This short documentary follows the Haenyeo, an ancient culture of women free-divers from an island off the coast of South Korea, as they dive for valuable shellfish. 80% of the dwindling Haenyeo culture today are over the age of 60. Within 15-20 years the Haenyeo will have disappeared.

In 2016, UNESCO designated the Haenyeo an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: Ralph Vituccio is a Teaching Professor in the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at Carnegie Mellon, IDeATe and the English Depart at CMU. Ralph is also an Independent filmmaker where he has directed/produced several documentaries, interactive art installations and Virtual Reality programs.  

His film, “Ship Breakers”, (2014), takes place on the beaches of Alang, India where over 300 supertankers and cruise ships are run aground and torn apart by hand by thousands of impoverished workers. The film looks at the devastating impact ship recycling has on the environmental and the health of the workers. “Shipbreakers” won The Best Feature Documentary Award at the Global International Film Festival in San Francisco. It was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Madrid and Lucerne International Film Festivals and won the Best Editing Award at the Global Film Festival of Boston.  

Vituccio has produced and directed several interactive VR and i-docs on the Holocaust as well as on the Haenyeo. His current work in Virtual Reality and interactive documentary have won a 2018 Google-Tribeca grant and as well as showing in numerous festivals. Haenyeo, Virtual Reality, won best VR at the VRE festival in Rome. Italy. 

AWARDS & SCREENINGS: Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival –2019, Prisma Official Selection, Rome, Italy –2019, Ethnografilm Official Selection, Paris, France – 2020, Docs Without Borders Film Festival – 2020, Tagore International Film Festival (TIFF), Bengal India – 2020, Roma Cinema DOC - 2020.