Malala Yousafzai, director Sue Kim on ‘The Last of the Sea Women’ at TIFF 2024

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Nobel Peace Prize winner and activist Malala Yousafzai is making her Hollywood debut as a producer in the upcoming Apple TV+ film, The Last of the Sea Women. Directed by Sue Kim, the film celebrated its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

In an interview ahead of the premiere on Sept. 8, Yousafzai and Kim shared that they are thrilled to have their film in the festival. Yousafzai said, “This is such an important, inspiring, powerful story about the incredible Haenyeo women, and I think it deserves to be at TIFF. I hope that people enjoy it, love it as much as we have.”

Kim added, “We’re both thrilled that our film will be premiering at such an incredible, well respected, global film festival. I think it’s like the perfect film festival too because it is such a global and diverse array of programming that they’re known for. Since our subject matter is so global and diverse, it feels very appropriate.”

This documentary will be Yousafzai’s first film out of her production company, Extracurricular Productions. “This is my goal with the production company. I want to work on more projects like these, help more women and young people tell their stories in their own voice,” she said.

Kim’s documentary dives deep into the culture of the Haenyeo, the South Korean fisherwomen who have been harvesting seafood for their communities for centuries, whom she has respected since she was a little girl. When Kim learned that that the women are part of the last generation of Haenyeo, making the film became even more important to her. “I really wanted to memorialize them while they were still here, they were still in community with each other and to tell the world their story before they didn’t exist anymore.”

According to Kim, the Haenyeo women are fierce and unapologetic, and she credits that to the community. “It’s a system that’s built to encourage them to fully occupy their space unapologetically and I love so much about that community.”

This story inspired Yousafzai too. She shared that she is “inspired by these women who want to own their identity and renew what this identity means to them.”

Q&A with Malala Yousafzai and Sue Kim

Q: Malala, this is your first feature film from your production company. What kinds of films are you looking to produce, and how did this one fit the bill? A: Storytelling has been at the core of my activism, and it started with my own story. I have now continued to do that through the stories of [others], and I believe that a production company would allow me to work together with women and young people to reflect the world as they see it. I hope that stories will help people build connections to each other and show our shared humanities. I was excited to work on a film with a female director that was also led by mostly female staff. It was just an incredible opportunity, because this is a matriarchal society, one of the few and rare in the world. And they have an incredible journey and story, and they are giving us a very important message. I thought this would be a wonderful project to begin with, and it was actually one of the first ideas that were pitched to us. So I said yes straight away.

I remember talking to Sue about this and when she was telling me about about these women in the ocean and how they can stay underwater for more than two minutes, and they don’t have any extra oxygen and they were doing it at the age of 60, 70, 80, even 90. That just made me in awe of these incredible women. I wanted to know more. There is a sense of community, a sense of friendship, love and kindness when you connect with them. I love their resilience and I love their sense of friendship but I also love their passion for music and when they’re singing together, they have a whole history and a whole culture that they want to continue.

Q: Sue, you ask the question, “How did these women get to be so fierce and confident?” What have you discovered is the answer to that? A: I think this tradition is so old and revered and it’s been passed down from grandmother to mother to daughter for centuries. I think that they just inhabit this role without the usual crises of self-esteem. Like one of the Haenyeo says in the beginning, it’s a calling. And so they sort of inherit this work, and then they learn to love it. They love the ocean. They find solace there. So I think just the whole journey of becoming a Haenyeo, everything about it is empowering, everything about it gives them agency at a young age and in a very patriarchal society.

They were 15-year-old young women diving and making money and earning money in a time, and in a society that didn’t really allow that. So the entire culture itself has this built in support network, and this vibe of empowerment and agency. I think that’s what gives them their confidence, their boldness. It’s like they are taught from an early age that they’re just as strong as men, that they can do this work better than the men on the island, that they can support themselves financially, that they’re bad-asses. When you grow up having that message reinforced, and then you’re in community with other women that can also do that. I think that’s what gives them their superpower.  

Q: Malala, you’ve said that the younger Haenyeo women are reviving the traditions and redefining what empowerment means to them. When do you two feel most empowered? 

Malala: I feel empowered when I realize I’m not alone, and I get that sense of community when I hear the stories of other women older than me, younger than me. ‘The Last of the Sea Women’ is part of that journey where I am learning from these incredible older women who are surviving and thriving by this life in the ocean. I get inspired by these young women who want to own their identity and renew what this identity means to them. It’s really these women that that make me just feel so special and not alone. I hope that when people watch this documentary, they will also feel that sense of connection.

Sue: I would honestly echo Malala, that was such a great answer. But specifically, I feel very empowered. I feel very supported. I feel powerful when I know that I’m surrounded by like minded people that share the same passion and same kind of principles and the same goals. A perfect example of that was the making of this film where almost every single person on our production crew was a woman, and mostly Korean women. There was something so wonderful about that. That was a little bit intentional in so that we could make our Haenyeo more comfortable, especially when we’re going in their dressing rooms and things like that. But also there was just a sense of spirit, like all of us were constantly in awe of these women every day that we’re filming with them.

We were always crying every day because there’d be something either really poignant and beautiful that one of them said or just watching them in their sisterhood before our eyes. There was this general energy that grew because we were all witnessing the same beautiful relationships and a beautiful example of how to be a strong, bold woman. But we also just really wanted to tell their story right and accurately and honestly, and it gave an extra energy. Filming this was probably one of my best memories, of feeling empowered, supported, and having full agency to tell their story.

Q: Malala, you have always stressed the importance of education. What do you think are some of the best resources for the new generation to keep educating themselves? A: I believe documentaries are one of the ways to educate ourselves. I believe in storytelling and how that can help us be more aware of the world around us. I also believe that there’s so much for us to learn from the wisdom of these incredible older women who have generational education and wisdom with them. So we have to really connect with them.

I also believe that we need to get inspired by the energy and warmth of young people who are just so passionate about making the world a better place. Education is really important and I think it’s it starts with something and for somebody, this documentary could be the start of that educational journey. They can go and do more research and find out more, and maybe connect with them. Maybe go visit South Korea. Maybe go to Jeju Island and meet these incredible women. Maybe go and explore more about like, what is happening with the release of the water into the ocean by Japan and do something about that. Maybe question your leaders if they are actually harming sea life and and the lives of these women. There’s so much we can do. But I think it starts with storytelling.

Q: So if anyone wants to learn more about these women and the environment, what are some books or documentaries you recommend?

Sue: Well, a lot of women have come up to me when they find out that I’ve made this film, and they mentioned that they read a book called The Island of Sea Women. I have actually yet to read it, but I’ve heard it’s wonderful. It’s a fictionalized retelling of two Haenyeo back in the 1950s and 1960s, but apparently it’s very historically accurate. I love the idea that someone spent years researching this culture and really put a lot of care and detail into the historical accuracies of it.

Then there’s a children’s book called The Ocean Calls: A Haenyeo Mermaid Story, and it’s really beautifully animated and it tells the story of Haenyeo culture with the with the intended audience of children. So it’s a little bit more simplified, but it’s really lovely.

Q: There is a theme of the elders sharing their tradition and customs with the new generation. Is there a cultural tradition that has been passed along to you that you’d like to carry on?

Malala: I spent half of my life in Pakistan, and then we moved to the UK for my medical treatment, and since then, I have been based here. Our family still has those family traditions that we had in Pakistan, and one of that is hospitality, just offering people tea, even if they say no, you insist. You still make them tea,  just offering food and offering people space and your company, and sharing your moments of joy with them and making them laugh and making them feel at home – that is the main part of our culture and it’s really hard to escape from that.

Sue: It’s a very interesting question for me because I am the daughter of Korean immigrants. So both my parents were born and raised in Korea and then they moved here in their 20s, and so I am that perfect, weird hybrid of half Korean. I’m ethnically full Korean, but I grew up born and raised in the U.S. So my entire life, my identity has been a bit of a juggling act of like what part of me is Korean and what part of me is American, because the environment you grow up in really influences you. But at the same time in my household, my parents were very Korean, and we followed Korean traditions. We had the Korean New Year’s bowl of soup. We had the Korean Thanksgiving holiday. We practiced those things.

There was always a bit of, a not a conflict, but just I have two colliding cultures happening within me. And I would just say I’m really thankful that my parents insisted on bringing their Korean ethnicity and their Korean culture into our household, so that I did have both cultures to share when I was growing up. It allowed me as an adult to go back to Korea and to feel a true connection with that culture, and to feel a true connection with like the motherland because it wasn’t just this distant memory to me; it was a culture that was enforced in my house.

Q: The Last of Sea Women will premiere on Apple TV+, so I wanted to ask what are you currently watching on Apple TV+?

Malala: I think one thing that we have to talk about is that Ted Lasso. So when I saw that, I was like, ‘Oh, wait a second. Wait a second. Is this true? I had to triple check that, and I’m so excited that it’s coming back. Other than that, I’m really excited for all the shows on Apple TV+, and including, when we see The Last of the Sea Women, which will be happening soon, like, 11th of October is just not that far. And, of course, Pachinko, Trying and Tehran.

Sue: Well, perfect timing. There’s a documentary series about K-pop that I helped executive produce. It’s called K-Pop Idols and I highly recommend it. We made a very concerted effort to portray it honestly, with empathy and sensitivity, but actually showing the hardships and showing the glamour of it too. It’s both. There’s a duality there. There’s a lot of struggle and perseverance and mental health struggles that we’re very, very honest about. But also, these people that are very talented and have given up their lives to pursue their dreams, and some of them actually achieve their dreams. I think people that think that they know K-pop, they’ll still have a lot of surprises to watch in that show.

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