DMZ Docs Plus+
DMZ Docs PLUS+
The 16th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival is operating an extended screening program, 'DMZ Docs PLUS+', which expands the screening venues from the existing Goyang Special City to the Gyeonggi Province area. 'DMZ Docs PLUS+,' conducted in cooperation with theaters, media centers, and art museums in Suwon, Paju, Yongin, and Ansan in Gyeonggi Province, was planned with the aim of spreading the festival experience and expanding access to cultural and artistic enjoyment.
Suwon Media Center
64 Changnyong-daero, Paldal-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do
HEYRI CINÉMA
3rd Floor, 93-119 Heyri Village-gil, Tanhyeon-myeon, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do
Nam June Paik Art Center
10 Baeknamjun-ro, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do
Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art
268 Dongsan-ro, Danwon-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do
Online Screening Program
Short is Beautiful
New this year, online screening program will focus on short documentaries and will be served via docuVoDA. Aimed at discovering short films and exploring the form, ‘Short is Beautiful’ will consist of a collection of short films from the official screenings and a special program of a film director. Over 30 short films from Korean Competition section, non-competition sections, and Heinz Emigholz exhibition will be screened at docuVoDA.
Celluloid Dreams:
Hand-processed Films by Nishikawa Tomonari
The 16th DMZ Docs' online screening program is dedicated to Japanese experimental film director Nishikawa Tomonari. Nishikawa is widely known for his works that demonstrate the liberating power of film technology and materials. His films capture the rhythm of the city through technical means: hand-process in the darkroom, edit by splicing the tape without gloves, and physical film process without the use of camera. Nineteen short films and three music videos will be screened.
Non-Theatrical Program
The Landscape as the State of World
It recreates the scenes of New York by using the early color film production process. The images compressed by a triple-exposure technique create 3D effect and transform the cityscapes in a fantastic and surreal way.
Firework images shot with 16mm film at a Japanese summer festival alternately create organic rhythms. The changing shapes of flames and smoke visually reveal the life of film and magically combine the dynamic mechanism of film and fireworks.
It captures the collision of tradition and modernity, and nature and industry at Big Data Valley in Guizhou, China. The camera serially shoots the data center and surrounding humans, animals, and scenes to connect and confront different elements while exploring a new relationship at the same time.
It explores the image and sound of sirens to re-spotlight on their symbolic meanings and changes. It also collaborates with various artists to create new siren sounds and examine the relationship between crisis and social transformation. The non-theatrical program screens a special version featuring 3-channel monitor and 3.1 channel sound.
It explores the time paradox, conditions of era, and essence of art by combining the images of observing living organisms that are decaying inside glass tubes. The simple installations, virtual narratives, and performance watch decomposition and extinction to unveil the paradox of life and death.
In 2070, a woman in gold glitter clothes appears from behind a fluorescent ring-shaped symbol. In a world disconnected from the natural world, humans take care of their health through absurdly strange and garish yoga sessions. The unique and emotional approach evokes empathy for both humans and non-humans to encourage the audiences to restructure the surrounding environments and actively react to the climate crisis.
An archeologist in the corner of the room from Buenos Aires explores the history of digital devices and electronic wastes. He brings up a reflective essay reflecting the time of environmental crisis and overproduction by contemplating the meanings and memories of the electronic wastes through images and sounds collected over a decade. The non-theatrical program screens a special version featuring 2-channel system along with the installation of electronic waste piles.
This visual work mixes actual images and game renderings at a sugar factory located in Guangdong. It explores the future agriculture and optimized algorithm of the ant colony and spotlights the irony in datarithm and prediction through “Laplace’s Demon” and images of devastated sugar factory.
It records 5 bridges that were covered with political slogans, protests, and posters during the democracy movement in Hong Kong. It explores structural disorganization of cityscape and according emotional and historic memories to contemplate how the arts express spatial politics and historic records.
Asian Docs Co-production Network Project
5th Asian Docs Co-production Network Project
The ‘Asian Docs Co-production Network Project’, which began in 2015 and is now in its 5th iteration, is a collaborative project where young documentary creators from five countries - Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore - work together over two years to co-produce documentaries about Asia. Participating institutions include Korea National University of Arts, Yonsei University (Korea), Yunnan University, Yunnan Arts University (China), Komazawa University, Osaka University (Japan), Tainan National University of the Arts (Taiwan), and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). Last year, four newly formed project teams planned, produced, and completed documentaries that intersect unique perspectives from each country while capturing the shared cultures of Asia. This year, the film festival will present these four works to the audience, offering new perspectives on Asian culture and highlighting the significance of co-production beyond language barriers.
5th Asian Docs Co-production Network Project Screening
For the 5th ‘Asian Docs Co-production Network Project’, teams were formed by mixing young creators from Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore without national distinctions. The four teams collaborated for two years, creating works that intersect unique perspectives from each country while capturing the shared cultures of Asia.
Virgin Road
KWAK Seoyoung, PARK Cheolhwan, OH Lahi, TU Bing Yun | 2024 | 26min
In 1973, 25 Taiwanese female workers were drowned in a ferry accident while on their way to work at Gaoxiong’s Export Processing Zone. This film is a road movie that follows along these female ghosts buried in ‘twenty-five woman’s grave’.
Tracing the Taste of Ngoh Hiang
CLAUDIA WEE Yuanqin, XU Jin Yi, WANG Jie, HUANG Po Yu, DONG Jialing | 2024 | 32min
From a young age, Claudia from Singapore was told by her family that she is Hokkien Chinese. Driven by a desire to explore her identity, Claudia embarks on a journey 'back to' Fujian, accompanied by a group of Chinese and Taiwanese friends who also share a keen interest in identity issues.
Modern Family
KIM Soomin, LI Tiantian, EN Liang Rui, CHEN Wen Yen | 2024 | 38min
In Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and China, queer individuals navigate their lives in diverse ways?some live alone, others with partners, while some marry or raise children. Their lives may be legally recognized depending on the country, or they may not be.
Coming Up for Air
LIN Yen-Chun, WANG Beibei, KOINUMA Kaho, ONUMA Ami | 2024 | 24min
A Taiwanese woman, Yen-Chun(Veronika) travels to Osaka, Japan with her friends Ami and Beibei. They meet another young woman named Kaho, who is married but rejects the traditional legal marriage in Japan. Over the course of a week-long journey, the four women exchange their imaginations and visions of marriage and love...
Virgin Road
KWAK Seoyoung, PARK Cheolhwan, OH Lahi, TU Bing Yun | Korea, Taiwan | 2024 | 26min
SYNOPSIS
This film is a road movie that follows along these female ghosts buried in ‘twenty-five woman’s grave’. This cinematic process traversing the political and social backgrounds of Asia, from Incheon in Korea to the locations of disasters in Gaoxiong, Taiwan, questions about the reality in which Asian women had to become ghosts in the urban history dotted with capitalism and industrialization.
DIRECTOR
KWAK Seoyoung
Debut short film, Unsited, was screened at the Jeonju International Film Festival. They work in various capacities across the art scene, including fine art, performance, and film.
PARK Cheolhwan
Cheolhwan Park studied photography as an undergraduate and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in film. He is interested in films that challenge modern systems. He has released both short and feature films at the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival and the Seoul International NewMedia Festival (NeMaf).
OH Lahi
Born in 1997. Bachelor majored in aesthetics and dance at Sungkyunkwan University and currently doing MFA in film&video at Korea National University of Arts. OH Lahi has directed experimental films and experimental documentaries, and written poetry, critique, and fiction. Her film&video works are mainly focused in realizing poetic eroticism and performative fiction using secret lyricism and gestures, especially with interests in female body and narrative. She has presented a number of works through exhibitions and film festivals since 2021.
TU Bing Yun
TU Bing Yun, born in 2000, is currently studying at Tainan National University of the Arts, majoring in documentary. I am currently filming a series of local chronicles in my hometown of Baishatun, and will continue to care about rural and environmental issues.
PRODUCER
JEON Gyuchan
Gyuchan Jeon. Professor at Korea National University Arts, teaching documentary, journalism and media cultural studies. Interested especially on the topics of collective memory, urban theories as well as trans-Asia media activism. Directed and produced such documentary films as Looking4Mia, Island.
TSAI Chin Tong
Chin-Tong Tsai is a professor of Graduate Institute of Documentary & Film Archiving at Tainan National University of the Arts. He holds the dean of college currently. His work focuses specifically on documentary, visual sociology and collective memory. His recent publication can be found in arts, cultural studies and mass communication journal.
Tracing the Taste of Ngoh Hiang
CLAUDIA WEE Yuanqin, XU Jin Yi, WANG Jie, Huang Po Yu, DONG Jialing | Singapore, China, Taiwan | 2024 | 32min
SYNOPSIS
DIRECTOR
CLAUDIA WEE Yuanqin
Claudia majored in Film at Nanyang Technological University, School of Art, Design and Media, Singapore. Her works include short films like Ha and Grief Booth, which won Best Overall Film at Singapore Mental Health Film Festival 2022. As a dedicated producer, she strives to create stories that resonate deeply with audiences around the world.
XU Jin Yi
An international student from China, studying film at Yonsei University's Graduate School of Communication&Arts. She looks forward to show her observations on society to a wider audience through the documentary.
WANG Jie
Wang Jie, a master's graduate in Visual Anthropology from Yunnan University, specializes in ethnic cultural research. She explores comprehensive issues related to ethnicity, culture, and society. Her latest work focuses on Yunnan's culinary culture, examining the symbiotic relationship between the local people and the wild mushrooms nurtured by the natural ecosystem.
HUANG Po Yu
He is from Taiwan, currently studying documentary film production at the Tainan National University of the Arts.
DONG Jialing
From China, is studying Film and Television Photography and Production at Yunnan Arts College, and is currently exploring different styles of documentary filmmaking.
PRODUCER
CHEN Xue-li
He produces ethnographic films, teaches video anthropology, and coaches video education in his community.
SEO Hyunsuk
Seo Hyunsuk explores place and sensation through writing, video, and performance. Place-based performance projects often utilize virtual reality to build layers of experience and memory, questioning the foundations of our senses and expanding the boundaries of the ‘work’.
Modern Family
KIM Soomin, LI Tiantian, EN Liang Rui, CHEN Wen Yen | Korea, China, Singapore, Taiwan | 2024 | 38min
SYNOPSIS
DIRECTOR
KIM Soomin
While doing a documentary theater, I also started a documentary film.
LI Tiantian
Born in Yunnan Province, China, I have been studying documentary making since my undergraduate study. In my opinion, documentary is also a way of self-expression. Just like literature uses words to write the world and convey emotions, documentary uses the lens to capture life moments and convey another kind of life in real life.
EN Liang Rui
EN Liang Rui graduated from Nanyang Technological University. She is interested in the lesser heard voices in societies. This is her first venture into documentary filmmaking.
CHEN Wen Yen
Born in Taichung, Taiwan, studied sociology and is currently studying documentary filming.
PRODUCER
KIM Jinhyuk
He worked as a producer at the Korea Educational Broadcasting(EBS) Corporation from 2002 to 2013. His representative production is ‘Knowledge Channel e’. Since 2016, he has been a professor at the Korea National University of Arts, where he has taught documentary courses. In 2017, he directed a documentary film 7 years featuring stories of laid off journalists. In 2002, he filmed a documentary called based on the history of pro-Japanese during the colonial era of Japan Imperialism in Korea.
HEO Chul
HEO Chul, a filmmaker and media scholar (MFA Brooklyn College, PhD Iowa), is Professor of School of Film and TV Arts at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) in Suzhou, China. His filmmaking career has spanned more than two decades and earned him credits on both fictional and non-fictional feature films, as well as short films and TV series. As a media scholar, he specializes in media aesthetics, production studies, and critical cultural studies. Before joining XJTLU, Chul taught at Nanyang Technological University, Korea University and San Francisco State University.
Coming Up for Air
LIN Yen-Chun, WANG Beibei, KOINUMA Kaho, ONUMA Ami | China, Japan, Taiwan | 2024 | 24min
SYNOPSIS
DIRECTOR
LIN Yen-Chun
Born in Taiwan, 1996. Interests in home movie and film archives. Studying film restoration and documentary as a postgraduate student.
WANG Beibei
Born in China, 2002. Majoring in photo photography at Yunnan Art University. Interested in film photography and theory.
KOINUMA Kaho
Born in Japan, 1999. Majored in development economics and gender related issues. Working at a Japanese food-tech startup as a marketer.
ONUMA Ami
Born in Japan, 1999. Majored in cultural studies with a particular interest in feminism. Currently working as a promotion planner at a Japanese advertising agency.
PRODUCER
LI Xin
LI Xin has been lecturing in documentary filmmaking and visual anthropology theory at Yunnan Arts University in China since 2003. He is an experienced filmmaker who made over a dozen ethnographic films. As the co-founder of From Our Eyes, LI Xin trained over 200 local ethnic minority documentary filmmakers in communities in Tibetan and Southwest China.
TEZUKA Yoshiharu
Yoshiharu Tezuka Ph.D (London) is professor of Media and Cultural Studies at Komazawa University in Tokyo. His documentary work includes Over the Threshold(1989), which received Best Film Award from Royal Institute of Anthropology UK, Award of Encouragement from Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival.
GAO Xing
GAO Xing has been lecturing in school of Ethnology and Sociology at Yunnan University in China since 2022. She is an filmmaker who concentered on the societies and cultures of the Upper Mekong Valley.As a co-superviser for students majoring in visual anthropology, Gao Xing guides them to pay attention to the diet, ritual, and local knowledge of ethnic minorities in southwestern China.
IHARADA Haruka
Independent curator, PhD student at Tokyo University of the Arts. Board member of "Docu-Athan". Collaborates with artists and filmmakers while researching how art can and should be utilized to deal with political and social issues and difficulties in Okinawa and other parts of Asia.
DMZ Docs Forum
2024 DMZ Docs Forum
The DMZ Docs Forum, which addresses various issues such as documentary aesthetics, support policies, copyright, social roles, and producers' livelihoods, is being newly introduced. This is a stepping stone for the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, which has grown over the past 16 years with its screening programs and DMZ Docs Industry as its two main pillars, to take another leap forward. As a practical task for this year's slogan, "Act Out for Friendship and Solidarity," five forum themes have been set, creating a discourse space with participation from experts in various fields, including documentary production. We have established a principle of collaborating with those active in the documentary production field as much as possible, from issue discovery and planning to inviting presenters and discussants. As with the preparation process, the forum during the festival period will be an open discussion platform where creators and audiences can freely express their opinions without formality.
-The Possibilities of Archive Documentary Aesthetics-
By presenting discourses surrounding the aesthetics and practices of Korean documentaries, we gauge the possibilities of archive documentary aesthetics through a public forum on the potential expansion of documentaries.
We examine the concept and cases of fair use of copyrighted works related to documentary production and review the direction of institutionalization necessary for documentary creative activities.
We share the current status of contemporary media activism and explore the connection and solidarity between documentary activism and civil society movements.
-Focusing on Production Support and
Public Broadcasting Programming-
We explore the production field's reactions and response strategies to recent trends in changes to documentary production support projects and the reduction of public broadcasting documentary program scheduling.
We share the difficulties experienced by Korean documentary creators and seek solidarity measures to survive together in a sustainable documentary ecosystem.
Some strings
Some strings
Some strings is a video campaign project that brings together filmmakers and artists from around the world to speak out against war and violence in Palestine. So far, more than 100 artists have contributed to the six-hour collection of shorts, which will premiere at the Marseille International Film Festival on June 25, 2024, and will be screened around the world with no date restrictions. The 16th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival is pleased to join the 'Some strings' touring screening program as a show of solidarity against war crimes against humanity. During the festival, the film will be screened in special screening spaces at Camp Greaves and other locations.
…
Filmmakers and artists from around the world have come together to form Some strings, an ensemble (not a collective) of unprecedented filmic gestures that together with others, aim at building up a narrative of world events, so that witnesses increase.
“Each memory that is freed is the first step for all memories to gather” (Edouard Glissant). ‘Some strings’ is rooted in that which stains the screens of history: in Palestine, where poet and teacher Refaat Alareer, like so many others beings, was targeted by Israeli strikes and killed along with seven other members of his family. His last poem, If I Must Die, written between earth and sky five weeks before his death, calls for the making of a kite with some strings. ‘Some strings’ inherited his poem, as did each of his reader. The kite, now an object of resistance, and its strings, now in the hands of some one hundred artists, represent a diversity of perspectives on one of the darkest moments of the 21st century.
‘Some strings’ is released as widely as possible, all over the world, in cinemas as part of a pre-show program, in festivals, In a constant move, in a wide variety of spaces, because each one takes it own piece of string.
If I Must Die by Refaat Alareer.
If i must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in gaza while looking heaven in the eye awaiting his dad who left in a blaze? and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself?
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above and thinks for a moment an angel is there bringing back love
If i must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale
Some strings is:
alain gomis, alain kassanda, alexia roux & saad chakali, ali arkady, ali cherri, alice brygo, amel alzakout,amie barouh, anhar salem, anne penders, annik leroy & julie morel, apichatpong weerasethakul, aude fourel, axelle poisson, bahia bencheikh el fegoun, basma al-sharif, baya medhaffar, ben rivers, ben russell, bani khoshnoudi, bo wang, bruce clarke, charlie shackleton, christophe clavert, claire fontaine, collectif hawaf, corinne castel, dalila mahdjoub, dania reymond, daniela ortiz, declan clarke, djamel kerkar, douglas gordon, dora garcía, elena lópez riera & philippe azoury, éléonore weber,ellie ga, eric baudelaire & claire atherton & marius atherton, eva giolo, eyal sivan, fernanda pessoa, francis alÿs, franssou prenant, génesis scarlet valenzuela valdez, ghassan salhab, hassen ferhani, idit nathan, ignacio agüero, ismaïl bahri, jayce salloum, jeremiah mosese, jerónimo atehortúa, jilani saadi, joie estrella horwitz, julie courel, juruna mallon, kamal aljafari, khaled abdulwahed, kiswendsida parfait kaboré, khristine gillard & mohammad hammash & filip momikj, kyoshi sugita, lana daher, laura huertas millán, lav diaz, léandre bernard brunel, lene berg, leos carax, lucie kerr, m’hand abadou djezairi & marcel mrejen, mali arun, maria aparicio, marielle chabal, marwa arsanios, maryam tafakory, mehdi meklat & badroudine saïd abdallah, michaël andrianaly, mira adoumier, misha zavalniy, mitra farahani, mohamed bourouissa, mohanad yaqubi, monica maurer, nadia ghanem, narimane mari, naël khleifi, niles atallah, noma omran & ossama mohammed, newton ifeanyi aduaka, onyeka igwe, pablo sigg, philip rizk, philippe parreno, pierre creton, primo mauridi, raman djafari, renée nader messora & joão salaviza, saif fradj & mahshid mahboubifar, safia benhaim, samir guesmi, sarah beddington, sarah wood, sepideh farsi, serge garcia, sharon lockhart, silvia maglioni & graeme thomson, simplice herman ganou, soumeya ait ahmed & nadir bouhmouch, suneil sanzgiri, tariq teguia, taysir batniji, ugo rodinone, valentin noujaïm, valérie massadian, valérie osouf & cromix onana, victor missud, virgil vernier, wendelien van oldenborgh & cathleen schuster & marcel dickhage (titre provisoire), wiame haddad, wilmarc val, yann gonzales & alain garcia vergara, yannick kergoat, yohei yamakado, yosr gasmi & mauro mazzocchi, youssef chebbi (more strings to come, https://some-strings.org/)