Neither Fish Nor Fowl

Feature Film

Video
Adopted as a baby in Korea and raised in a provincial German town, Michael has two identities. Unable to look in the mirror without feeling the hole in his history, he longs to know and be assured of his own identity.
Adopted as a baby in Korea and raised in a provincial German town, Michael has two identities. Unable to look in the mirror without feeling the hole in his history, he longs to know and be assured of his own identity. When his adoptive parents divorce, Michael feels lost and runs to his best friend in Berlin. But it's a new confrontational friendship with beautiful Jin Hi that forces him to re-examine himself. In Berlin's Korean community Michael is "neither fish nor fowl", a Korean-German with no knowledge of Korean language and tradition. Trapped between two cultures, Michael's realization that he's a stranger in his own home stirs him to question what it is that defines oneself. Underscored by stark photography, luminous performances, and a deeply echoing script, Neither Fish Nor Fowl transforms the terrain of self-awareness into a strange, lonely, and desperately universal story.
Category
Feature Film
Genre
Coming of Age
Status
on screen
Awards
Nominated for first steps Award - Nominated for German Camera Award
First run
09/01/2003
Premiere
Filmfest Saarbrücken 2003
Broadcaster
ZDF
Editor
Burkhard Althoff
Co-Production
ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel, Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin
Sales
Global Screen
Funding
FFF Bayern, Filmboard B.-B., BKM
Cast
Ill-Young Kim
Ju Youn Kim
Lisa Kreuzer
Jürgen Lehmann
Christian Steyer
Jong Gill Asathal Park
Cinematographer
Henning Stirner
production design
Martina Brünner
Cutter
Gergana Voigt
Composer
Martin Theo Krieger
Screenplay
Matthias Keilich
Executive producer
Stefan Raiser, Felix Zackor
Director
Matthias Keilich