and asks Song-hwa to give him her address after she finds her next location. Song-hwa begins her journey through the snow. A young girl holds the rope to lead Song-hwa. Cast Oh Jung-hae as Song-hwa, a young pansori singer and Yu-bong's adoptive daughter. She dedicates her life to pansori and following Yu-bong's vision of pansori artistry. Kim Myung-gon as Yu-bong, a pansori singer who tries to pass on his technique and vision of pansori to his adoptive children. Kim Kyu-chul as Dong-ho, Yu-bong's adoptive son who learns to be a pansori gosu. He later runs away from Yu-bong's abuse and the impoverished situation of his adoptive family. Release For many decades, the Korean film market remained dominated by Hollywood imports and domestically produced films were not as well received. When Seopyonje was released April 1993, the film was expected to draw limited interest as well and was released on only one screen in Seoul. However, it immediately received positive reviews domestically within South Korea and by October, at the height of its popularity, it was shown domestically on only three screens at once in the entire city of over 10 million. Nevertheless, it ended up breaking box-office records and became the first Korean film to draw over a million viewers in Seoul alone. Seopyonnje also found its way to screens at art theatres and college campuses in the United States, Europe, and Japan. When it was released, Seopyonje'''s success also increased interest in pansori among modern audiences. The film was acclaimed critically, both in South Korea and abroad, getting screened in Cannes Film Festival (1993), winning six Grand Bell Awards (2002), an honorary Golden Bear Award at Berlin Film Festival, and six Korean Film Critics' Awards. Due to the success of Seopyonje, Director Im Kwon-taek also used pansori as a narrative tool in his later films Chunhyang (2000), based on the popular Korean story Chunhyangga, and Beyond the Years (2007), an informal sequel to Seopyeonje. Critical Responses Seopyonje'' has received numerous attention by film critics and academics. Film critic Julian Stringer points out that the film's "use of structural ambiguities, or antinomies, [may] resonate differently for different audiences depending upon their cultural expectations and competencies". Common themes explored by film academics include concepts of national cinema, cultural nationalism, modernization, and gender. Kim Shin-Dong identified a set of binary oppositions between modern and traditional elements in the film such as cinema