The 5th Toronto Korean Film Festival (2016,Canada)
The 7th Korean Film Festival in Australia (2016,Australia)
The 6th DMZ Korean International Documentary Festival (2014,Korea)

Japanese extreme rightists hold a demonstration at the gate of a Korean school in Tokyo. “Leave Japan. There is no place for you here.” Then who is in the Korean school and how are their lives? In the school, the classroom is noisy and peaceful just like any other high school’s. The students look like plain and ordinary teenagers. After school, the boxing club’s gym is full with the shout of concentration and the smell of sweat. Students train hard as they work towards each of their dreams.

Words like ‘country’ and ‘nationality’ are frequently used in the film. That is because the words are inseparable from the life of most Korean-Japanese. They cannot avoid saying ‘my country’ and ‘my nationality’ through their whole lives. Perhaps their being itself may not be explained without using those words. However, the words are not that important to Koreans living in Korea and there is no need for them to keep thinking about those. Then would Koreans mingle with these Korean school students in Korean clothes even if they are in Seoul?

 

- LEE Il-ha