In The Last of the Sea Women, an extraordinary band of feisty grandmother warriors wage a spirited battle against vast oceanic threats. Often called real-life mermaids, the haenyeo divers of South Korea’s Jeju Island are renowned for centuries of diving to the ocean floor – without oxygen – to harvest seafood for their livelihood. Today, … [Read More]
Category: Documentaries
Short film screenings: Chorus, + Q&A
A programme of six short films inspired by the legacy of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. This presentation starts with Cha’s Vidéoème before leading into a selection of contemporary artists’ films, placing them in dialogue while celebrating a diversity of voices. Though the architecture of the programme is conceptually framed as a palindrome in three dialectic … [Read More]
Screening: Voices of the Silenced (UK Premiere)
This film delves into the historical experiences of Park Soo-nam, born in colonial-era Japan, retracing the journey and the history of Zainichi Koreans in Japan. Through the lens of two 16mm documentary films shot since 1985 and the restoration of unreleased footage, spanning 100,000 feet, it resurrects the testimonies of witnesses. The film raises questions … [Read More]
Screening: Love Death Dog + Baek-gu (UK Premieres)
Love Death Dog | 러브 데스 도그 Directed by Gwon Dong-hyun and Kwon Sea-jung 19 min | 2023 | Korea | colour and b&w Korean with Eng Subs | Print source: Gwon Dong-hyun, Kwon Sea-jung Gwon Dong-hyun and Kwon Sea-jung have been collaborating on a long-term research project titled Love Death Dog City since 2020, … [Read More]
Activism and Post-Activism: Korean Documentary Cinema: 1981-2022, A lecture by Prof. Kim Jihoon
This lecture presents an overview of Activism and Post-Activism: Korean Documentary Cinema: 1981-2022 (Oxford University Press, 2024), the first-ever English-language monograph on Korean non-fiction film and video practices in the non-governmental and non-corporate sectors from their foundational period (early 1980s) to the present. Making tripartite connections between the socio-political history of Korea (from the 1980s … [Read More]
Refugee Week screening: ‘Little Pyongyang’
Join Connect: North Korea for a fundraiser screening of the award-winning short film, ‘Little Pyongyang,’ followed by a Q&A session in conversation with the film’s director Roxy Rezvany, and members of the North Korean community. We will be discussing what has changed for the community since the film’s original release, the limits which the North … [Read More]
Korean Documentary season at Sheffield’s Showroom Cinema
This season focuses on bringing contemporary Korean documentary to Sheffield and showing the breadth of films that are emerging in the Korean documentary market. Experience modern Korea through the lens of these captivating stories that explore diverse topics from cats to football, from North Korean politics to LGBTQ+ parenting. From the streets of Seoul to the forgotten countryside, each documentary … [Read More]
Beyond Utopia – theatrical release
A suspenseful look at the lengths people will go to gain freedom, Beyond Utopia follows various individuals as they attempt to flee North Korea, one of the most oppressive places on Earth, a land they grew up believing was a paradise. At the film’s core are a mother desperate to reunite with the child she … [Read More]
Healing Hearts: The stories and voices of North Korean refugees
Three North Korean refugees will share their experiences in North and South Korea through different voices. Co-founder of Freedom Speakers International will share his experiences meeting with more than 500 North Koreans refugees and why North Korean refugees speak out. After the forum, attendees will also be invited to watch “You Don’t Know,” a documentary … [Read More]
Music, dance, discussion and documentary: an evening with Freedom Speakers International
In support of North Korean human rights, join Freedom Speakers International, Ooberfuse, and the Seoul Larkspur International Film Festival for a concert in London on October 21, 2023 from 5-8 p.m. at St. Giles Hotel #6. Music by Ooberfuse Live Talk Show discussion with North Korean refugees. North Korean human rights documentary: Mom`s strange land … [Read More]
KCCUK documentary season: Labour(s) of Love
Following on from 2022’s theme Living Memories, which focused on preserving memories and the truth through documentary, we continue to investigate the documentary form with our new season Labour(s) of Love, curated by MA film students from Birkbeck, University of London. By examining the lives of workers whose labour shapes the fabric of the world … [Read More]
Dislocation Blues: Jane Jin Kaisen screenings at Tate Modern
Delve into the work of artist Jane Jin Kaisen with the UK premiere of Burial of this Order and the world cinema premieres of Offering – Coil Embrace and Halmang Jane Jin Kaisen negotiates and mediates the political history, cosmology, and spiritual culture of Jeju Island through feminist re-framings of myths, and by addressing the … [Read More]
Film Premiere: Nam June Paik: Moon Is The Oldest TV + theatrical release
Director Amanda Kim tells, for the first time, the story of Paik’s meteoric rise in the New York art scene and his Nostradamus-like visions of a future in which “everybody will have his own TV channel.” Thanks to social media, Paik’s future is now our present, and NAM JUNE PAIK: MOON IS THE OLDEST TV shows us … [Read More]
Free Chol Soo Lee: theatrical release
In 1970s San Francisco, 20-year-old Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee is racially profiled and convicted of a Chinatown gang murder. After spending years fighting to survive, investigative journalist K.W. Lee takes a special interest in his case, igniting an unprecedented social justice movement. Nearly five decades later, Free Chol Soo Lee excavates this largely unknown yet essential … [Read More]
Soup and Ideology: Yang Yonghi’s exploration of the Jeju 4:3 incident through her own family history
It must be a nightmare living with Yang Yonghi: you are constantly being filmed. Yang’s work focuses on her family history, and she has been collecting footage of her daily life since the mid ’90s. When the individual scenes are filmed – conversations, family meals, seemingly unremarkable incidents – the filming must seem without purpose. … [Read More]
Living Memories – the KCC’s summer season of documentaries
Continuing a summer tradition, the KCC’s film nights for late July and August focus on the documentay genre, in a season developed in collaboration with Birkbeck. Below is the official press release that tells you about the season. All of the films look well worth your time. We’ll be prioritising Im Heung-soon’s award-winning Factory Complex … [Read More]