117 minutes – Drama
Languages: English, Korean
Festival release date: September 11, 2022 – Toronto International Film Festival
Release date: March 2023
Production companies: Lonesome Heroes Productions, Kind Stranger Productions, A Lasting Dose Productions
Canadian distributor: Game Theory Films

So-young is a Korean single mother raising her adolescent son Dong-hyun in the suburbs of Canada during the 90s. Determined to provide a better life for him than the one she left behind in her native country, she does her best to overcome the constant racial and cultural challenges that confront them. As Dong-hyun gets older, he becomes increasingly curious about his Korean heritage and in particular, about his deceased father – a topic that So-young refuses to address. Instead, she is set on continuing to build on her new life which now includes a relationship with a kind Korean-Canadian man who is eager to take on the role of Dong-hyun’s surrogate father. This only exacerbates the tense relationship between her and Dong-hyun. Then, sudden devastating news prompts the mother and son to return to South Korea for the first time since their initial departure with hopes of reconnecting to their roots and reconciling their tragic past.

Riceboy Sleeps was the winner of the TIFF 2022 Platform Prize, winner of the Best Canadian Film Award by the Toronto Film Critics Association and was nominated for six 2023 Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Motion Picture.