SDF

I went to Japan in 2000 to study, and majored in film studies at Tama Art University, Nihon University College of Art, and Osaka University of Art. I worked at a post-production company as well as a Japanese public broadcaster.

Social issues have always been an area of interest for me. Whether experimental films or even music videos, everything I create touches on social problems to at least some degree. My first documentary film, Your March, depicts an illegal foreign worker who gets injured on the job and seeks solidarity with other people standing up to those in power to protect their rights. This was followed by Latte Indices, which tells the story of the changes that visit a rural town after a large coffee franchise moves in. This was a work of performance activism, a medium I chose both to underline the seriousness of the themes depicted as well as to add an element of shock. Crybaby Boxing Club, my fifth film, sheds light on the experiences of ethnic Koreans who live as minorities in Japan. A coming-of-age story, it features students in the boxing club at Tokyo Korean Junior and Senior High School. My most recent work, Counters, gets its title from the name of an activist group that protests hatred and discrimination against Japanese-Koreans. In it, I explore how this group has brought public attention to their cause and helped people understand why such hatred and discrimination are problematic, and through their story, I ask what it means to be individual members of society. Since returning to Korea in 2018, I have been preparing to work on a new film that will ask viewers, “Are any of us immune to feeling and perpetrating hatred and discrimination?”