Malala Yousafzai inspired by Korean fisherwomen in new documentary

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has premiered her first film about a group of Korean fisherwomen who dive to the ocean floor without oxygen to harvest food.

Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai has spoken about her debut film production, a documentary that celebrates the resilience of women.

The film, titled 'The Last Of The Sea Women', follows a group of Korean fisherwomen known as the haenyeo divers from South Korea’s Jeju Island. These women, most of whom are in their 60s or older, dive without oxygen to the ocean floor to harvest food, despite threats to the waters that provide their livelihood. This marks Yousafzai’s first feature from her new company, Extracurricular Productions.

"I was inspired by the story of haenyeo because they are free divers, and women often are told that they have limits to what they are capable of," the 27 year old told the PA news agency. She added: "When I see this documentary and look at the phenomenal things that these women can do, the community that they have created, how they can dive into the ocean as deep as they can and stay there without any oxygen for two to three minutes, and they have a whole livelihood created around that which is very sustainable and very community focused, I learned so much from it."

Yousafzai believes the story is relevant for women globally, particularly those advocating for equality and a better life for women.

Their resilience in the face of danger and climate threats made her question "are there capabilities that a lot of women don’t actually know of. So this is a story that helps us reflect on how far we can go".

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Korean-American director Sue Kim has shared her fascination with the haenyeo divers, which began when she was just eight years old during a family trip to South Korea’s Jeju Island. "I saw them, a group of women kitted out in their wetsuits and walking into the water – they looked so tough, so badass, so cool – and I remember instantly just thinking that they were kind of an underwater secret girl gang.

"They really gave me another option of Korean womanhood, of the kind of Korean womanhood I could try to aspire to be, and that’s really how this project came to be. It stems from that childhood memory that imprinted on me at such a formative age."

The Apple TV+ film explores the challenges these women face both in and out of the water. Kim expressed concern for the future of the haenyeo, citing a "discernible lack of interest in the younger women to carry on this tradition" and "a number of existential threats that are related to the environment".

Yousafzai described The Last Of The Sea Women as "one of the first pitches" she encountered when establishing her production company, and she "said yes straight away". "It is such a unique story of women’s resilience, we do not have it covered yet, and I did not know about it personally so I said, ‘I need to know about this, other women and other people need to know about this’," she added.

"It’s one of the few matriarchal societies in the world, and the message of cooperation and community that they send is so relevant to all of us."

The film's debut coincided with Malala Yousafzai commemorating 12 years since her near-fatal shooting by the Taliban for advocating girls' education rights. 'The Last Of The Sea Women' is currently available for streaming on Apple TV+.

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