The Front Line of Ideology (2024)

Shadow Flowers

Ryun-hee Kim, a North Korean housewife, was forced to come to South Korea and became its citizen against her will. As her seven years of struggle to go back to her family in North Korea continues, the political absurdity hinders her journey back to her loved ones. The life of her family in the North goes on in emptiness, and she fears that she might become someone, like a shadow, who exists only in the fading memory of her family.​

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.

Ryeohaeng

A group of women climbs a summer mountain situated in South Korea. They are refugees who have settled into South Korean society after fleeing from North Korea. For them, climbing the mountains has been an unavoidable journey for survival - a matter of life and death.

The Battle Of Chosin

An amazingly harrowing story of the 17 day engagement of bloody combat and heroic survival in subartic temperatures. UN forces largely outnumbered and surrounded, due to a surprise attack led by 120,000 Chinese troops.

206: Unearthed

After the dissolution of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was launched as a South Korean government organization in 2005, civic groups and bereaved families wishing to complete the mission the government had failed to accomplish form a joint organization to investigate the remains of civilians who were massacred during the Korean War. A three-year-long documentary about the organization’s three-year-long excavation efforts, 206: Unearthed is a record of sunlight, dirt, and sweat.

Forbidden Fatherland

A documentary that deeply focuses and visits the trauma of Korea's modern history for 70 years through the life of a father whose family was indifferent.

Kim Il Sung's Children

From 1950 to 1953, one hundred thousand children were orphaned by the Korean War. With no resources to mend the wounds, the two sides, North and South, took different paths to find homes and families for the war orphans. While the children of South Korea were sent to Europe and the United States through ‘International Adoption’, the children of North Korea were distributed across Eastern Europe through a method called ‘Commissioned Education’. As a result, more than five thousand children from the North had to spend nearly a decade living in foreign lands across Eastern Europe. This story is a record of their lives, which used to be kept hidden from the rest of the world. There is a key to understanding how North Korea's closed political structure began and how the ‘Juche ideology’ was formed in this documentary movie. Understanding North Korea in the 1950s is an important way to understand North Korea at present.

To Kill Alice

Eunmi, a woman who underwent intense anti-communist education while she grew up in South Korea, lives a normal life in America. However, after going on a trip to North Korea with her husband, her life begins to change. During an open forum event in South Korea, where she was invited to speak, she suffers the unimaginable, and the more she tries to escape from the situation, the worse and worse it gets.

The 2nd Repatriation

In 2000, in the era of inter-Korean reconciliation, 63 non-converted prisoners were repatriated to the North, and a 2nd repatriation movement was launched in 2001 but failed again and again in later years. As of 2022, the average age of the surviving secondary repatriation applicants is 91.

Korea, A Hundred Years of War

A contemporary history of Korea(s) from a unique point of view that embraces the inner history of both South and North Korea in a single narrative.

Project Cheonan Ship

Interpreting an event of ROKS Cheonan corvette, torpedoed and sunken by North Korea, this documentary rebuilds the event with a different insight. No one can tell if the investigation of Cheonan has reached compelling conclusion. But the film tells and reveals how unreasonable Korean society is.

Repatriation

In 1992, political prisoners from North Korea settled in the South Korean town where filmmaker Dong-won Kim lived. Sent to South Korea as spies during the war, they spent 30 years in jail. How did they endure the many years of torture? What will become of them now that they have been released? Twelve years in the making, Repatriation is a very personal view of a country divided by an ongoing cold war.

Alene B. Duerk: The First Woman Admiral

Following the tradition of military service in her family, Alene Duerk enlisted as a Navy nurse in 1943. During her eventful 32 year career, she served in WWII on a hospital ship in the Sea of Japan, and trained others in the Korean War. She became the Director of the Navy Nursing Corps during the Vietnam War before finally attaining the rank of Admiral in the U.S. Navy. Despite having no other women as mentors (or peers), Admiral Duerk always looked for challenging opportunities that women had not previously held. Her consistently high level of performance led to her ultimate rise to become the first woman Admiral.

Things That Do Us Part

Things That Do Us Part is a documentary that reframes the stories of three women fighters who dove into a tragic war in modern Korean history, using witness statements and reenactments.

Korean War in Color

Documentary on the Korean War.

John Stevens: Storming the Beach

Lieutenant Colonel John Stevens served in both World War II and the Korean War. During the Korean War, he received a Bronze Star for leading his company in one of that war's harshest battles.

The Lovers and the Despot

Hong Kong, 1978. South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee is kidnapped by North Korean operatives following orders from dictator Kim Jong-il.

Triumph Over Prejudice: The Montford Point Marines

Against the backdrop of a world on the brink, the Montford Point Marines transcended enemy lines and formidable barriers of racial segregation. Beginning in rural Virginia, their journey to the front lines of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War is more than a testament to their bravery - it's a reflection of their indomitable spirit and unyielding resolve. Confronting racial prejudices, the heartbreaks of war, and the turbulent transition to civilian life, these men never wavered in their commitment. "Triumph Over Prejudice" dives deep into the uncharted terrains of the Black experience in the early 20th century Marine Corps, illuminating stories often shadowed in history's corners. With cinematic finesse fit for a global streaming audience, the film weaves personal narratives into a rich tapestry, culminating in an epic saga of heroism, perseverance, and the enduring legacy of the American veteran.

Mrs. B., a North Korean Woman

Portrait of Mrs. B., a tough charismatic North Korean woman who smuggles between North Korea, China and South Korea. With the money she gets, she plans to reunite with her two North Korean sons after years of separation.

Cease Fire!

A sometimes uncomfortable marriage between fact and fiction, this film is part documentary and part drama, mixing actual war footage with reenactments in which real veterans of the Korean War portray members of a platoon sent out on a reconnaissance mission near the end of the conflict. Though peace is imminent, violence unexpectedly erupts. A day that begins with the calm and mundane is transformed into a heated battle that typifies the cruel and unpredictable nature of war.

Korea: The Never-Ending War

Shedding new light on a geopolitical hot spot, the film — written and produced by John Maggio and narrated by Korean-American actor John Cho — confronts the myth of the “Forgotten War,” documenting the post-1953 conflict and global consequences.

Propaganda

An anti-western propaganda film about the influences of American visual and consumption culture on the rest of the world, as told from a North Korean perspective.

Pay Off

As the novel 『LimGeojeong』 becomes a great success, the publisher and the writer's bereaved family in North Korea meet to solve the copyright problem. Their exchanges between South and North Korea create another novel-like story that condenses issues in various fields including politics, economy, and culture together with concerns and hospitality.

I Am Sun Mu

Operating under a pseudonym which means 'no boundaries' - North Korean defector Sun Mu creates political pop art based on his life, homeland, and hope for a future united Korea. His hidden identity is nearly compromised when a massive historical exhibit in Beijing is shuttered by Chinese and North Korean authorities.

This Is Korea!

John Ford's documentary about the early battles of the Korean War, shot in color.

Unforgettable: The Korean War

Documentary directed by Tom Kleespie inspired from Korean War veterans who recall memories both painful and patriotic, putting a human face on an often forgotten conflict. Stories include wartime recollections, such as one soldier's first moments seeing a MiG fighter up close, and veterans' often-tragic experiences returning home, where Americans largely neglected to welcome them back.

My Father's Emails

The director's father, who did not know how to use a computer, left her an autobiography via email. It includes his whole life through many notable events such as the Korean War, the Vietnam War, 88's Seoul Olympic, New Town Development, etc.

The Ghosts of Jeju

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.

Korea: Veterans of War Without Songs

The memories of Colombian veterans who took part in the Korean War in 1951 to defend 'freedom and democracy.' A moving and intense journey into the past to uncover their experiences, adventures, sacrifices, and hopes.

Colombia In Korea

The Forgotten War: Colombia’s Battalion in Korea is a documentary that brings to light the little-known story of Colombia’s involvement in the Korean War (1950–1953). Through personal testimonies, rare archival footage, and geopolitical analysis, the film recounts how over 5,000 Colombian soldiers, organized as the Colombia Battalion No. 1, answered the United Nations’ call to support South Korea against the invasion by the North, which was backed by China and the Soviet Union. This marked Colombia’s first international military mission and the only Latin American combat presence in the conflict. Though long overlooked, this intervention laid the foundation for a “special” bilateral relationship between Colombia and South Korea that endures to this day.

Memory of Forgotten War

Unknown or forgotten by most Americans, the Korean War divided a people with several millenniums of shared history. Memory of Forgotten War conveys the human costs of military conflict through deeply personal accounts of four Korean American survivors whose experiences and memories embrace the full circle of the war: its outbreak and the day-to-day struggle for survival, separation from family members across the DMZ, the aftermath of a devastated Korean peninsula, and immigration to the United States. Each person reunites with relatives in North Korea conveying beyond words the meaning of four decades of family loss. Their stories belie the notion that war ends for civilians when the guns are silenced and foreshadow the futures of countless others displaced by ongoing military conflict today.

Shiri

North Korea's 8th Special Forces hijack a shipment of CTX, a potent new liquid explosive, and threatens South Korea as part of a plot to re-unify the two countries. Ryu and Lee, special agents of O.P., South Korea's secret intelligence service, attempt to track down the terrorists and find the CTX. Meanwhile Hee, the 8th's ultra-bad female sniper, resurfaces to wreak havoc and haunt Ryu.

Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War

When two brothers are forced to fight in the Korean War, the elder decides to take the riskiest missions if it will help shield the younger from battle.

DMZ: Reload

Peaceful unification between North and South Korea is about to take place. Therefore, the DMZ area near Panmunjom (JSA) will be designated as a Special Peaceful Zone (a.k.a SPZ) for unification of the Korean Commonwealth. So, Panmunjom has entered a overall development phase. However, murder takes place in the DMZ. The suspect is a deserter who is only known as code-name Firefox, the special agent of North Korea.

The DMZ

The film exposes the atrocities of war through the eyes of two children who are stranded in the DMZ after the end of the Korean War. The DMZ, strewn with abandoned tanks, dead bodies, land mines, and unexploded shells, is an exceedingly dangerous place for children. But what most endangers them in the end are not weapons but people.

Queen & Country

In this sequel to Hope and Glory (1987), Bill Rohan has grown up and is drafted into the army, where he and his eccentric best mate, Percy, battle their snooty superiors on the base and look for love in town.

The Testimony

June 25, 1950. When second lieutenant Jang has a date with his girl friend during weekend, numerous North Korean jet fighters make sudden air raids to the skies of Seoul. It is the beginning of Korean War. In spite of Korean Army's brave defense, North Korean army reddens South Korea with their state-of-the-art weapons. This movie describes the progress of war from the invasion in June 25, 1950 to the reclamation of territory on the basis of Sun-A's personal experience. Also this film reminds hard lessons from tragic history.

Whistling Princess

Ji-eun, a member of North Korea's dance troupe and the daughter of the North Korean leader, escapes to the South after one of their perfomances. Eager to explore the liberal life in Seoul, Ji-eun searches for a new life of freedom in South Korea. She soon comes across Joon-ho, a leader of a local rock band. Their relationship then takes unexpected turns as they become closer to each other. Meanwhile, the intelligence agency in South Korea learns of a conspiracy being orchestrated by the American CIA to disrupt the peace on the Korean peninsula; the CIA plots to secretly kidnap Ji-eun. Secret forces from the North and South reluctantly agree to work together to prevent a possible war between their two countries.