To whet your appetite for the festival, here are the films you absolutely should not miss at the 13th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival.
Here we go again! The 13th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival is about to begin, and this time we have a special treat for you. In part 2, we have another 20 movies that you cannot miss in the festival.
Documentaries are probably some of the most compelling films I have ever seen. No matter the subject matter, I have found that they have treated me to a whole new perspective on life. Unfortunately, not everyone I know has the same love for documentaries as I do. So, today, I’m going to offer up a list of 20 documentaries that I think you should check out if you’re looking for something different.
We continue our list of films to see at the 13th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, which will take place in Goyang and Paju, Gyeongii Province, Korea, from September 9th to 16th, 2023.
CLICK HERE to read the first half of this story.
– A Selection of Films –
Jang Minkyung’s Life Goes On – Korea | 2023 – 98 minutes Korean Competition Section
Yoo Kyung-geun sits in the podcast production studio with her daughter Ye-eun, who died in the Sewol Ferry Disaster. It is to meet with families who have lost loved ones in a variety of societal catastrophes both before and after the Sewol Ferry Disaster. They include Hwang Myung-ae, mother of Han Sang-im, who died in the Daegu Subway Fire in 2003, Ko Seok, father of Gahyun and Nahyun, who perished in the Sealand Youth Training Center Fire in 1999, and Bae Eunsim, mother of Lee Hanyeol, who died in the June Struggle in 1987. Yoo Kyung-geun learns to live without Ye-eun by talking to the bereaved families about “the life after” and their everyday routines. (Docs DMZ 2023)
Dates: Saturday, September 11th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok Comport 4 | 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, September 15th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok Comport 4 | 16:30 pm
Jill Li’s Lost Course – Hong Kong | 2019 – 180 minutes Section: Global Perspectives
When corrupt authorities sell farmers’ land unlawfully, the people revolt in an unparalleled democratic experiment. (Docs DMZ 2023)
Dates: Thursday, September 9th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok 1 | 18:30 pm Thursday, September 16th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok 2 | 13:00 pm
Trailer:
Hien Mai, Tim Ellrich – Germany, Austria | 2023 – 70 minutes International Competition Section: My Vietnam
For the last thirty years, Bay and Tam have been attempting to preserve their ties to Vietnam. They built their own version of Vietnam in their flat in Germany using Skype and other chatrooms. However, the confines of this virtual bubble force them to choose between Germany and Vietnam as their true home. Is home a physical location or a mental state? My Vietnam is a vivid example of living in two locations at the same time, and the effects that duality has on marriage, family, and a feeling of belonging. (Docs DMZ 2023)
Dates of screening: Friday, September 10th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok 1 | 19:30 pm Tuesday, September 14th, 2023 | 10:30 a.m. | Megabox Baekseok 2
Lee Hyunkrae, Kim Jung-Sewing young’s Sisters – Korea | 2023 – 109 minutes Showcase of Korean Documentaries
Their classmates began working in factories while they were in middle school. They went to work at 8 a.m. and worked until 11 p.m., even after Jeon Tae-il self-immolated, screaming, “We are not robots.” Their life transformed after meeting the Cheonggye Clothing Labor Union and the employees’ night school. They battled against the terrible governmental power when the government forcefully shuttered workers’ schools in order to clamp down on labor organizations. Despite being falsely accused and intimidated by “the commies,” they persisted. We don’t know the story of women employees at Pyeonghwa market in the 1970s. (Docs DMZ 2023)
Dates of screening: Sunday, September 12th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok 7 | 13:00 pm Tuesday, September 14th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok 3 | 16:00 pm
Trailer:
Section: International Competition — Soup and Ideology by Yang Yong-hi – Japan, Korea | 2023 – 118 minutes
Only the mother and their daughter remained in Japan when the father died in 2009. The daughter, who lives in Tokyo, is concerned about her elderly mother living alone, so she pays a monthly visit to her mother in Osaka. The mother informs her daughter one day that she saw the revolt in Jeju. She resurrected memories of her that she had hidden deep in her heart without telling anybody. She starts talking about how she became engaged in the Jeju rebellion, and she tells her daughter not to tell anybody… (Docs DMZ 2023)
Dates: Saturday, September 11th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok 2 | 13:00 pm Tuesday, September 14th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok 2 | 13:00 pm
Arfan Sabran’s Flame – Indonesia | 2023 – 76 minutes Asian Competition Section
Iber Djamal (77), a native Dayak of Borneo, has seen two decades of ecological catastrophes that have devastated Borneo’s forest. He is battling for a legal claim to the remaining customary woodland around his house with the time he has left. With the development of palm oil plantations, indigenous Dayaks like him are being pushed to sign agreements allowing the corporations to intrude farther on their forest. Iber is adamant on getting a legal customary forest title for the remaining forest in his area, which is the only legal method to preserve the forest. (Docs DMZ 2023)
Dates of screening: Tuesday, September 14th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok Comport 6 | 13:30 pm
Trailer:
Guo Hengqi’s The Mani Stone Wall – Hong Kong, China | 2023 – 107 minutes Asian Competition
Li Bing is a Buddhist nun who has spent years working to establish schools for ethnically Tibetan children in ethnically Tibetan areas. She assisted in the establishment of the Songhe Mani Tent School in September 2016 and recruited two instructors, Gan Ge and Lhamo. Their actions irritate the local incarnate Buddhist Lama. As the new semester begins in March 2017, the villagers come up with a variety of reasons to demand that Lhamo be fired as a teacher at the school. As Lhamo is forced to depart, Li Bing chooses to take Gan Ge with him, as well as all of the school’s dormitory tents. (Docs DMZ 2023)
Dates of screenings: Monday, September 13th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok Comport 4 | 13:00 pm Thursday, September 16th, 2023 | 10:30 a.m. | Megabox Baekseok 7
Thomas Ash’s Ushiku – Japan | 2023 – 87 minutes Asian Competition Section
On the eve of Japan’s recent–and divisive–immigration reform attempts, the filmmaker circumvents the government’s press embargoes on its detention facilities, putting viewers in direct touch with the prisoners, many of whom are refugees seeking asylum. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 epidemic and with the spectacle of the Tokyo Olympics looming on the horizon, detainees are detained indefinitely and subjected to physically brutal deportation efforts by Japanese authorities.
Dates of Showing: September 12th, 2023 | Sunday | Megabox Baekseok 2 | 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, September 15th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok 7 | 16:30 pm
Trailer:
Zhang Hongjie’s When the Dawn Breaks – Taiwan | 2023 – 60 minutes Asian Competition Section
CHI During the 1980s, Chia-wei used to hand out condoms while dressed as Snow White, Jesus, or the Mummy. His activity drew media notice and he was discriminated against by the general population. He arranged a news conference at which he came out, becoming the first person in Taiwan to do so, as a volunteer trying to raise awareness about AIDS. In 2017, a constitutional decision elevated him to the status of LGBT hero. A 30-year battle seemed to have reached a conclusion or a fresh beginning. (Documents for the DMZ in 2023)
Dates of screening: Sunday, September 12th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok 3 | 20:00 pm Thursday, September 16th, 2023 | 10:30 a.m. | Megabox Baekseok 2
Section: Asian Competition – Writing with Fire by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh – India | 2023 – 93 minutes
In a crowded news environment dominated by males, India’s first Dalit-owned daily emerges. Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists, armed with smartphones, defy conventions, whether on the frontlines of India’s most pressing problems or in the privacy of their own homes, redefining what it means to be powerful. (Docs DMZ 2023)
Dates: Saturday, September 11th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok 3 | 13:00 pm Tuesday, September 14th, 2023 | Megabox Baekseok Comport 6 | 16:30
Visit https://dmzdocs.com/eng for additional details.
The following is information about the festival: Paju and Goyang in Gyeonggi Province together host the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (DMZ Docs), a Korean film festival for documentaries. The 13th DMZ Docs will be held from September 9th to September 16th, 2023. It is Asia’s biggest documentary festival, with the goal of introducing exceptional films and supporting creative filmmakers and promising projects to a larger audience.
There are many words that could describe the 13th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, but one of them is “unmissable”. This festival is taking place in Seoul, South Korea, and it will showcase 26 documentaries by 16 countries with nearly 3,000 screenings. A total of 700 filmmakers submitted their films this year, and the selection committee has picked some of them to be featured in the Festival.. Read more about 2 minute short film festivals and let us know what you think.
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This article broadly covered the following related topics:
- documentary film festivals 2023
- documentary film competition
- dmz docs pitch
- documentary film festival india
- 2 minute short film festivals
