Falling Forward

The story

The Ssireum team at Gyobang Elementary School in Masan, the historic heart of Korean wrestling. With the national champion seniors now graduated, the remaining young athletes must carry the team on their own for the first time. Filmed over six months from autumn to spring, the documentary follows their journey as they confront the absence of their seniors and navigate hope, pressure, victory, defeat, friendship and solidarity. In an age where failure is not an option, the film asks what true growth means through the children who fall and rise again on the sand ring.