Nobel Peace Prize-winning education activist Malala Yousafzai is bringing the story of “Korea’s mermaids” to Apple. Along with Erika Kennair (“The Flight Attendant”), she’s producing a feature doc about the haenyeo community of fisherwomen in South Korea. Variety reports that Yousafzai’s production company, Extracurricular, is collaborating with indie powerhouse A24 for the still-untitled project, directed by Peabody Award nominee Sue Kim (“The Speed Cubers”).

Yousafzai signed a programming deal with Apple TV+ last year. Her first project will center on the fascinating society of women divers – some as old as 80 years of age – that inhabits Jeju Island. For centuries, these matriarchs have embarked on deep sea voyages to harvest shellfish, seaweed, and other marine life to support their community. True to their name, haenyeo (해녀), which translates literally to “sea woman,” plunge 10 meters into ocean waters without the aid of oxygen masks, in an extraordinary show of physical stamina and expert knowledge of sea life.

Known as “Korea’s mermaids,” the haenyeo community is semi-matriarchal as many Jeju families rely on these gallant women divers as breadwinners. Haenyeo are unsurprisingly renowned for their grit, independence, and determination, and often serve as the heads of households. 

The Apple Original will document a haenyeo population that has been on a steady decline in past decades. That said, the younger generation is on a mission to revive and protect their ancestors’ way of life, a lifestyle that is held in esteem but deemed dangerous. Part of their anthropological preservation is the defense of oceans against environmental degradation.

The haenyeo doc is one of many other titles on Extracurricular’s slate of film and TV projects for Apple, including a feature adaptation of Elaine Hsieh Chou’s novel “Disorientation.” Published this March, the story follows a Taiwanese American PhD student whose research leads to her to a life-changing discovery.