98 min
Documentary Feature
English and Korean

Awards and Festivals

  • Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 50th


Synopses

Poster

Excerpts

"Can I lie a little?"


The Store


A loss of a different kind



Images


Min Sook Lee and her mother, Song Ji Lee (July 16, 1980)


Jesa offerings

Min Sook Lee and her father, Chung Beum Lee

A train crosses a bridge in Korea


Min Sook Lee sits across from her father (production still)

8) Min Sook Lee and her father (production still)

Jesa offerings

Team


Min Sook Lee
Writer/Director


Photo
Photo : Self Portrait




Sherien Barsoum
Producer (NFB)


Photo
Photo : Pasquale Marco Veltri




Chanda Chevannes
Executive Producer, NFB


Photo
Photo : Pasquale Marco Veltri




Anita Lee
Executive Producer (NFB)


Photo
Photo : NFB



Credits

This film contains discussions of self-harm and abuse.

Written & Directed by
Min Sook Lee

Cinematography by
Iris Ng

Edited by
Eui Yong Zong

Music by
Andrew Yong Hoon Lee

Visual Research by
Erin Chisholm
Mi Re Kim
Emmanuel Moon-chil Park

Producers
Sherien Barsoum
Chanda Chevannes

Executive Producers
Chanda Chevannes
Anita Lee

Featuring
Min Sook Lee
Chung Beum Lee
Luna Lee
Samuel Park
Hae Yeon Choo
Hyeong Im
Myeong Soon Oh
Hye Sook Park
Yong Ju Kim
Sue-Binn Lee
Megan Deveaux
Frank Bark
Clara Bark
Gut Ceremony
Jung Hee Kim
Eun Jeong Kim
Dong Cheol Lee
Gyeong Hwan Shin
Jeong Sam Kim
Yong Woo Moon

Production Manager
Adrianna Marling

Production Managers – Korea
Mi Re Kim
Sunah Kim

Production Supervisor
Marcus Matyas

Unit Production Manager
Calvin Serutoke

Senior Production Coordinators
Adrianna Marling
Katie Murray
Vaishnavi Sambhus

Production Coordinators
Omorose Osagie
Calvin Serutoke
Eponine Young

Development Producers
Lea Marin
Anita Lee

Development Associate Producer
Kate Vollum

Studio Operations Manager
Mark Wilson

Studio Administrators
Victoria Angell
Andrew Martin-Smith

Studio Coordinators
Victoria Anderson-Gardner
Carly Kastner
Calvin Serutoke

Administrative Assistant
Elana Emer

Studio Technician
Q’Mal Labad-Workman

Additional Photography
Eunsoo Cho
Mrinal Desai
Min Sook Lee
Ésery Mondésir
Jason O’Hara
Hong Yeol Park

1st Assistant Camera
Chelsie Boreland
Elana Emer
Yoon Beom Lee
Ashley Mach
Jeongwoo Noh
Talia Woodland
Marisa Wu

2nd Assistant Camera
Young Hwa Ahn
Doyeon Kim
Nigel Tang
Roy Zheng

Gaffer
Hyun Jae Park

Key Grip
Wilny Su

Grip
Jasmine de Boer

Set Dresser
Meryl Romo

Sound Recordists
Jason Hopfner
Yongseok Kim
Min Jae Lee
Huan Nguyen
Dominic Tan
Amanda Wong

Digital Media Technicians
Jasmine de Boer
Set Shuter
Talia Woodland

Steadicam Operators
Jeongwoo Noh
Talia Woodland

Drone Cinematographer – Korea
Hong Yeol Park

Drone Cinematographer – Canada
Tom Comet, DroneBoy

Drone Camera Operator – Canada
Matt Joniec, DroneBoy

Narrator
Min Sook Lee

Story Consultant
Ricardo Acosta

Research Interviewer
Lisa Valencia-Svensson

Field Producer – Korea
Emmanuel Moon-chil Park

Hwasun Field Manager
Yongchul Im

Production Assistants
Seo Woo Bae
Alexander Efimov
Ebony Green
Toby Karass-Rohan
Minsoo Lee
Song Ji Lee
Siwon Park
Kyeong Min Son

Interpreters
Hae Yeon Choo
Hyunjung Lee
Sue-Binn Lee
Samuel Park

Stills Photographers
Elana Emer
Adrianna Marling
Rachael Reid

Drivers
Hyun Jin Kim
Yongbum Kim

Location Support
Hyo Kyoung Jeon

COVID Testing
Pulsar UV

Post-Production Coordinator
Lia Tarachansky

Assistant Editor
Cat Senior

Additional Assistant Editors
Meraj Badiuzzaman
Cassidy Croft
Chorong Kim

Compositor
Cat Senior

Technical Coordinators
Luc Binette
Phillip Hawkes
Kevin Riley
Shaghayegh Haghdoust Yazdi

Post-Production Picture Services
Urban Post

Colourist
Andrew Mandziuk

Conform Editor
Kyle Campbell

Online Editors
Jessica Goebell
Andrew Mandziuk

Post Producer
Sarah Elliott

VP of Operations
Roberta Bratti

Director of Sales at Urban Post
Kingsley Fialho

Picture Operations Manager
Bruce Rees

Post-Production Sound Services
Formosa Group Toronto

Re-Recording Mixer
Matthew Chan

Sound Designer
David Rose

Dialogue Editor
Elma Bello

ADR Mixer
Paul Lynch

Head of Production
Ginny Koole

Director of Sound Services
Alex Aslund

Additional Sound Effects Provided by
Dahee Kim
Heejin Kim

News Reader
John McGrath

Title Design
Ali Qadeer

Transcription
Chorong Kim
Hyun-Chul Kim

Translation
Chorong Kim
Power of Babel

Subtitles
Chorong Kim
Sophie Bowman
Hae Yeon Choo
Min Sook Lee
Eui Yong Zong

Film Development
Niagara Custom Labs

Film Scanning
Frame Discreet

Senior Marketing Advisor
Kay Rondonneau

Marketing Coordinator
Harmonie Hemming

Publicist
Jennifer Mair

Legal Counsel
Peter Kallianiotis

Mental Health Consultant
Karen Dougherty

Archival Material
5·18 Archives
8mm Time Travel film footage licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
ABCNEWS VIDEOSOURCE
AP Television
Archives of Ontario
The Canadian Press
CBC Archive Sales
CBS News/Veritone
Courtesy of MBC
CTV News © BELL MEDIA INC. All rights reserved.
Hamilton Spectator | November 7, 1977 | page 4
IMS, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
KBS Media
Korean Film Archive excerpts from:
The Widow (1955), directed by Nam-ok Park and
Madame Freedom (1956), directed by Hyung-mo Han
KTV excerpts from: Establishing the Electrical Incident Response Centre, Vigorous Economic Development, News Briefs, Coal Mining Village, and Miners of the Tunnels
Min Sook Lee
National Archives and Records Administration
NBC News Archives via Getty Images
© NDR, distributed by OneGate Media GmbH. A Studio Hamburg Company
National Film Board of Canada
Periscope Film
Michael Rogge
Société Radio-Canada (SRC) / Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Starting From Nina: The Politics of Learning
Stock Media provided by DogPhonics / Pond5
Toronto Star. © 1977-78 Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Used under license.

Music Rights Research
Emmanuel Moon-chil Park

Music Licensing Consultant
JinLyeol Kim

Music
HWA RYU BAEKSEO
Written by Yaincho, Jeong-hwa Lee Performed by Geum-sim Hwang

CAMELLIA LADY
Written by San-do Han, Young-ho Baek Arranged by Chul-hyuk Lee Performed by Mi-ja Lee Courtesy of Leeway Music & Media Music Rights Holder: Jigu Records Administrator (Licensing Agent): KBS Media

Thank You
Manfred Becker
Sophie Bowman
Nathalie-Anne Brassard
Grace M. Cho
Michelle Cho
Hyun Mi Choi
Moon Sun Choi
Sungjai Choi Nora Currie
Richard Fung
Vanessa Gooden
Ja Hywan Gu
Melanie Heath
Cathleen Hoskins
Jordan Huffman
Yehji Jeong
Joseph Juhn
David Kazala
Chung Bi Kim
Je Weon Kim
Jong Dae Kim
Lalita Krishna
Jagadish Kumar
Lokchi Lam
Andres Landau
Bo Hyeong Lee
Helen Lee
John Lee
Mi-Jeong Lee
D’Arcy Martin
Kyo Maclear
Marilyn J. McKay
Ipsa Mohanty
Vinh Nguyen
Junu Park
Thy Phu
Barum Rho
Kerri Sakomoto
Jesook Song
Shin Yeong Song
Douglas Stewart
Attila Szanyi
Nadine Valcin
Lisa Valencia-Svensson
Victory Social Club
b.h. Yael
John Yoon
Peter Yu
Mariam Zaidi
Min Ji Byun
Jin Ok Cho
Gwang Chan Go
Jiyu Hong
Gi Hyun
Jeongnim Ji
Dohyun Kim
Dong-Choon Kim
Rose Kim
Jae Boong Lee
Dong Chul Lim
Song Ju Park
Paul Ryu
Hong Seop Shim
Bongsan Mask Dance Preservation Association
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Cultural Tourism Division, Hwasun County Office
Galleria Supermarket
Hwasun Bus Station
Hwasun Dolmen Park
Nakwon Waldorf Kinderhaus
Parliament Smoke & Gift
Signature Realty
Seongsan Neighborhood Park, Mapo-Gu Office Parks and Greenery Department
Suncheon Naganeupseong Folk Village
York Cemetery
Haim Zong
Hana Zong
Haron Zong
Jin Ho Zong
Moon Yong Zong
John T. Blundell
Luna Lee
Song Ji Lee

© 2025 National Film Board of Canada

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