These are our fifteen recommended feature documentaries from the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, which is taking place from September 26 until October 2,2024 in Paju and Goyang, South Korea.

1980 Sabuk by Park Bongnam – South Korea | 2024 – 124 minutes | World Premiere

In April 1980, a massive “disturbance” erupted in Sabuk, a town in Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province. Over 3,000 miners, pushed to the brink by relentless surveillance and exploitation, seized control of the area and clashed with authorities. A last-minute deal was struck, narrowly averting the deployment of martial law forces and a potential bloodbath. Nevertheless, the conflict resulted in numerous casualties. Even now, more than four decades later, the scars of this event remain deeply etched in the community’s collective memory. (DMZDocs 2024)

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Above and Below the Ground by Emily Hong – Myanmar, USA, Thailand | 2023 – 86 minutes | Korean Premiere

In Myanmar’s first and only country-wide environmental movement, Indigenous women activists and punk rock pastors defend a sacred river from a Chinese-built megadam through protest, prayer, and Karaoke music videos.​

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Agent of Happiness by Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó – Bhutan, Hungary | 2024 – 93 minutes | Korean Premiere

How can you measure happiness? The country of Bhutan invented Gross National Happiness to do just that. Amber, a 40-year-old man who is still living with his elderly mother, is one of the agents who travels to measure how happy people really are. He is a hopeless romantic who dreams of finding love: a happiness agent in search of his own happiness. We embark with Amber on a cross-country road trip, meeting diverse citizens and reminding us of the fragility and beauty of our own happiness. (DMZDocs 2024)

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All That Saves Us by Nam Taeje, Mun Jeonghyun, Kim Jinyeul – South Korea | 2024 – 94 minutes | World Premiere

Eunbin, charged with protesting at the headquarters of a coal-fired power plant exporter, embarks on a legal battle that becomes a platform to expose the urgency of the climate crisis. In court, she shares firsthand accounts of climate disaster survivors. Her journey takes us to small towns and rural areas ravaged by these disasters, revealing communities fighting to protect their lives through care and solidarity in the face of climate catastrophe. Along the way, an unexpected alliance forms between young Eunbin and an elderly activist whom she met during a coal plant protest. As the fierce battle against climate change continues, Eunbin’s case reaches its climax with a Supreme Court verdict. (DMZDocs 2024)

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Check Out Me Smoking Before Suicide Attempts by Kweon Jiyoon – South Korea | 2024 – 125 minutes | World Premiere

After two failed suicide attempts, Jiyoon finds herself in a locked hospital ward. During her stay, a video she had previously uploaded to YouTube documenting her first attempt  resurfaces due to the platform’s algorithm. Titled “Check Out Me Smoking Before Suicide Attempts,” the video has amassed 2 million views and 6,000 comments. Disturbingly, nearly half of the comments on this brief video are harassing and abusive. Upon her discharge from the hospital, Jiyoon embarks on a mission to track down those responsible for the hurtful comments. This personal journey unfolds against the backdrop of 2023 Korea, where news of suicides seems to surface with alarming frequency, painting a stark picture of a society grappling with a pervasive crisis. (DMZDocs 2024)

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CONATUS by Oh Jaehyeong – Korea | 2024 – 79 minutes | World Premiere

Soyoung, a woman with a disability, harbors a nightly dream: performing on stage. Soyoung imagines herself in a regular body, while she dances. She remains wary of praise. Heejoung is Soyoung’s dance teacher. Heejoung advises her to remember the movements carefully. Heejoung tells her to do anything she wants. Heejoung and Soyoung gave a performance. Soyoung’s life gets back to normal the following day. Soyoung starts recording her own life. Soyoung makes her way to the destination through the seasons and flowing water.​ (DMZDocs 2024)

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Devi by Subina Shrestha – Nepal, UK, South Korea | 2024 – 82 minutes | Asian Premiere

In 1997, seventeen-year-old Devi, was arrested, accused of being a rebel, tortured, and raped in custody. A civil war had just begun. Rebel leaders revealed her as a rape ‘victim’. Tagged with this shameful taboo, Devi battled depression, social ostracism, joined the rebel frontlines, and rose through the ranks, even serving as a member of the parliament when the war ended. Shot as an immersive verité, the film travels with Devi, as she consolidates the voices of survivors. (DMZDocs 2024)

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Everything That Connects Us by Jung – South Korea, France | 2024 – 98 minutes | World Premiere

All That Connects Us is a documentary on the theme of transmission. It addresses the universal questions of our roots, our history, that of our family, the bond that unites and sometimes separates. How can we build ourselves and what can we pass on to our children when part of our past is unknown to us? This film is the story of the passing of the baton from a mother with her baggage as a Korean adoptee, to her teenage daughter, at a time when identity construction is at its peak, a pivotal and delicate period of breaking with childhood. (DMZDocs 2024)

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Farming the Revolution by Akash Basumatari, Nishtha Jain – India, France, Norway | 2024 – 105 minutes | Asian Premiere

Farming the Revolution takes us to the heart of the massive year-long protests against the Indian government’s then newly enacted farm laws during the COVID lockdown. Over half a million protesters gathered – men and women from all generations, religions, classes and castes – and reinvented co-existence at massive protest sites that burgeoned on the borders of Delhi. The film invites us to experience the everyday textures and indomitable spirit of this historic farmers’ movement – until, finally. (DMZDocs 2024)

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Kamay by Ilyas Yourish, Shahrokh Bikaran – Afghanistan, Belgium, France | 2024 – 107 minutes | Asian Premiere

Freshta and her family are Hazaras, a people from central Afghanistan that have suffered centuries of state persecution and genocide. Freshta’s elder sister, Zahra, committed suicide a few weeks before her graduation from Kabul University, after her thesis research on the local plant ‘Kamay’ was rejected several times by her professor. Guided by the words and questions the grieving Freshta asks herself about her sister, we follow the family’s struggle for justice. (DMZDocs 2024)

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Obedience by Wong Siu-pong – Hong Kong | 2024 – 70 minutes | Korean Premiere

Nestled in the centre of HK, the neighbourhood of Hung Hom is a study in contradictions. As the dead are transported to funeral homes, the living crowd its bustling streets. The affluent live in luxury residences towering over dilapidated buildings marked for demolition, while the poor sift through construction waste for a meagre living wage. Capturing the ebb and flow of this urban district over a five-year period, this observational doc questions what is truly considered waste in this city. (DMZDocs 2024)

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On the Wings of a Butterfly by Hyun Jinsik – South Korea | 2024 – 88 minutes | World Premiere

KO Ahra, a deaf dancer, navigates a world where hearing aids offer only a partial connection to sound. The nuances of speech remain beyond her grasp, and the music that fuels her dancing feels frustratingly distant. Despite these obstacles, KO Ahra embarks on a profound journey: motherhood. Haunted by childhood taunts in music class, she hasn’t sung in twenty years. Yet, the birth of her child awakens a long-dormant desire. For the first time in two decades, Go Ara sings a lullaby. This simple act reignites her love for music, prompting her to explore new artistic territories and craft a soundscape that is uniquely her own. (DMZDocs 2024)

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Scale by Shahab Mihandoust – Canada, Iran | 2023 – 72 minutes | Asian Premiere

Set in Khuzestan Iran, Scale is an immersive sensorial experience, a journey from the sea to the land, about the embodiment of work at the margins of the oil industry. Despite the industrialization of the region, waterways of Khuzestan remain a significant source of income for the native communities who are most intimately connected to these embattled landscapes, and Meezan is an audio visual reflection on the relation between bodies and scales to acknowledge the weight of the past and present. (DMZDocs 2024)

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Small Hours of the Night by Daniel Hui – Singapore | 2024 – 103 minutes | Korean Premiere

Singapore, in the late 1960s — the newly independent country is still grappling with its identity. In a dark room, a woman is trapped, being interrogated by a man. Through the course of one long night, identities and duration start to blur. Ghosts from the future haunt their conversation, telling of a bizarre tombstone trial that speaks to the state’s nascent political and legal landscape. (DMZDocs 2024)

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The Axis of Big Data by Zhou Tao – China | 2024 – 58 minutes | Asian Premiere

The Axis of Big Data explores the surroundings of a big data centre in the mountains of Guizhou. Rather than placing the data centre itself at the forefront, the film delicately weaves through the mountainous terrain that cradles the facility. It captures the essence of the landscape, showcasing the diverse tapestry of life activities occurring in proximity and beyond. (DMZDocs 2024)

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More information: https://dmzdocs.com/eng/