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Homes Apart: Korea

They speak the same language, share a similar culture and once belonged to a single nation. When the Korean War ended in 1953, ten million families were torn apart. By the early 90s, as the rest of the world celebrated the end of the Cold War, Koreans remain separated between North and South, fearing the threat of mutual destruction. Beginning with one man's journey to reunite with his sister in North Korea, filmmakers Takagi and Choy reveal the personal, social and political dimensions of one of the last divided nations on earth. The film was also the first US project to get permission to film in both South & North Korea.

Homes Apart: Korea

NR 1991
Habitual Sadness

The story of the women at the "House of Sharing" continues. Old women who share a common bond lead a peaceful life in the countryside, raising vegetables, chickens and painting pictures. They are no different from the elderly women we see every day. But they are all scarred by pain and sorrow from their collective history of being comfort women during World War 2. They became subject to prejudice in their own homeland after their return to Korea. It is painful for them to watch other peoples' children and grandchildren, and they feel rage when the Japanese government tries to cover up the unspeakable crimes they committed against them. The film asks us to remember what these women sacrificed and the shame and misery they faced even as these individuals pass away often forgotten by their own people.

Habitual Sadness

5.0 1997
Pyongyang in Four Seasons

Pyongyang, a city full of happy people and flowers. A city of factories with smiling seamstresses and welders of locomotives. A city of power plants the illuminate department stores offering the fruits of the labour of its workers and peasants. Everybody spends their free time in sports palaces with synchronized swimming and white doves, or in the palace of cultures, where young pioneers play the accordion. Old men and women go on walks and young lovers rent boats by the river, above which arches a rainbow, a symbol of happiness and contentment.

Pyongyang in Four Seasons

NR 1994
54 Days Of That Summer

The 54th, the record of that summer, is, as the name suggests, the record of the 54-day long struggle for 'nullification of an ex officio sign' by Hyundai Precision Industry workers in Ulsan in the hot summer of 1993. Prior to collective bargaining on wages, the company secretly signed a unilateral agreement (signed ex officio) with one of the labor union leaders and tried to put it into practice. The workers of Ulsan Hyundai Precision Industry were enraged at the sense of betrayal of the union leader they trusted and the despicable treatment of the company, and for 54 days in the hot summer, they start a strike to get a fair price for their labor.

54 Days Of That Summer

NR 1993
A Woman Being in Asia

This documentary is an "Asian report" on so-called international prostitution. The subject matter of parasitic tourism in Jeju Island in Korea is focused on, and it is said that international prostitution in Asia has a relationship between countries, focusing on Thailand and Japan, and that it is not only a problem between countries biased by the flow of capital, but also in the context of "sexual culture" with long roots. In the second half, the question is what is the alternative and what is the boundary between prostitution and non-prostitution in the current situation that is considered to be like "ghetto" because it is separated from the life of the general public.

A Woman Being in Asia

NR 1993
Another World We Are Making: Haengdang-Dong People 2

The sequel of "Heangdangdong People", a documentary about a struggle and dream for community of Heangdangdong people against the unfair removal of their housing. Heandangdong people in the removal region finally finished the struggle in the victory after the 3-year-struggle against the removal and they are now settled in the provisional residential building. They have gradually overcome poverty and have been establishing a local community through a production cooperative and a credit cooperative to materialize their dreams. Headangdong people's story with their successful community suggests a concrete way and hope about an alternative life.

Another World We Are Making: Haengdang-Dong People 2

NR 1999
On-Line: An Inside View Of Korean Independent Film

Independent films that do not have a less than 20 years history. They do not have lost hope and passion despite repeated conflicts and ups and downs. It was possible because of the belief that independent films are at the center of the world in their role, even though they are located on the periphery of society. Through the testimonies of many independent filmmakers, current activities, and footage, Korean independent films are shed new light. The periphery is the center, and the center is on the periphery. A reflection on the inside of the independent film industry to find trust in each other, talking about the hopes of independent films looking for a new path.

On-Line: An Inside View Of Korean Independent Film

NR 1997
Standing on the Edge of Death

Unlike “trilogy on torn-down neighborhoods,” (The Sang-kye dong Olympics, Haengdang-dong People, and Another World We Are Making), Standing on the Edge of Death calmly describes how urban poverty was formed, how they live, and why more than 20 of them committed suicide at once in 1990. In this film, the director explains that people who moved from poor countryside formed urban slum, and because they did not have formal education or asset, they worked as day laborers. Residence was one particular problem they faced as they lost their main dwelling area due to redevelopment. They start their day at dawn and work till night. However, these hard-working people do not receive any recognition from the society.

Standing on the Edge of Death

NR 1990
We'll Be One

The Father Moon Ik-hwan had been imprisoned for inaugurating the National Security Law after visiting North Korea. However Korean people’s desire for reunification heated up the whole country and Moon Gyu-hyeon and Lim Su-Gyeong visited North Korea. That means Father Moon’s visit to North Korea triggered Korean people’s desire for reunification. This film represents the Father Moon’s point of view on and people’s movement on reunification through influence of his visit in North Korea in 1989.

We'll Be One

NR 1995
An Initiation "Kut" for a Korean Shaman

In Korea, when things go wrong in the household, the housewife may consult a shaman to determine if the problem is caused by an angry god or ancestor. The occupation of shaman is female dominated and holds a dual reputation in contemporary Korean society. In one respect, shamans are considered lewd women who promote superstition; in another, they are seen as keeping alive the religious ideals of the past. The film follows one woman's trials from when she felt destined to be a shaman through her two-day initiation ceremony. The emotional impact of the ceremony, which is apparent throughout, reaches a climax during the ritual of the 'knife riding general' in which the initiate stands barefoot on knife blades in order to receive the spirits and speak in their voices.

An Initiation "Kut" for a Korean Shaman

NR 1991
Monk Seongcheol documentary

What did Monk Seongcheol leave for us? Numerous anecdotes left behind by monks such as Jangjwabulwa and Samcheonbae were talked about, and a large number of people flocked to Haeinsa Temple to see the sarira. What is the meaning of the thought of Ven. Seongcheol, who tried to set Buddhism right by valiantly and diligently saying that the middle should be moderate, to modern people? Learn about the pure life at Baekryeonam Hermitage, including the content and meaning of the Baekil Method, the spirit of not possessing anything, and the strict life that the Sangha University students were told not to sleep and study. The position of Venerable Seongcheol, who insisted that Buddhist purification should be done internally rather than externally, and introduces the process of systematizing Korean Buddhism.

Monk Seongcheol documentary

NR 1994