The Cherry Hill library screens what it calls a must-watch documentary every month. On May 29, it was Apple TV’s “The Last of the Sea Women.”
Subtitled by the library, the film follows a group of Korean women called the haenyeo, divers who harvest seafood like sea urchins, shellfish and seaweed by holding their breath for two to three minutes at a time after diving as deep as 30 to 40 feet below the surface.
Many of the women live on and dive from South Korea’s Jeju Island, where the haenyeo traditionally originate, though some of the younger women featured in the documentary come from other areas of the country, specifically Geoje.
Library guests had already read Lisa See’s novel, “The Island of Sea Women,” which covers the haenyeo and Jeju Island.
“I try to find things that I know people will be interested in,” said librarian Jaclyn Harmon, circulation supervisor for the library. “I knew about the Lisa See book and I saw that this documentary was on Apple TV, so I thought it would be a good choice.”
As May marks Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the documentary was also chosen for its connection to Korean culture.
“Especially because May is AAPI month, so we’re trying to find something kind of that falls in those parameters,” Harmon explained.
The documentary highlights the concerns and lives of the ‘sea women,’ from the physical effects and danger of their jobs to the fear of their culture slipping away and being forgotten. Most of the film’s haenyeo are well into their 60s, 70s or even older, and many younger women have no interest in the trade.
Environmental struggles are also explored in “The Last of the Sea Women,” with trash shown accumulating along the beaches of Jeju and the divers in the film addressing how it’s become more difficult to find seafood, thus lowering their income.
Their greatest environmental concern is Japan’s plan to release wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster into the ocean. While diluted, the water is still radioactive, and it will impact not only the livelihoods of the film’s haenyeo, but their health, too.
Barbara Elkan was at the library for the documentary screening.
“I’m very grateful to the Cherry Hill library for showing this movie,” she stated, “because it would be something I would never think of. I would never know about it otherwise. It’s very, very interesting and I learned a lot.”
The library’s next must-watch documentary, “Will and Harper,” will be screened on Thursday, June 19. The 2024 feature follows actor and comedian Will Ferrell as he and his friend, writer Harper Steele, take a a 17-day road trip across the country, with Steele having recently completed a gender transition.
