★★★★

A tender coming-of-age story of first love and hidden secrets, Divine Sung’s Summer’s Camera details a teenage girl who finds a world spinning out of control as she falls for a popular classmate and sees her passion for photography take unexpected turns.

Still recovering from the loss of her father the year prior, Summer (Kim Si-a) is rarely without a camera. Sharing her father’s love of photography, she falls for soccer player Yeonwoo (Yu Gauen), the opposite of her introverted and quiet demeanor. For Summer, the vivid and colorful world she captures through her camera becomes almost a literal reality as she begins her first serious relationship.

Sung has found a compelling perfomer in Kim, her character’s innocence hanging on until she develops a roll of film at the request of her girlfriend. In addition to shots of her partner, a mysterious man is shown again and again in photos taken previously by her father before he passed away. What is the connection? Summer vows to find out.

Beautifully shot by cinematographer Jimin Lee, Summer’s Camera is tempered, kind, and understanding to its characters. Sung embraces these characters without judgment and reminds us that emotions are messy, challenging, and confusing sometimes. Whether a relationship ends abruptly or finds a sustainable path forward, to be seen and to be loved lies at the root of who we are. The characters in Sung’s film may be adjusting to new realities, but there is a gentle touch to the storytelling that resonates.

Summer’s Camera was screened as part of the 51st Seattle International Film Festival.