1997 Budapest

In 1997, at the age of sixteen, the dancer and choreographer Mimi Jeong moved to Budapest from South Korea. She stayed in Budapest for two years. It was her first experience abroad. She went to Budapest because of her father, who was a conductor in Hungary at the time. In the 1990s, shortly after the fall of Berlin wall, Budapest was a city that was inexperienced with people who looked different and who came from a different culture. Mimi came from Busan, she looked different, she thought differently, and she felt different. Today her connection to Budapest is a special one, it is light-hearted, lonely, nostalgic and sorrowful. We go on a journey with Mimi to Budapest, we aim to understand what best describes the Portuguese word ‘Saudade’. Anyone who has already met a Hungarian knows that this bittersweet melancholy is central to the country's identity.