The Cross of North Gando

The Christians of North Gando lose their country and leave their hometown, but gain the Gospel. The cross they hold in their hands is the symbol of daring for independence and a royal summon of the generation they have to endure. Historian Sim Yo Han retraces the footsteps of the late Father Moon Dong Hwan and finds meanings of the anti-Japanese independence movement hidden in various parts of North Gando.

2019-10-17 | ko

Things That Do Us Part

Things That Do Us Part is a documentary that reframes the stories of three women fighters who dove into a tragic war in modern Korean history, using witness statements and reenactments.

2019-11-28 | ko

Comfort

KIM Soonak is a survivor of sex slavery by the Japanese military. The war may have ended, but her life was still at a war. She lived in the prostitute quarters to survive, did sex business in the US military camp town, and peddled goods from the US military. She raised two kids on her own as she worked as a maid. We’ll listen to her story in her absence. The film reconstructs the life story of the deceased KIM Soonak with interviews with activists, archive videos, animation, and read-aloud testimony.

2022-02-23 | ko

A Song of Korean Factory Girls

During the Japanese colonial period, 22 Korean female workers were forced to work in a spinning mill in Osaka across the sea to support their families. Despite facing discrimination and violence, their testimonies and life-affirming songs of victory have endured.

2024-08-07 | ko

East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front

2020-08-20 | ko

Media Mafia: a Tale of Two Newspapers

The 100 years of history of the Chosun Ilbo and the Dong-A Ilbo show that wrong press can be a social weapon.

2021-01-01 | ko

The Big Picture

2013-08-15 | ko

Hundred Years' War in Korea

2012-11-28 | ko

The Silence

The Silence narrates the struggle of fifteen "comfort women"—former sex slaves by the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII—for recognition and reparation. The "comfort women" issue has previously been treated almost exclusively within the framework of Korean nationalism. The Silence will provide insight into the ways in which nationalism and the emergence of post-war Asian nation-states have hindered the understanding of "comfort women" narratives through Zainichi Korean documentary filmmaker Soo-nam Park's point of view.

2017-12-02 | ja

1919 Yu Gwan-sun

A film that explores the lives of female independence activists who fought against the Japanese Occupation in the North and South of Korea.

2019-03-14 | ko

Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue

A Japanese-American director digs deep into the controversial 'comfort women' issue to settle the debate on whether the women were paid prostitutes or sex slaves, and reveals the motivations and intentions of the main actors pushing to revise history in Japan.

2019-07-25 | en

My name is KIM Bok-dong

In 1992, KIM Bok-dong, reported herself as a victim of the sexual slavery, "comfort women" during World War Ⅱ. She wanted to receive the proper apology from the Japan government but they denied its responsibility. In 2011, commemorating the 1000th Wednesday demonstration, Statue of Peace was installed in front of the Embassy of Japan. The fight over Japan confronts a new stage.

2019-08-08 | ko

The Ukishima Maru Massacre

22nd of August, 1945. Japan lost the war and they loaded an 8,000 person Joseon laborer force onto a ship called the Ukisima to take them to the Busan Port. However, the ship sunk into the water due to an unknown blast. This is the story of thousands of Joseon people who dreamed of returning to their families and how they died.

2019-09-19 | ko

Land of My Father

Byeong-man, a farmer whose father was enslaved during Japan's occupation of Korea, protests the Japanese government's claim over the disputed island territory of Dokdo. Kyeong Sook, a woman who lived on Dokdo with her father, struggles to keep his legacy alive after the Korean government mysteriously erased their history. Set in the unresolved trauma of the Japanese occupation of Korea, Land of My Father (아버지의 땅) is a story about two lives that are intertwined with a remote disputed island.

2020-05-15 | ko

Annyeong, Sayonara

This joint Korean-Japanese production follows a Korean woman, Lee Ha-jong, as she searches for her father's remains. He - like tens of thousands of other Koreans - was forced into the Japanese military, and subsequently killed during WW2. She is joined by a Japanese man, seeking reconciliation between his country's military past, and the countries victimized by that history. The filmmakers portray both sides of a still highly emotional debate that centers around the enshrinement of soldiers at the Yasukuni Shrine, and Lee's lawsuit to prevent her father from being enshrined there. As Lee visits Japan and the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, she confronts - and is confronted by a wall of nationalistic pride that might be compared to neo-Nazis defending the righteousness of The Reich. This is contrasted with her meeting and working with Japanese peace activists, who deplore their countries' militaristic past, and seek to heal the wounds with her neighbors.

2005-01-01 | en

The Handmaiden

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to elope with him, rob her of her fortune, and lock her up in a madhouse. The plan seems to proceed according to plan until Sookee and Hideko discover some unexpected emotions.

2016-06-01 | ko

Modern Boy

During the Japanese occupation, a Korean modern boy, who wants to fit in with the Japanese, falls in love with a Korean freedom fighter.

2008-10-02 | ko

Fighter in the Wind

An account of karate competitor Choi Yeung-Eui who went to Japan after World War II to become a fighter pilot but found a very different path instead. He changed his name to Masutatsu Oyama and went across the country, defeating martial artists one after another. This film concentrates on the period when he is still young, and developing his famous karate style, Kyokushin.

2004-08-12 | ko

Flame

A man wanders around the mountains with a bleeding leg, holding a rifle in his hand. Seemingly a fugitive, he runs from as-yet unknown pursuers, but he also seems to be following somebody who has already walked the same path. As he hides in a secluded cave, past memories sweep through his exhausted mind, memories of lifelong cowardice and evasion. And this recollection leads to a reconstruction of early 20th century Korean history. Winner of Best Picture (Nam-a Pictures Co., Ltd.), Best Actor (Ha Myung-joong), Best Art Direction (Kim Yoo-joon), Best Lighting (Son Young-cheol) at the 14th Grand Bell Awards. (source: Jiro Hong, koreanfilm.org)

1975-12-15 | ko

Genealogy

During the Japanese occupation of South Korea, a Japanese bureaucrat is ordered to persuade an influential Korean patriarch into obeying the law of changing his Korean surname to a Japanese one.

1979-09-14 | ko