| A Barefoot Dream | |
| Director: | Kim Tae-kyun |
| Producer: | Kim Tae-kyun Yu Jeong-hun |
| Starring: | Park Hee-soon Ko Chang-seok |
| Music: | Kim Jun-seok |
| Cinematography: | Jeong Han-cheol |
| Editing: | Shin Min-kyung |
| Distributor: | Showbox/Mediaplex |
| Runtime: | 121 minutes |
| Country: | South Korea |
| Language: | Korean |
| Gross: | million[1] |
A Barefoot Dream is a 2010 South Korea-Japanese sports drama film co-production between South Korea and Japan directed by Kim Tae-kyun.[2] It is based on the true story of Kim Shin-hwan, a retired Korean footballer who goes to East Timor after his business fails and launches a youth football team, thus becoming the "Hiddink of Korea."[3] [4] [5] The film was selected as the South Korean entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards but it did not make the final shortlist.[6] [7] The film recorded 332,699 admissions during its theatrical run in South Korea.[8]
Kim Won-kang (Park Hee-soon) is a former football prospect whose life did not turn out quite as he had hoped. He heads to East Timor, where he thinks there will be plenty of opportunities for him. One day, he sees a group of street kids playing football with bare feet. Thinking he can score by selling football shoes, he opens a sports equipment store, but realizes none of the kids can afford those fancy shoes or jerseys. Again, despaired, he is about to close up the store. Then, he decides to teach the kids how to play football. Penniless and still without shoes, they decide to compete at the International Youth Football Championship in Japan.