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14th DMZ Docs(2022)

I AM DOCU



Virga

WON Hoyeon, JUNG Taekyoung

  • South Korea
  • 2022
  • 75min
  • 12 +
  • DCP
  • color

WP

Synopsis

With widening wealth disparities between Asian countries and increase in migrant labor, a new social conflict has emerged. The injustices and harsh conditions faced by those who crossed borders to overcome their poverty are now being passed on to their children. They are in Taiwan, in the Philippines, in Thailand, in Malaysia, in Indonesia, somewhere else, but nowhere else. This film is about undocumented immigrant children, a second generation of undocumented immigrants who are living like shadows.

Review

Children of undocumented migrant workers referred to as illegal immigrants are called undocumented immigrant children. They do not exist on paper as their births were never registered. Vigra captured the story of 7 undocumented immigrant children across Asia over 4 years with the help of a Chinese production company. They run vigorously and laugh happily like any other kid, but the vitality hits the wall of reality in the next scene. Knowing that their suffering will continue as long as they remain unregistered, the audience have a foreboding that something frustrating will happen while seeing them laughing. "My parents are illegal people and afraid of getting kicked out if they register (me)..." They are denied their very existence for having been born as children of people whose very existence has become illegal. The film is significant in the sense that it looks at the lives of children that have been erased until now while closely observing their days.

Director

  • WON Hoyeon

    Won Hoyeon directed human documentary shows in broadcasting and started to work on documentary films with the film, Captain Kang, in 2012. Burning Flower(2021), his documentaries contemplate life with earnestness and observational perspective.​ 

  • JUNG Taekyoung

    Jung Taekyoung directed documentary shows and short dramas in broadcasting for 20 years. He produced Burning Flower in 2021 and began his first step as a documentary film director with Virga​.​ 

Credit