# My Love, Don't Cross That River

My Love, Don't Cross That River (Korean: 님아, 그 강을 건너지 마오) is a 2013 South Korean documentary film that follows elderly married couple Jo Byeong-man and Kang Kye-yeol until the last moments of their 76-year marriage. Documentary filmmaker Jin Mo-young filmed Jo and Kang in the couple's mountain village in Hoengseong County, Gangwon Province for 15 months.
My Love, Don't Cross That River premiered at the 2013 DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award. It was released in theaters on 27 November 2014 and through word of mouth became the most commercially successful Korean documentary/independent film of all time.

## Production

Married couple, 98-year-old Jo Byeong-man and 89-year-old Kang Kye-yeol, were first featured onscreen in a five-episode segment titled Gray-haired Lovers on a KBS television documentary program that aired in 2011. After documentary filmmaker Jin Mo-young saw Jo and Kang on TV, he rushed to the couple's mountain village in Hoengseong County, Gangwon Province and asked them if he could make their story into a possible film. After obtaining their permission in September 2012, Jin followed the couple for 15 months and documented their everyday life.

## Reception

Upon its theatrical release on 27 November 2014, the film became the most commercially successful Korean independent film of all time in terms of revenue and attendance.

### Box office

In South Korea, the film topped the box office during its opening weekend with ₩5.13 billion (US$4.66 million) ahead of its competition, Hollywood films Interstellar, Exodus: Gods and Kings and The Theory of Everything. It was the second time ever and the first time in five years that a documentary film had topped the Korean box office since Old Partner opened at No. 1 in 2009. It has so far grossed ₩8.38 billion (US$7.62 million) in 15 days, which is 70 times its production budget of ₩120 million (US$110,000). As of January 2015, the film drew 3.73 million admissions, beating Old Partner's record (2.93 million) to become the highest grossing Korean independent/documentary film of all time.

### Critical reception

My Love, Don't Cross That River has received mostly positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 84%, based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 68 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter gave a positive review calling it "the cinematic equivalent of marriage counseling."

### Film festivals

Aside from DMZ Docs, the film was also invited to screen at the Moscow International Film Festival, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, the Sydney Film Festival, and the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2015.

### Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
| 2014 | DMZ International Documentary Film Festival | Audience Award | My Love, Don't Cross That River | Won |
| 2015 | 6th KOFRA Film Awards | Best Independent Film | My Love, Don't Cross That River | Won |
| 2015 | 10th Max Movie Awards | Best Film | My Love, Don't Cross That River | Nominated |
| 2015 | 10th Max Movie Awards | Best Director | Jin Mo-young | Nominated |
| 2015 | 10th Max Movie Awards | Best Trailer | My Love, Don't Cross That River | Nominated |
| 2015 | 10th Max Movie Awards | Best Poster | My Love, Don't Cross That River | Won |
| 2015 | 51st Baeksang Arts Awards | Best New Director | Jin Mo-young | Nominated |
| 2015 | Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival | Audience Award | | 4th place |
| 2015 | 21st Los Angeles Film Festival | Documentary Award | My Love, Don't Cross That River | Won |