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When a Hen Crows

Dabin, a 27-year-old woman studying films, began calling herself a feminist three years ago. She goes out without makeup, checks hidden cameras when using public restrooms, thinks of domestic violence at the cries of a woman next door, participates in street rallies, and gets hurt by her family’s reaction to the feminist movement. When a Hen Crows is a private essay film exploring the gender identity of a woman in her twenties in Korea using the narration of the director’s diary, referring to herself as a third-person ‘woman.’ Scenes of a family moving show a sense of the home video. Rather than making a clear voice toward the world, the self-reflection and sincere gaze look into the subtle movements of internal emotions.

When a Hen Crows

NR 2020
The Far and Near

In 1995, an astronomer proposed a peculiar project. It was to use the Hubble Telescope to capture a small part of the universe that was then known to be a void. In 1447 in Chosun Dynasty, Prince Anpyeong had a dream of walking through a peach blossom forest shrouded in clouds and mist, and he asked the painter, Ahn Gyeon, to capture it in a painting. Through the juxtaposition of the two historical anecdotes, the film examines the images of ‘the far and near’ through printing, transforming, and distorting the photos from the NASA Image and Video Library.

The Far and Near

NR 2023
Six Stories in Her Place

Sukgyung Lee, 61, lives in an old municipal apartment in Seongsan-dong. The sunlight streams deep into the living room and the living room window is full of greenery from early spring to late fall, and every day, she hangs iron bars, runs along the river, and takes care of her elderly cat. Until she arrived at her current home, Lee had moved twenty-five times. It's slated for redevelopment, and she doesn't know when she'll have to leave again. At the age of 61, Lee wonders, "Where and how will I live in the future?" and begins a journey through the "paths of living place" of six women.

Six Stories in Her Place

NR N/A
Workers

The Seongdong area of Seoul has been home to many small and medium-sized manufacturers. The once iconic red brick factories have given way to redevelopment, making way for galleries, cafes, and upscale restaurants. As a result, Seongdong has seen the largest increase in land rental prices in South Korea. Regrettably, this transformation also reveals a harrowing story: for the past five decades, hundreds of shoemakers have worked tirelessly for up to 18 hours a day, making shoes for wages below the minimum standard. Each day, these workers leave their homes for work, not knowing if it will mark their final day in this relentless cycle.

Workers

NR 2018
Grace Period

Combining documentary with experimental video, "Grace Period" documents the activities of female sex workers in the Yeongdeungpo red-light district in Seoul, South Korea. Facing constant police crackdowns and the threat of permanent closure following the opening of a massive shopping complex adjacent to their workplaces, the women of Yeongdeungpo band together in protest. Archival footage, mostly shot by the women themselves, shows their collective efforts as they organize with other sex workers from brothels across the country. In creative and daring acts of resistance, they launch a series of demonstrations that trace a lineage to Korea's democratic union movements of the 1980s-- denouncing the government and corporate interests, demanding decriminalization, and declaring their rights as workers.

Grace Period

NR 2015
The World Cup of Their Own

This is a 'Minority Report [or the Report on Minorities]' captured during the 2002 Korea - Japan World Cup season. The huge suvvess of this sports festival bolstered 'national pride' among many Koreans, who have forgotten that feeling for a long time while it gave some people a feeling of despair. Those who despaired that this soccer event completely excluded 'minority' voices who suffer from bitter reality and ordeal. This festive event was only for the majority of people who think they represent Korean as a whole.

The World Cup of Their Own

NR 2002
i - image

In 1999, one year before ‘Second Impact’ and SAT, I received a postcard with a drawing of the ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ from ‘Y-Sang’. In 2015, the year of ‘Third Impact’, he wrote back to ‘Y-Sang’. ‘Y-Sang’ suggested a discussion about Kant, Nietzsche and Gramsci, but I didn’t know them well. I just called to mind some images related with their name. What connection does exist between the “names” and the “images” I recalled? It’s a weird diceplay about what we can name image(or film).

i - image

NR 2015
Cut-out

A mutilated and grotesque woman’s body chases after a man. The combination of the photomontage and text represents women’s labor, expressed through uniforms and clothes, and women who were sexually objectified, conveying feminist discourses and disciplines. The chased man never understands the existence or content of the images and texts. The blunt presentation of women’s unheard voices and objectified bodies, and the excessively-visualized images, demand immediate introspection.

Cut-out

NR 2019
Livestock Industry Promotion Exhibition in Hwanghae-do

The film documents an exhibition for livestock industry promotion held in Sariwon, Hwanghae-do from October 21 to 25, 1924. At that time, Sariwon was an up-and-coming city whose “daily development is known to everyone” (Chosun Ilbo, October 9, 1924). The exhibition was held as a grand festival, attracting crowds of 30,000 on its opening day and 40,000 the following day. A moving camera passes through the square decorative doors of various designs installed in Sariwon’s downtown, conveying the festival atmosphere. Acquired in 2010, and transferred in 4K resolution.

Livestock Industry Promotion Exhibition in Hwanghae-do

NR 2021
We Were There

Mt. Gasherbrum IV in the Himalaya is famous for the "shining wall," the west face that has tempted many climbers. In 1997, the Korean team led by Cho Sung-dae and Yoo Hak-jae successfully developed a new route through the wall to the summit, where only two teams in history have been at the top. They couldn't get sponsors for their expedition and lost most of the equipment and food because of avalanches, but they managed to do what seemed impossible. The route was named 'Korean Direct,' and officially documented in the American Alpine Journal. The documentary shows us what happened in Himalaya 16 years ago, using dozens of videotapes shot by the team. It also includes interviews of the group, currently living a life distant from climbing the mountain. Why did everybody forget the most significant achievement in Korean mountain climbing history?

We Were There

NR 2013
The Owners

The 'Rights of Nature' movement, which legally guarantees nature's right to exist, thrive, and regenerate, is spreading globally. A prime example is New Zealand's Whanganui River, which was granted legal personhood equal to that of a human. By exploring the Whanganui River and Mount Taranaki in New Zealand, we examine what lessons can be drawn for the current initiative to institutionalize 'eco-legal personhood' for the Jeju Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin—the first of its kind in South Korea. Ultimately, this leads us to reflect deeply on how we should connect and forge relationships with nature.

The Owners

NR 2026
Mother's Household Ledger

After moving to a provincial area, I decided to live with my elderly parents and discovered my mother's 50-year-old ledger. At first, it seemed like a simple household record, but as I continued to flip through it, I realized it captured the essence of our family's life. The ledger includes records starting from the day I was born in 1972, revealing various family events, as well as depicting the struggles of my father with unemployment and my mother's diligent management of the household. The ledger, which stopped in 2016, reflected my mother's way of enduring life, and although she is now losing her memory, it allows her to revisit our family's past.

Mother's Household Ledger

NR 2024
Orbital Squares

"Orbital Squares", by the media art collective Moojin Brothers, points to deeper understandings of a cultural and political moment unfolding despite and because of human intervention. As elusive as it is utterly gripping, the film juxtaposes and intersperses three scenes. A snail’s movements – tentative, curious – on a grooved mound of clay are contrasted against the powerful rhythms of a horserace shot at 240 frames per second; both of these are bookended by a shadowy display of a living, sculptural humanoid seemingly tormented by a web-like concoction of thread and nails fully enveloping its head, as a soundscape of terror and flickering embers unfolds.

Orbital Squares

NR 2021
Relay Race

Ten years have passed since the Sewol ferry disaster. The life of KIM Dong-soo, who came back alive from the disaster, has changed a lot from before. KIM Dong-soo, who used to live as a truck driver, lost his truck in a disaster and now guards the Hallasan trail everyday. He is repeatedly hospitalized and discharged from the psychiatric ward and suffers from pain all over his body. Still, he struggles to restore his daily life by participating in the marathon event. KIM Dong-soo's wife, KIM Hyung-sook, and his two daughters support him in his daily life. The eyes looking at KIM Dong-soo with a desperate expression, asking for help, revive every moment and shake his heart, but he still lives by holding the hands of his family who stand by his side.

Relay Race

NR 2025
Two-eyed Ireland

In 2006, the ethnic fusion band ‘2nd Moon’, who became famous with their song ‘In West Sky’ featured in the TV drama *Ireland*, visited the home country of their first album’s guest singer, Lynda Cullin, for the first time. What started out as a casual trip turned into a serious fascination with the culture and its music for two of the band members, Hyun-bo and Hye-ri. A year later, in August 2007, they formed a five-member Irish trend project band ‘Bard’ and went to the World Fleadh in Portlaoise, Ireland, each with only their instruments. Music in Ireland is deeply connected to daily life and reflects the country’s painful history.

Two-eyed Ireland

NR 2008
Home Away From Home

Anna, Korean name Kim Myong-hee. 43 years after her adoption to the United States, she visits a remote island in the Yellow Sea. There in Deokjeok Island live Suh Jae-song and In Hyun-ae, a couple who raised orphaned Anna as if she were their own. Their house on the island has two special rooms. One is a room full of records of all the children the couple sent for adoption. The other is a temporary home for all adoptees who come visit Korea later in life. The couple lived as foster parents for these children for 30 years since 1966. Together with a Catholic priest from the US, they sent 1,600 kids to the US for adoption. They sent Myong-hee, then 14-year-old, and her two brothers to a family in the US in the hopes of them living in a happy household under loving parents. But contrary to their wishes, Myong-hee’s life in America turns out to be a series of pain and misfortunes. For the first time in 43 years, Myong-hee talks about her painful memories.

Home Away From Home

NR 2021
Will

Will is a kind of verbal symbolic balance sheet for life, in which we reconcile our material and immaterial possessions and pass on our message to the next generation. The poetic last words form the outline of the film composed of four segments reflecting in different ways on life against inevitable finality – whether it is a couple of young people walking through a Parisian cemetery, a video installation poetically pointing out the manifestations of mortality around us, a family filmed from the position of the grave while performing cemetery rituals, or the film director as the passive recipient of a farewell to life.

Will

NR 2021
This Island is Ours

The territorial dispute between Japan and Korea over the ownership of the Dokdo/Takeshima islets is not limited to state to state relations. In both countries there are citizens' groups actively engaged in protesting, lobbying and educating the public. This Island is Ours follows a Korean kindergarten caretaker with a background in student activism and a recently widowed Japanese housewife as they campaign tirelessly for the sovereignty of the tiny islets that are currently controlled by Korea, but also claimed by Japan. This film creates a rare insight into the lives of the two activists on both sides by presenting their parallel experiences from a neutral point of view.

This Island is Ours

NR 2016
Carbon Pirates

Amid a shortage of public water supply facilities and growing distrust of tap water, the bottled water market has surged to a staggering $300 billion industry. In India, private water suppliers known as the ‘Water Mafia’ thrive, while in Chiapas, Mexico, Coca-Cola has become a substitute for water itself. Against this backdrop, an astounding one million plastic bottles of water are sold every minute. The carbon emissions of bottled water are 700 times higher than those of tap water. Yet, some bottled water products bear a "carbon-neutral" label. How can water packaged in plastic, derived from fossil fuels, and transported hundreds of kilometers be classified as ‘Carbon neutral’?

Carbon Pirates

NR 2025
The Bone

This story is about two people who have struggled for more than 40 years to remember Korean forced mobilizers in the northern Akita region. Ha Jung-woong, a Korean-Japanese who succeeded as a businessman thanks to his outstanding abilities and the economic growth of Japan after the war, and Juroku Chatani, a Japanese historian who has built a community culture village in the Akita region of northern Japan. Their efforts to unravel the mystery of the Hime Kannon statue built on Lake Tazawa and to commemorate the victims of Korean forced labor are still ongoing.

The Bone

NR 2022
Dear.Picaresque

When I close my eyes, certain images linger. The house I used to live in is in the background. I follow the shapeless images and visit the places from the past. I imagine my father's house, although I haven't spoken to him for so long I don't even know where he lives now. Imagining his house is like surmising his life. There are times when passing-by images linger on. With my memory of "now", I'd like to bid farewell to a segment of my past. If a film is where you build up memories, I want to shine a light on the memories of countless failures.

Dear.Picaresque

NR 2020
What bonds us

How are depression and anxiety among women in their 20s and 30s linked to the huge structure of discrimination? The film, which consists of four chapters and an epilogue, talks about mid-pregnancy and mental illness based on a private narrative, overlaps the experience of discrimination from other generations, and looks back on the boundaries that divide the parties and non-parties. Through the five stories, we want to find the possibility of connections that can counter discrimination and hatred.

What bonds us

NR 2024