The Voices of the Silenced

Jury Comment:
In addition to various unresolved issues from before the war between South Korea and Japan to the present, such as the comfort women issue and forced recruitment, the director’s “sight” includes the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Battle of Okinawa, where the Pacific War unfolded. For over 50 years, she has fought against oblivion with her camera. Park Soo-nam, a Zainichi director, now wants to digitize her films to preserve them and the stories of the Korean laborers under coercion and Comfort Women in Japan for the next generation, together with her daughter. It is moving to see how a mother and daughter’s vision can connect as they work together, and their conversations become another voice that needs to be heard as repressed history is brought to life.

Republic

Jury Comment:
Eryang’s dreams and utopias know no bounds. In his eight-square-meter room, the musician proclaims his republic and turns it into a liberated area. “Republic” is always crowded with people. There is conversation, drinking, and singing. Sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll meet Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong, and American pop music meets criticism of capitalism. This work highlights the freedom with which today’s young people put into practice the image of Republic effortlessly in a small space. What is more interesting is that the creator used a unique and adventurous method to depict the work without stepping outside this extremely narrow space. This film takes us into the attitude towards the life of a youth who has no money to survive the day.