The country was occupied; revolution was brewing - three women’s lives converge as they step into history and ignite a movement. A century later, a Korean artist digs into the past, to uncover their forgotten stories and confront a nation’s legacy of silence.
SYNOPSIS
This hybrid, feature documentary opens in a bustling suburb of Seoul with Yun Suknam at work in her studio; her groundbreaking work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery (2019) and Venice Biennale (1995). The grand scale of her workspace is packed with a lifetime of mental exploration; stacks of catalogs of her work exhibited at the Smithsonian. The artist brushes her asymmetrically cropped hair from her face, dons her bright orange painting smock. Despite being 86 years old, she quickly moves around her studio in purple high-top sneakers. She is in the midst of producing a monumental work: painting the portraits of 130 female freedom fighters who resisted Japanese colonization of Korea a hundred years ago. As she moves in the early morning hours through her studio, a voice over plays, “When I first learned that there were female freedom fighters, I thought to myself – What is this? Who are these women?” The freedom fighters arc consists of three historical women who represent the ever more complex stories that challenge current narratives about independence and nationhood in Korea. The emotional and artistic arc of the artist mirrors the freedom fighter arc as she confronts her own biases and ignorance by excavating these stories. Three female freedom fighters' lives intersect around the March 1, 1919 manse demonstrations that rocked the country with millions protesting Japanese occupation.
Director Statement
Kyeng is a second generation Korean American woman whose transnational upbringing uniquely positions her to understand the cultural and gender issues in the film. She grew up immersed in the post-Cold War worldview of her immigrant parents in the Korean American church community of suburban New York. She often spent summers during her formative years living with her grandparents in South Korea. Feeling caught between two worlds yet invisible in both, Kyeng moved to Seoul as an adult to find answers to the questions about identity that she had struggled with her whole life. Working as an English teacher, she met Yun Suknam and was struck by her openness about sharing her perspective as a feminist artist. It was this openness that drew the filmmaker back twenty years later to make this film. For the Kyeng, Yun Suknam serves as a grandmotherly figure to fill in the silences left by her own grandparents’ history that has been lost due to displacement. She made a promise to the artist that someday she would share her story. This film is her finally making good on the promise she made over two decades ago. The story about visibility and representation of a transnational history is unique and specific to being a Korean-American woman.
Supporter Statement
@heypopster: "My name is Stephanie Kim, daughter of Korean immigrants, and I live in Brazil. I'm a content creator focused on Korean culture, and I love sharing historical facts about Korea. Yesterday, I came across one of [Traces of Brilliant Spirit] videos and found it absolutely fantastic. I would love to share it . . . in Portuguese to help spread [the] project here in Brazil [sic[. . . It would be an honor!"
Very Asian Foundation (VAF), a 501(c)3 nonprofit, “We are excited by the film Traces of Brilliant Spirit, a timely film that brings long-overdue visibility to the untold stories of Asian and Asian American women. We feel that the film meaningfully contributes to the broader conversation around representation and storytelling.
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Director/Producer Kyeng McGuirk
Kyeng McGuirk is an Korean-American Director/Producer. In 2021, she founded a minority woman - owned production company, Mānoa Film and Media LLC. She supports local filmmaking collectives like Hawai'i Women in Filmmaking, Hawai’i Filmmakers Collective and volunteers with Smithsonian's SITES/SA (Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service/Smithsonian Affiliations) program. This film has been supported by Firelight Media in Groundwork Intensive Lab (2025) and Women Make Movies as fiscal sponsor. Filmography includes The 'Ilima Lady, short documentary film supported by Pacific Islanders in Communication (PIC) and Firelight Film Regional Groundwork Lab (2023).
Devin Parnell Murphy is producer with experience managing large budget features. Most recently, he was one of the producers for Chaperone (2024) with premiered at Slamdance. For more information, please follow this link: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5141618/
Aleta Hammerich is Co-Producer, Cinematographer, and Asst. Editor. Aleta is a local filmmaker and graduate of the UH Mānoa School of Cinematic Art. She is a videographer and editor for Hawaiʻi Women in Filmmaking and the Better Tomorrow Speaker Series. Her past works include The ‘Ilima Lady (Camera, Assistant Editor, 2023), Homestead (Camera, 2023), The Lili'u Project (unreleased, co-producer, editor) and Emmy-winning Reel Wāhine of Hawaiʻi (2021-2024, Cinematographer, Sound, Editor). She has also worked on commercial shoots such as Lilo and Stitch (live action). https://www.hawaiiwomeninfilmmaking.org/our-team
RELATED LINKS
PROMOTE THIS PROJECT
Put a donation widget on your site. Click here for code.
ABOUT YOUR DONATION
Women Make Movies (WMM), Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media arts organization registered with the New York Charities Bureau of New York State and accepts charitable donations on behalf of this project. Your donation will be spent by the filmmaker(s) toward the production and completion of this media project. No services or goods are provided by Women Make Movies, the filmmaker(s) or anyone else associated with this project in exchange for your charitable donation.
Your contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law, and a confirmation of your donation will be sent via email. WMM will send you an acknowledgement letter in the mail to the address listed for tax purposes.