South Korea: Success at all Costs (2016)

Cruel State

In April 2014, the entire nation of South Korea watched on television live as The Sewol capsized off the coast of Jindo. The tragedy left life-long wounds in the hearts of people whose family and friends had been among the 304 passengers killed. The majority of the victims were high school students on a school trip. Their parents were not even given the luxury of grieving, as they had to camp out in front of the Parliament, City Hall and the Presidential House, asking for only one thing - to know the truth about why their children had been left to die. But after more than a year, that truth has yet to be brought to light. This film is a documentation of the year-long struggle and painful soul-searching of people destined to be labelled as 'bereaved families' for the rest of their lives, as they come face to face with the naked face of their cruel country.

Army

"You belong to the country for the next two years." The film describes Woo-cheol's struggles with becoming part of a group while trying to maintain his individuality throughout his military service period. A humorous yet cynical portrait of military groupism.

South Korea: Earth's Hidden Wilderness

Once a mountain kingdom of ancient palaces and emperors, Korea in the 21st century is largely known for its modern cities and decades of conflict. Tensions between North and South may be what defines it to outsiders but beyond the battle scars there is another side to Korea. In the south are large pockets of untouched wilderness where extraordinary animals flourish and Koreans continue to practice age-old traditions in tandem with the seasons and with nature. It is in these connections, rather than in division, that we see the true Korea.

Kim-Gun

KIM-GUN searches for the whereabouts of a young man whose identity has sparked a national controversy over the 1980 May 18 Gwangju Uprising. Starting with the vague memories of those who had crossed paths with him during that time, the film tracks down those who participated in the Uprising as “Citizen Soldiers.” It also traces KIM’s final steps, based on photographic clues found in the firearms he carried and the “Surveillance Truck No. 10” in which he rode. By identifying KIM-GUN, we believe that we can find valuable leads to resolving the ongoing controversy over May 18. Why did a nameless young man join the Uprising? Why did he take up arms? Where has he gone afterwards? It is the answers to these questions that the film seeks.

The Remnants

In October 2015, the evicted residents who had imprisoned on a false charge of killing a policeman assembled in a place for the first time after the Yongsan Disaster six years ago. They had occupied a watchtower against unreasonable redevelopment policies and in protest against violent suppression used by riot police in 25 hours of their sit-in demonstration. Their colleagues had died from an unknown fire, and they became criminals. The delight of meeting again lasts only briefly. The ‘comrades’ rip out cruel words while blaming each other.

In the Absence

When the MV Sewol ferry sank off the coast of South Korea in 2014, over three hundred people lost their lives, most of them schoolchildren. Years later, the victims’ families and survivors are still demanding justice from national authorities.

Haewon

According to a survey by the U.S. military government in 1946, 78% of the South Korean people wanted socialism and only 14% capitalism. By appointing the pro-Japanese collaborators and the rightists, Rhee Syngman, who had not received the people's support, massacred those groups and civilians that were political stumbling blocks. In dealing with the Jeju 4.3 uprising in 1947 and the Yeosun incident in 1948 and The Korean War having broken out, massive civilian massacre became regularized.

Try to Remember

Lee Nan-young, who is famous for ‘Tears in Mokpo,’ made her debut at OK Records in the 1930s, and married Kim Hae-song, an acclaimed, genius composer at that time. In the year of liberation in 1945, 'KPK Musical Troupe' won popularity with the duo of Lee Nan-young and Kim Hae-song, but Kim got kidnapped by North Korea. During the Korean War, Lee made Korea’s first girl vocal group ‘Kim Sisters’ with her daughters Suk-ja, Ae-ja and her niece Min-ja who inherited their parents’ musical talent. Thanks to Lee’s desperate effort and intense training, ‘Kim Sisters’ gained popularity at the American 8th Army base. They got all the way to Las Vegas, USA for the first time as Asians, showing strong appeal to American public. Min-ja of ‘Kim Sisters’ is still working as a singer in Budapest, Hungary. The audience can meet the three shy girls who fluently sang songs in English without even knowing the language, through the memories of Min-ja in the film.

The Plan

Let's look back at the 18th presidential vote. The 13,500 ballot boxes were taken to 251 ballot count locations and were sorted by 1,300 automatic ballot openers. The chairman announced the sorted data and soon it was announced to the public. But something strange happened. The 251 ballot count locations found 'a number' that have the same pattern. Scientists, mathematicians, statistician and hackers from all over the country start looking into the secret of 'this number'. The result is tremendously shocking...

Rivercide: The Secret Six

The Grand Canal project was one of the key pledges of the former President Lee. He first said that he was carrying out a project to save the four rivers but it was a lie. He eventually proceeded the project which was a hotbed of all kinds of irregularities. After ten years, now the river is dying. Some people collaborated to the past regime, and some resisted it. On whom will we stand?

The Reservoir Game

An investigative reporter seeks to expose the whereabouts of a slush fund belonging to the former president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak.

The Pregnant Tree and the Goblin

The movie, which seemed likely to be a video study by a local researcher on comfort women in the military camp town, is becoming an increasingly fictional world, including visits by the dead, resulting in historical, fantastic and allegorical results.

Family in the Bubble

My parents were real estate developers and dealers in the 1980s. They achieved the ‘middle class dream’ thanks to the development boom. However, the Asian financial crisis swept everything away.

Miracle on Jongno Street

A story about 4 gay men who try to lead a normal life in Korea, the conservative and harsh country for LGBT in Asia. In the middle of making a queer film Jun-moon, a director, loses his self-confidence due to social scrutiny regarding his sexual orientation. Byung-gwon, a gay rights activist, has been participating in movements to establish equal rights for homosexual laborers. Young-soo, a chef who moved from the countryside 15 years ago, lived a lonely life but he finds happiness after joining a gay choir. Yol, who works for a major company, dreams of the day him and his partner, can have a legal wedding with overcoming the prejudice against people living with HIV/AIDS.

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.​

Two Doors

The documentary Two Doors traces the Yongsan Tragedy of 2009, which took the lives of five evictees and one police SWAT unit member. Left with no choice but to climb up a steel watchtower in an appeal to the right to live, the evictees were able to come down to the ground a mere 25 hours after they had started to build the watchtower, as cold corpses. And the surviving evictees became lawbreakers. The announcement of the Public Prosecutors’ Office that the cause of the tragedy lay in the illegal and violent demonstration by the evictees, who had climbed up the watchtower with fire bombs, clashed with voices of criticism that an excessive crackdown by government power had turned a crackdown operation into a tragedy.

Soseongri

On April 26, 2017, THAAD was deployed in Soseongri, accompanied by the military boots of the Korean police and the sneers of American soldiers, destroying the peaceful daily lives of those who live here. THAAD, meant to stop wars, turns Soseongri into a battlefield. The people in Soseongri lie down on the asphalt road again to protect their lives.

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 Man Standing Next

When the investigation of 'Koreagate' takes place, Park Yong-gak, a former KCIA director who knows everything about the government's operations, heads to the United States in exile.

Northeast of Seoul

Three adventurers--at times competing with each other, at other times allied with each other--search South Korea for a magical sword that is supposed to imbue its owner with wealth and power.

Extreme Job

A drug squad attempts to take down a criminal organization and they must go undercover to do so, so they begin working at a chicken restaurant, that becomes famous for its delicious chicken. Due to the unexpected popularity, the detectives find themselves in a situation they never expected.

Seoul Raiders

Agent Lam (Tony Leung) sets out to track a pair of plates used to make fake American dollars. When he discovers the plates, they are conned out of him by enigmatic US Embassy workers Owen (Richie Ren) and JJ (Shu Qi). With the trail now leading to Korea, Lam sets off in hot pursuit. There, amidst the dangerous and glamorous urban landscape of Seoul, Lam finds himself confronting an underworld crime boss known as the Polar Bear, head of the biggest counterfeiting organisation in Asia.

DMZ (Demilitarized Zone)

A boy's experience as a fresh military recruit stationed at the North-South border in the late 1970s.

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.

Holiday

After 1988 Seoul Olympic, Ji Kang-heon, who is sentenced for 7 years, and other inmates escape from the police van. After escaping, Ji Kang-heon and inmates make the entire Seoul under fear while they hold hostages.

Best of the Best

A team from the United States is going to compete against Korea in a Tae Kwon Do tournament. The team consists of fighters from all over the country--can they overcome their rivalry and work together to win?

Bounty Hunters

Lee Shan and Ayo are ex-Interpol agents who are now bounty hunters, chasing fugitives for cash rewards. When the two of them are framed for a hotel-bombing, they join hands with a legendary bounty hunter named Cat, along with her teammates, to find the real bomber.

Apostle

In a small North Korean village near the border of China, there are believers who get together in an underground church, away from the eyes of the persecuting government. When the missionary from China, their only support route, is cut off, things begin to get very tense. Chulho, who had been arrested along with his wife, returns. After losing his wife in the interrogations, Chulho had been released and unseen for 2 years before coming back to his home, claiming that he had been commanded by God to lead the believers across the border and into South Korea. The brothers wonder if Chulho is trustworthy, and whether it is the right thing to do to leave their homeland.

Joint Security Area

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The sergeant is the shooter, but the lead investigator, a Swiss-Korean woman, receives differing accounts from the two sides.

The Spy: Undercover Operation

Chul-soo is one of Korea’s best intelligence agents: he can accomplish any given mission. One day, a mysterious explosion takes place in Seoul. Chul-soo flies to Thailand on a mission to rescue a person who holds clues to the incident. Meanwhile, Young-hee goes on a business trip to Thailand and gets entangled with Chul-soo’s mission. Will he accomplish his mission and save his wife at the same time?

The President's Last Bang

On October 26, 1979, President Park Chung-hee, who had ruled South Korea since 1961, was assassinated by his director of intelligence. The film depicts the events of that night.

Hello Stranger

Two strangers meet in South Korea, each on a vacation. When he misses his tour bus, he asks a woman if he can hang out with her for a few days. They have fun together, but never tell each other their names. So when the trip is over they don't know how to contact each other.

Ashfall

A group of unlikely heroes from across the Korean peninsula try to save the day after a volcano erupts on the mythical and majestic Baekdu Mountain.

V.I.P.

A son to a high-ranked official in North Korea commits a series of murders going across the countries around the world. The movie depicts the following events as South Korea, North Korea and Interpol start chasing down after him.

Steel Rain

Amid a coup, a North Korean agent escapes south with the country's injured leader in an attempt to keep him alive and prevent a Korean war.

A Taxi Driver

May, 1980. Man-seob is a taxi driver in Seoul who lives from hand to mouth, raising his young daughter alone. One day, he hears that there is a foreigner who will pay big money for a drive down to Gwangju city. Not knowing that he’s a German journalist with a hidden agenda, Man-seob takes the job.

1987: When the Day Comes

In 1987 Korea, under an oppressive military regime, a college student gets killed during a police interrogation involving torture. Government of officials are quick to cover up the death and order the body to be cremated. A prosecutor who is supposed to sign the cremation release, raises questions about a 21-year-old kid dying of a heart attack, and he begins looking into the case for truth. Despite a systematic attempt to silence everyone involved in the case, the truth gets out, causing an eruption of public outrage.

Confidential Assignment

When a crime organization from North Korea crosses borders and enters South Korean soil, a South Korean detective must cooperate with a North Korean detective to investigate their whereabouts.

Pandora

When an earthquake hits a Korean village housing a run-down nuclear power plant, a man risks his life to save the country from imminent disaster.

Secret Reunion

Two spies share a secret bond, despite their loyalties. A North Korean assassin is sent to Seoul to kill a dissident, but instead he teams up with a South Korean agent in search for revenge.

The King

A young Korean man surpasses his difficult childhood by becoming a powerful prosecutor, but soon learns that real power comes at a price.

One Missed Call 3: Final

Emiri, a timid high school girl, is bullied mercilessly by her classmates, but when her friend, Asuka, stands up for her, Asuka becomes the target of the bullying instead. Emiri, not wanting to be bullied again, avoids Asuka. Worn down, Asuka attempts to commit suicide, but is saved by the school janitor and remains in a comatose state in the hospital.

The Fault is Not Yours

Minjae is a highschool teacher during the day, but at dusk, he goes out on the streets and join with youth who are alienated from school and home. Due to an incident, Minjae is put to the test again to protect his students ─ Jigeun and classmates.

Cart

In response to a sudden dismissal of staff, workers at a big retail store begin a protest against their employer's oppressive labor policies.

Black Money

A prosecutor is falsely accused of sexual assault in a suicide note from a woman that he is convinced was actually murdered. As he investigates her death to clear his name, he realizes that the truth lies in a huge financial scandal.

Ode to My Father

Duk-soo lost his father and younger sister while taking refuge during the Korean War. He leaves for Germany to work as a miner and enters the Vietnam War. He wishes to find his sister.

North Korean Partisan in South Korea

Reporter for a North Korean news service joins the partisans when the Americans and UN forces invade South Korea.

World War Z

Life for former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane and his family seems content. Suddenly, the world is plagued by a mysterious infection turning whole human populations into rampaging mindless zombies. After barely escaping the chaos, Lane is persuaded to go on a mission to investigate this disease. What follows is a perilous trek around the world where Lane must brave horrific dangers and long odds to find answers before human civilization falls.

Inside Men

A disgruntled henchman teams up with an ambitious prosecutor to bring down a leading presidential candidate and the news editor behind him who is truly pulling the strings.

Honest Candidate

Sang-sook is a competent politician who captivates the public with all kinds of nice words. One day, Sang-sook visits her grandmother who lives in the isolated house. But when she returns home, she finds out that she is not able to lie anymore.

Escape from Mogadishu

Diplomats from the North and South Korean embassies in Somalia attempt a daring joint escape from Mogadishu when the outbreak of civil war leaves them stranded.

Parasite

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.