Eleven-year-old Igor and his ornithologist father Peter witness the birth of a crane in the wilds of Russia. Igor christens the young hatchling Karl and vows to watch over him.

In director Evheny Ruman’s debut film “Igor and the Cranes’ Journey,” the innocent Igor makes an analogous journey of his own when he and his mother migrate from Russia to Israel. Though his parents are divorced, Igor never imagined he would move so far from his father and the cranes.

The Israeli Embassy screened this tender family film, which was released in 2012, on Tuesday at a theater near Konkuk University in Seoul. Arthouse Momo at Ewha Womans University will show the film from Aug. 1 for an unspecified duration.

After he moves to Israel, Igor’s troubles multiply upon his arrival at a new school, as he struggles to adjust to a new life, culture and language. He refuses all communication with his father once he, too, arrives in Israel. Igor’s only solace is found in drawing pictures of his beloved cranes.

The film delicately explores ― though, to the story’s detriment, somewhat simply ― the feelings of a young boy as he struggles with an array of complex experiences, finding and adopting a new home and new friends at school and, most warming of all, a renewed relationship with his estranged father.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)