japanese
BORDERS WITHIN
  • Early Filmmakers
  • Newsreels
  • Films from North Korea and the Chongryon Film Studio
  • Chronicling the Sixties
  • Chronicling the Seventies
  • Chronicling the Eighties
  • Chronicling the Nineties
  • Zainichi History
  • Testament of the Times
  • Ogawa Shinsuke and Filipina
  • Foreign Residents of Tokyo
  • The NDU and Taiwanese
  • The New Generation of Zainichi Filmmakers
  • Films from South Korea
  • Films from Japan
  • Films from South Korea



    These works represent South Korean films that depict zainichi. With the cooperation of the Korean Film Archive, we were able to invite South Korean films previously unreleased in Japan.


    - Nostalgia

    (“Manghyang”)

    SOUTH KOREA / 1966 / Korean / B&W / 35mm / 102 min

    Director: Kim Su-yong
    Script: Kim Gang-yun
    Photography: Jeon Jo-myeong
    Art Director: Park Seok-in
    Music: Jeong Yun-ju
    Cast: Kim Jin-kyu, Seo Seung-hee, Kim Seung-ho, Hwang Jeong-sun, Nam Jeong-im
    Production Company: Yun Bang Films
    Source: Yun Bang Films, Korean Film Archive

    A company president whose business failed and his Japanese wife. They and other zainichi compatriots suffered discrimination in Japanese society, and returned to a North Korea advertised as an earthly paradise. However, what awaited them there was forced labor in the coal mines. The returnees who rebelled against their subhuman treatment in North Korea organized an escape and headed to South Korea. This film is highly realistic, using stock footage of the return to the home country and images of the North Korean flag.



    - That is the Sky Over Seoul

    (“Jeogeos-i Seo-ul-ui haneul-ida”)

    SOUTH KOREA / 1970 / Korean / Color / 35mm / 95 min

    - Director: Kim Su-yong
    Script: Lee Sang-hyeon
    Photography: Ahn Chang-bok
    Art Director: No In-taek
    Music: Jeong Yun-ju
    Cast: Shin Young-kyun, Kim Hee-gap, Hwang Jeong-sun
    Production Company: Hap Dong Films
    Source: Hap Dong Films, Korean Film Archive

    At his son’s invitation, a South Korean man visits Japan, and meets a woman who manages a Korean restaurant in Tokyo. The woman’s daughter is in charge of the education of second-generation students at a Korean school, but is unable to hold classes due to disruptions by Chongryon activists. Discovering the complexity of life as a zainichi Korean, the man takes action . . .