Three vulnerable individuals succumb to the harsh realities of life in this multi-narrative drama. HANNA, a Korean teenager who left home to study in Singapore, deals with the loneliness she faces in a foreign country, pregnancy, and a boyfriend who cheats on her. MARK, a divorced man, suffers from a terminal illness. He hides this fact from his daughter and ex-wife. Due to this illness, he decides to let his daughter leave with his ex-wife for America. AH MUI is a 60-year- old widow who lost her daughter half a year ago, and is still reeling from the emotional setback.
The three of them lose faith in life and resort to pessimistic ways to escape from their problems. MARK and HANNA choose to end their lives, while AH MUI lives with the delusion that her daughter is still alive. On a particular morning, the three characters unknowingly cross paths and unknowingly play a part in changing the destiny of one another’s lives.
This touching and meaningful story circles around the idea that even though the unpredictability of life may be overwhelming at times, hope will turn it all around if we choose to take life’s challenges in our stride.
Director’s Statement
As the name of our production team implies, raison d'être encapsulates the spirit of our production team to give meanings to the films we produce. When we first gathered to brainstorm ideas for the short film project, we were interested in exploring the themes of pain and struggles in life. What intrigued us were social issues pertaining to family ties, struggles in life and other controversial topics. With this in mind, we aimed to translate abstract concepts into visual stories that the audience can relate to, providing them with a channel to release their inner emotions, a form of liberation they can obtain through watching our film.
The film eventually turned out to be Epiphany. Through Epiphany, we wanted to explore conflicting relationship between the complexity and simplicity of life. For all our lives we probably will be searching for the value of living, of life itself. Hence, we wanted to use the film as an opportunity to express our suggestion to what we can possibly live for – love.
This film is a sharing of voices on the value of life. We hope that the audiences would not only enjoy the film but also embark on a journey with us to search for answers.
