May•JEJU•Day
2021 · 14m · Animation · Documentary
Immediately after liberation, an incident called 'Jeju Uprising' took place on Jeju Island, the Hawaii of Korea, under the control of the US military government. As a result, about one-tenth of the total population of the island at that time was sacrificed. The children who survived the massacre record the memories of that day in an animated film 70 years later.
More Like This
April Tragedy
2024
The oral writer of the April 3 Uprising and a Rwandan who came to Korea to study face each other, have a conversation, and then go on a trip hand in hand. The two people, from different generations, nationalities, and occupations, have something in common: they are the daughters of massacre survivors.
More info →
Lessons from Jeju
2020
Seven months pregnant and apprehensive of the effect motherhood would have on her career as a professional freediver, Kimi Werner took a trip to the island of Jeju in South Korea to meet her heroes, the haenyeo – a group of freediving and fishing women often regarded as Korea’s first working mother’s whose culture dates back centuries.
More info →
Soup and Ideology
2022 · ★ 9
Confronting half of her mother’s life—her mother who had survived the Jeju April 3 Incident—the director tries to scoop out disappearing memories. A tale of family, which carries on from Dear Pyongyang, carving out the cruelty of history, and questioning the precarious existence of the nation-state.
More info →
The Last of the Sea Women
2024 · ★ 7.3
On the shores of Jeju Island, a fierce group of South Korean divers fight to save their vanishing culture from looming threats.
More info →
The Ghosts of Jeju
2013
Documentary about the struggle of the people of Jeju Island, South Korea. Set in the context of the U.S. presence in Korea after World War II, the film reveals horrible atrocities at the hands of the U.S. Military Government of Korea.
More info →
Jeju Prayer
2013
Focusing on Mrs. Kang Sang-hee’s life, she lost her husband in the Jeju Uprising (March 3rd, 1948). The film views the dark-side of Jeju Island, a huge grave, which is completely opposite of the other side of the island, the famous tourist attraction. It says that the tragedy has been going on about the recent Gang-jeong village situation.
More info →
Legend of the Waterflowers
2023
Hyun Soonjik is the oldest living resident in Jeju Island. A natural diver with good skills, she became a high rank Haenyeo at an early age and has led an astonishing career of diving for eighty-seven years. Though she looks more comfortable when she is under water than when she is at home, she quit diving in October, 2020, and goes to sea every day, missing her old life as a diver. When she does, Chae Jiae who has been disciplined by Hyun, accompanies her and looks after her. Together they head for Deulmoolyeo, a place that only Hyun can find, to see the water flowers that bloom under water.
More info →
Until the Stones Speak
2024
There are five grandmothers, four of whom went to Jeonju Prison due to the Jeju 4.3. All of them were young people around the age of 20 at the time of the incident in 1948. The outline of the incident is formed when hearing the experiences of those who were sent to prison without trial particularly as women. The audience feels indescribable emotions by the fact that they have lived on despite what they had gone through, things that are just too much for a human being to bear.
More info →
Hello Jadoo: The Secret of Jeju Island
2022
'Plum' is dissatisfied with 'Jeon Bok', a Jeju girl who met her mother on a family trip to Jeju Island. Besides, what are those heart-shaped eyes looking at 'Yoonseok'! When Jeon Bok, his best friend, Yun Seok-i, is taken over by Jeon Bok-i, an angry Ja-doo accidentally knocks over the Dolhareubang, and 'Bori', who was sealed with her curse from a long time ago, awakens. The people hit by Bori's Dolhareubang beam turn to stone and harden, and Jadoo and her friends search for a way to restore everyone to their original state... Let's go to Jeju Island! Let's go two! Fantastic adventure of the cheerful hero Jadu! What is the super secret that the fate of Jeju Island is at stake?
More info →
Diving Women of Jeju-do
2007
Jeju-do is the largest of Korean islands and lies between Korea and Japan. There, for hundreds of years, women dive without breathing apparatus, to the ocean floor and collect shellfish, octopus, and urchins that they sell. The divers are in their sixties and seventies and their daughters do not want to inherit their work, lifestyle, and health problems that go with diving. As a filmmaker I was privileged to meet many of these women and dive with them. Their stories of hardship and pride confirmed my desire to record this unique and ancient tradition.
More info →
Breathing Underwater
2016 · ★ 7
In Jeju Province, located off the southern coast of Korea, are the women of the sea, those who hold breath for life. These women still exist and they still dive the old way, without tanks. They go into the waters of 10- to 20-meter depth to harvest seaweed and shellfish to make a living. They make a living in the same sea, but each haenyeo’s sea of life is different. The community is divided into three tiers- Group A, B and C, based on skills and capabilities. One’s rank is determined by sum or breath. Sum, is pre-determined at birth. Therefore, sum is desired. However, the ocean is harsh. May you desire! But seek what is not yours, the ocean will devour you. Life, for these women of the sea, is about holding one’s breath, and containing and controlling one’s desire. The film is a six year record of the lives of the haenyeos in Udo, an islet in the province of Jeju, known to be the birthplace of haenyeo. It is a close look into the lives that stand on the boundary of life and death.
More info →
The Birth of Korea 2: Freedom Fighter
2025
How did South Korea, after liberation in 1945 defend liberal democracy against leftist and communist forces? The door to that secret is now revealed.
More info →