Announcing the 14th SDAFF Spring Showcase Audience Award Winner

Congratulations to Between Goodbyes for winning the 14th SDAFF Spring Showcase’s Audience Award. With this win, Between Goodbyes joins a proud legacy of documentaries recognized with the Spring Showcase’s top honor.

Previous documentary winners include Ashima (2024), Finding Her Beat (2023), Free Chol Soo Lee (2022), Try Harder! (2021), Minding the Gap (2018), Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017), The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (2016), To Be Takei (2014), and Harana (2013).

The Closing Night film screening on Thursday, May 1, 2025 featured a Q&A moderated by Pac Arts Founder Lee Ann Kim with director Jota Mun and Ruth Chon, film subject.This screening was supported by the Association of Korean Adoptees San Diego (AKASD) and co-presented by the San Diego Miramar College IDEA Committee.

‍About the film: Born in South Korea and raised in the Netherlands by a Dutch adoptive mother, Mieke grew up an ocean away from the family she never knew. Between Goodbyes follows her return to South Korea to celebrate her marriage and reconnect with the parents who gave her up under the pressures of international adoption policies. Director Jota Mun, a fellow Korean adoptee, tenderly captures Mieke’s journey of reunion, identity, and healing across continents.