30 Films you shouldn’t miss at the 14th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (Part 2)

By Asian Film Festival on September 19, 2022 • ( Leave a comment )

We continue with our list of documentaries that you shouldn’t miss at the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival which will take place from September 22 – 29, 2022 in Paju City and Goyang City, South Korea

– Part 2 –

**Nasim** by Arne Buttner, Ole Jacobs – Germany | 2022 – 85 minutes
**Section**: International Competition | Korean Premiere

Nasim left Afghanistan with her family to escape from war and discrimination. She traveled through Iran to Europe’s largest refugee camp, Moria, on the Greek island of Lesbos. She wants a divorce due to marital discord, but it is not an easy decision to make for someone who wanders around with no stability. Would there be a way outside Moria? Another hardship comes for her who is struggling to somehow find hope. Massive fire breaks out at the refugee camp. The camera follows her at the crossroads. (DMZ Docs 2022)

Trailer:

**No Way Out** by Al Mamun Shekh – Korea | 2022 – 61 minutes
**Section**: Korean Docs Showcase | World Premiere

18 years have passed since the implementation of the Employment Permit System, and through this system, many migrant workers have stepped on Korean land, with the goal of chasing their dreams. The protagonists of this film also came to Korea in search of a dream,but because there’s no freedom to change workplace in the Employment Permit System, their dreams are hitting the walls of reality.This is the story of 3 migrant workers living the harsh lives of laborers. (DMZ Docs 2022)

**Octopus** by Karim Kassem – Lebanon, Qatar | 2022 – 64 minutes
**Section**: DMZ-POV | Asian Premiere

Octopus surfaced during trauma, in the aftermath of the cataclysmic Port of Beirut explosion. The film silently navigates that unfolding, giving space to the myriad of existential questions birthed by the enormity of the happening. Questions of unexamined worldviews, of suffering and meaning, of collective purpose, and of many other quiet thoughts strewn amidst the rubble. What are we saying when we say nothing at all? (DMZ Docs 2022)

Trailer:

**One Hundred Years and Hope** by Nishihara Takashi – Japan | 2022 – 107 minutes
**Section**: Asian Competition | International Premiere

The Japanese Communist Party has the longest history in Japan. With the LDP’s unprecedented long-term ruling system solidified, the Japanese Communist Party is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The film follows the election campaigns of the party’s young politicians, activists and supporters, and listens to their concerns and hopes. And asks. Can the Japanese Communist Party be an alternative to established politics? Can deep-rooted sexism and discrimination against minorities be addressed? What will the grassroots politics that has been pursued thus far look like in the future? (DMZ Docs 2022)

**Our Memory Belongs to Us** by Rami Farah – Denmark, France, Syria, Palestine | 2021 – 90 minutes
**Section**: DMZ-POV | Korean Premiere

Nearly 10 years after the beginning of the Syrian revolution, three Syrian activists reunite on a theatre stage in Paris. Through life-size projections, Syrian director Rami Farah confronts them with footage, some of it their own. Watching the brutal footage together, they reflect on their personal journeys and revive their collective memory, thereby creating a unique window into the complexity of the situation in Syria, where a peaceful uprising was replaced by a ferocious war. (DMZ Docs 2022)

Trailer:

**Primera** by Vee Bravo – USA, Chile | 2021 – 96 minutes
**Section**: DMZ-POV | Korean Premiere

Over the course of a year, PRIMERA chronicles the social uprising that evolved into a nation-wide movement, beginning with the student takeover of Santiago’s metro system and ending with the historic plebiscite that paved the way for the writing of a new constitution. The film offers an immersive look at the year-long process through the experiences of everyday Chileans who were affected by the violent police repression at the start of the social uprising. (DMZ Docs 2022)

Trailer:

**Rohingya** by Ai Weiwei – Germany | 2021 – 122 minutes
**Section**: Masters

The Rohingya crossed the border to escape persecution in Myanmar and arrived in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The port city is now home to the world’s largest refugee camp, home to more than 900,000 Rohingya. Director Ai Weiwei stayed at Cox’s Bazar for several months, documenting the Rohingya people. Through the spaces of their lives, everyday events, customs and rituals, the film shows that they do not give up their dignity, even though they face the greatest deprivation. (DMZ Docs 2022)

**Tales of the Purple House** by Abbas Fahdel – Iraq, Lebanon | 2022 – 184 minutes
**Section**: International Competition | Asian Premiere

Abbas Fahdel, director of Homeland: Iraq Year Zero lives in a house in the South of Lebanon with his wife, the painter Nour Ballouk. From their ‘Purple House’, the two begin to explore the reality of Lebanon, which seems to be on the edge of the abyss. The director and painter, who look at the multifaceted daily life of a complex society from their own perspective, capture the hope and pain that coexist in Lebanon. The result is a heavy reflection on art and society. (DMZ Docs 2022)

Trailer:

**The Body of the Sea** by Park Koonje – Korea | 2022 – 92 minutes
**Section**: Korean Competition | World Premiere

In a small port, there is a yard where cats cats stay comfortably. There, two people try to dismantle a ship alone. With sparks and smoke, they cut off the ship, and the cats sit next to them and wait for food. Humans and small lives live together like that. (DMZ Docs 2022)

**The Bone** by Seen Nari – South Korea | 2022
**Section**: Korean Competition | World Premiere

This story is about two people who have been struggling for more than 40 years to remember Koreans forced into labor in the northern Akita region. Ha Jung-woong, a Korean-Japanese who succeeded as a businessman thanks to his outstanding abilities and the economic growth of Japan after the war, and Juroku Chatani, a Japanese historian who has built a culture village in the Akita region of northern Japan. Their efforts to unravel the mystery of the statue of Hime Kannon built on Lake Tazawa and to commemorate the Korean victims of forced labor are still ongoing. (DMZ Docs 2022)

**The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft** by Werner Herzog
UK, France | 2022 – 81 minutes – **Section**: Masters | Korean Premiere

On 3 June 1991, a deadly cloud of hot gas and rock spewed out of Japan’s Mount Unzen. Among the 43 people consumed by it were scientist-filmmakers Maurice and Katia Krafft. They left behind over 200 hours of footage from their decades of work, which Herzog draws on for this stunning eulogy. From 1977’s La Soufrière through to 2016’s Into the Inferno, Herzog has long been fascinated by these violent natural events and his deeply personal voiceover is a fitting memorial to two people who gave their lives in the pursuit of both science and the pure cinematic image. (DMZ Docs 2022)

Trailer:

**The Talent Show** by Lee Sohyun – Korea | 2022 – 95 minutes
**Section**: Korean Docs Showcase

Middle-aged women start acting at a later age and forms a troupe. But none of them are a fit for each other. However, they can’t stop acting. (DMZ Docs 2022)

**The Teachers : Pink, Nature trail, Ridge between rice paddies, Plum** by Park Hong-Yeol, Hwang Da-Eun
Korea | 2022 – 94 minutes – **Section**: Korean Docs Showcase

There are caretakers who do not receive a year’s appreciation of their labor even when they have worked over ten years. There are teachers who self-sacrificingly filled the void of caregiving with when schools were closed due to the coronavirus. There are professionals who work as teachers but do not count as teachers in the society. They are the after-school program teachers. They go into meetings every day─not to discuss what to teach but to fiercely maintain the students’ daily lives. (DMZ Docs 2022)

**The Wind Blows the Border** by Laura Faerman, Marina Weis – Brazil | 2022 – 77 minutes
**Section**: Global Vision | Asian Premiere

The story takes place on Brazil’s violent border with Paraguay – the heart of Brazilian agribusiness. The team closely follows the growth of ruralist political power and its close ties to the Bolsonaro government. At the same time, it portrays the intimacy of indigenous female resistance – with its communal ideals and its struggle for the planet. The process recorded by the documentary culminates with the imminent loss of indigenous constitutional rights thanks to the political power of agribusiness. (DMZ Docs 2022)

Trailer:

**Until the Stones Speak** by Kim Kyungman – Korea | 2022 – 100 minutes
**Section**: Korean Competition | World Premiere

There are five grandmothers, four of whom went to Jeonju Prison due to the Jeju 4.3. All of them were young people around the age of 20 at the time of the incident in 1948. The outline of the incident is formed when hearing the experiences of those who were sent to prison without trial particularly as women. The audience feels indescribable emotions by the fact that they have lived on despite what they had gone through, things that are just too much for a human being to bear. (DMZ Docs 2022)

For more information, please visit: https://dmzdocs.com/eng/