화엄경(1993) / The Avatamska Sutra (Hwa-eomgyeong) (1993)

★ Alfred Bauer Prize, 44th Berlin International Film Festival (1994)

Abandoned as a baby and raised by a career criminal, a young man sets out to find his mother and instead meets a string of people who teach him love, grief and desire one at a time, like stations on a pilgrimage he never asked for. Jang Sun-woo's reading of the Buddhist sutra plays more like a fever dream than a plot, ending with the boy leading another lost child down the same road.

Why it's free: Free on the Korean Film Archive's own channel; Korea's national film archive publishes the films in its collection.