A moving story about a friendship between a panda and a zookeeper.
Born in Everland, South Korea, in 2020, the panda Fu Bao became an instant celebrity and social media phenomenon. During the pandemic, videos featuring the little bear received millions of views, and her followers multiplied. Fu Bao’s birth was in itself an extraordinary event, as pandas hardly ever breed in captivity.
The documentary follows Fu Bao’s first years, with a special focus on the last weeks before her departure to China, her historical homeland, in accordance with international agreements. According to China’s «panda-diplomacy, ” pandas, whose natural habitat is in China, should only live in other countries temporarily. Pandas born in captivity must be transferred to a Chinese nature park in Sichuan at the age of four, to live in a bamboo forest among their kin.
The main focus of the film is on the caring relationship between the panda and keeper Kang Cheol Won, for whom the departure of Fu Bao dramatically coincided with the death of his mother, and on how animals can sometimes support people in difficult times.
The film will be screened in Korean with Russian subtitles.
My Dearest Fu Bao
Directors: Kim Hyun Joon, Thomas Ko
South Korea, 2024. 94 min.
6+
