The Mother And The Bear’s director Johny Ma on how shooting in Winnipeg changed his mindset

Johnny Ma never intended to shoot The Mother And The Bear in Winnipeg.

When he initially began writing the script he set it in Cincinnati, as that’s where the Korean mother who inspired the film had actually traveled to. “For me, inspiration always comes from real life,” Ma tells Flatlander. “I’d met this woman in Seoul who told me a story about visiting her daughter in Cincinnati. I liked the idea of setting the film there because not many people know much about Cincinnati.” 

Ma eventually turned this woman’s story into a film about Sara (Kim Ho-jung) traveling from South Korea to Winnipeg after her daughter Sumi (Leere Park) falls into a coma. Soon after arriving in the freezing cold of the Winnipeg winter, Sara realizes she doesn’t know anything about her daughter’s life, which she then begins to meddle in. 

After writing the script, Ma was asked whether they could film The Mother And The Bear in Canada, for financial reasons. Initially he thought the production company might recommend Toronto, Calgary, or Montreal. When they proposed Winnipeg he was immediately excited. “I’ve always been fascinated by the city. I love so many of the filmmakers and artists who have come out of there. I’ve found their art quite unusual compared to other places,” explains Ma. He goes on to praise the likes of Matthew Rankin, Guy Maddin, and Evan and Galen Johnson, especially since the latter duo co-produced The Mother And The Bear. 

While Ma was thrilled by the chance to film in Winnipeg, there was one issue that made him feel a little insecure. “I wrote the script without ever visiting the city. I felt this huge responsibility to do the film and city justice. Also, as an outsider, I felt that I really needed to understand the city.” 

In October, 2022, Ma moved to Winnipeg so he could endure one of its famously brutal winters. This process allowed him to add certain details, shots, and locations that made the film even more authentic for Winnipeggers. “I wanted to feel what the characters would have experienced.” Ma added jokes about slowly pressing on the brakes in winter to avoid skidding, Sara using the Golden Boy statue on top of the Legislative Building to guide her home, while he also took cues from locals about what the characters should wear, as well as when to schedule filming. “I just really wanted to capture the reality of Winnipeg and the electricity of the city,” explains Ma. “Because even when times are hard and things are tough, that all ends up in the film, too.”

The Mother And The Bear’s honest portrayal of both Winnipeg and the complex relationship between a mother and her daughter has earned the film rave reviews. Ma is particularly proud of how it explores inter-generational dynamics. “We live in a world where everybody has their own point of view and has stopped seeing the other side. Especially between different generations. For myself, I had to go on a journey of seeing the world through my mother’s eyes and understanding where she had come from. I hope viewers are able to have those same conversations with their parents, and vice versa, after seeing the film.”

But while he’s already moved on to his next projects, shooting The Mother And The Bear in Winnipeg clearly had a huge impact on Ma. Not just professionally, but also personally. “Sometimes people need to go into solitude to work on themselves, so they can come out of it and see the world in a different way.” 

In fact, Ma points to a line in the film that has continued to resonate with him: There’s kindness in the cold. “That’s not a throwaway line,” he insists. “That’s a lived experience. There’s a real lesson in that because it’s such a beautiful sentiment. The city has been very important in my own journey. I’ll forever be grateful for that.”