SEWOL: Sealed Eternally With Our Love
Having been on the 'frontline' as an activist for the Sewol Ferry cause since that tragedy in 2014 and having visited Korea on many occasions over the last decade, film director Jason Verney brings a heartfelt tribute to those many who are still keenly interested, including of course survivors, families of victims, fellow activists and friends of those lost to the sea.
Starting from the film director's beginnings in London, where he first became interested in Korean culture - and ultimately the country's tragedies - and taking us on a journey across seas, through various memorials in Korea and particularly around the time of the 10 Year Anniversary, we are introduced to various facets, general truth-seeking and shown a little more insight into those monthly memorials still happening in London by his fellow activist friends from the group, "Remembering Sewol UK".
Touching on on other Korean tragedies (namely the 2022 Itaewon tragedy, the Jeju navy base issue, Gwangju 5:18, Jeju 4:3. 'comfort women' etc) but also a few elsewhere in Asia and the world, this documentary is meant less as an investigation as to what occurred in April 2014 and therefore how things unfolded but as a sealed letter of love - a 'Ten Tale Tribute' from the director and on behalf of those and on behalf of the group, "Remembering Sewol UK”
It spans more than 10 years, 10 visits and is a documentary of 10 parts, including the special docu-montage entitled "District Sewol” (“세월호 디스트릭스”) which sparked off this whole 70-minute film project idea.
-
Jason VerneyDirectorReparation
-
Jason VerneyWriterReparation
-
Jason VerneyKey Cast"Reparation"
-
MobyMusic
-
Love X StereoMusic
-
Kevin MacLeodMusic
-
Jason VerneyProducer
-
Project Type:Documentary
-
Runtime:1 hour 10 minutes
-
Completion Date:January 2, 2025
-
Production Budget:400 GBP
-
Country of Origin:United Kingdom
-
Language:English
-
Shooting Format:Digital
-
Film Color:Color
-
First-time Filmmaker:No
-
Student Project:No
-
Digital Cinema Package:Unavailable
-
Kingston International Film FestivalLondon
United Kingdom
June 7, 2025
UK Premiere
Official Selection -
Bangkok Movie AwardsBangkok
Thailand
April 16, 2025
Thailand Premiere
Best Documentary Film -
Tamizhagam International Film FestivalChennai
India
April 18, 2025
Indian Premiere
Best Documentary Feature Film -
Thilsri International Film Festival
Official Selection
British-born Jason Verney is an established, award-winning film director, video artist, editor, videographer, multi-podcaster and journalist.
Although mostly self-taught in the process of filmmaking, he combines his experience of working on film sets over the years, and courses attended at the Met Film School in Ealing and Raindance in Central London, with his love for writing, creating editing and ultimately directing.
His screenplays from 25 years ago may differ hugely to his recent works - which focus on different cultures and social issues - but his passion for Asian cultures and Asian cinema is what drives his fiction and documentary ideas, but loss, love and longing also play a big part.
Jason's recent film projects have been focused more on Korean culture and its diaspora, resulting in Korea-related video art which resided in the well-known Kingston Museum in London, UK and being commissioned to film a variety of events at the prestigious Korean Cultural Centre UK, for much of the last decade.
Other highlights include film work in Jeju, South Korea and creating an interactive a music video for a track by esteemed musician, Damon Albarn (Blur; Gorillaz), which rather predictably, perhaps, featured a Korean actress.
Jason has also been a film judge at the Seoul Whistler Film Festival in Seoul, Korea and assisted in other film festivals, such as the Kingston International Film Festival, UK.
His recent film projects have included the dual language [Korean/English] drama, "Reparation" and feature-length documentary "S.E.W.O.L. - Sealed Eternally With Our Love" as well as other short video art projects relating to the Sewol ferry tragedy.
In addition to this, Jason has given talks and speeches on Korean culture and issues, as well as been involved in panel discussions, Q & As and runs a podcast on filmmaking, as well as one on Korean culture.
This feature film was made in a relatively short amount of time (some of the latter part of 2024) but has already started being submitted to festivals in 2025. This is a very personal film project, not least due to my involvement with the Sewol Ferry cause.
I never intended to document, in a feature film or any kind of film - apart from a couple of video art pieces made over the last few years - the Sewol ferry memorials in London and elsewhere, of which he was an integral member, but some footage from 2017 when I visited the ferry itself wouldn’t let go of him, artistically.
An ‘at-the-time’, half-finished video art or what I like to call a docu-montage remained unfinished right up until this feature film reached its completion. It ultimately became what inspired me to turn all my partly-unintentional Sewol ferry research and footage, mostly via several visits to South Korea, into a feature film and that is “SEWOL: Sealed Eternally With Our Love”, a film of 10 parts [9 + the docu-montage/video art now known as "District Sewol” (“세월호 디스트릭스”)].
I knew one thing for certain though, and that was that a certain piece of music by well-known musician, Moby went so well with that 2017 footage, that it simply had to stay… and it remains in the feature film itself.
Speaking of music, I also had been in discussions with Korean musicians, Love X Stereo about using some their music in projects and, almost by good fortune one of their tracks, which was written about the Sewol ferry tragedy fitted my editing idea and so that too was used.
Kevin MacLeod’s music also features in “SEWOL: Sealed Eternally With Our Love”, and in my previous film, “Reparation” Kevin MacLeod’s music was used there too. “Reparation”, a 30-minute, dual language drama, touched quite heavily on the Sewol ferry tragedy, as well as other issues from Korea and the UK.
