DMZ International Documentary Festival

official poster for 2015

Up near the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea, during September, there is a great little documentary festival that goes on.

It's about an hour out of Seoul to get to the first location of Baekseok and then a further 30-40min bus ride to get to Paju, the second location.
The split locations make for some logistical difficulties but they do provide a shuttle bus that leaves on the hour every hour and is comfortable and free.

2015 marks 70 years of the division of Korea and that topic was a special focus for the festival.
Time and logistics prevented me from seeing the lions share of the program, which is a shame because it attracts some very good documentarys.

This is its seventh year and this is what I saw.

The full program can be seen here

Aim High in Creation by Anna Broinowski

the Sydney cast in training for their film alla Kim Jong il style

Off to North Korea to learn the art of propaganda filmmaking from the master himself, though posthumously through his written manifesto.
Why? To stop fracking in her Sydney backyard of course.
It's a great premise for a film and it is a pretty wild ride with Anna getting great access to the North Korean film industry and some of its greatest exponants. Actors, Directors and Composers and they all contribute to her effort of making an anti fracking film that will stop the industry in it's tracks. The film is split between her fact finding efforts in Pyeongyang and her directorial efforts back in Sydney. The time in North Korea is by far the most interesting and entertaining part of this doco.
7 won out of 10

Holy Working Holiday by Lee Hee-won

the pain of harvesting onions in Gaton QLD

A Korean in Australia and her and her friends attempts to get an extension on their working visa by accumulating the hours working on farms in NSW and QLD. Sounds romantic....NOT! This is an autobipgraphical film, though the filmmaker hides behind the camera most of the time, of dreams smashed, hopes dashed and inspiration lost. It's just tough shitty work but it is a great insight into the Korean perspective of Australia compared to their reality back at home and what they want in life.
A little slow and messy at times but kinda interesting.
not too many won out of 10

B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West Berlin 1979-1989 
Directors: Klaus Maeck, Jörg A. Hoppe, Heiko Lange Story by Mark Reeder

another wild night in West Berlin, ah the life.

 This was a very entertaining insight into life in West Berlin at a pretty exciting musical point in history. It's more or less the memoirs of Mark Reeder and he has some pretty good memories. He transplanted himself from Manchester and got to hang out with some pretty cool musicians, managed a few bands and lived a pretty full life in a decadent time. Nick Cave was his room mate, he organised Joy Division's one and only tour of the city, knocked around with Blixa Bargeld of Einstürzende Neubauten and The Bad Seeds fame and generally got to indulge in his favourite pastime of getting around in military attire more or less unnoticed. Bowie & Iggy Pop were there, Christiane F was there, Kraftwork were there and the list goes on and on. This was a city of seething creatives who took no prisoners in their pursuits of Art for arts sake. The doco is heavily stylised and laden with cool music and sights. 
8 Deutsche Marks out of 10.

Bicycle City by Kong Mi-Yeun

cycling in Seoul

 A pretty in depth study into the city of Seoul from the perspective of how it's not a cycling city.
 I wont score it cause I didn't see it all but it was very interesting and went into topics of the high rise living in the city and the design of the motorways. People interviewed were bike frame manufacturers, bike couriers, recreational cyclists etc. Overall it was presenting a very interesting thesis but was taking a long time to make its points. However unlike the other three docos this was the only one that wasn't a personal retelling of a story, it let its people tell the story rather than the filmmaker narrating the events. A nice point of difference but not perfect at all.

The festival also has a DMZ Documentary Fund and I spent an afternoon watching the hopefuls pitching their projects. These come from not only Korea but also from greater Asia. Each filmmaker received post pitch feedback from the selection panel  and some pretty interesting projects were presented. The lucky ones will make up part of the program next year. It's a great initiative and also ensures plenty of fresh and vibrant films for the festival.

Documentary is an emerging sector of the South Korean Film Industry and festivals like this one are ensuring that it will continue to grow and strengthen. I only wish I had the time to fully immerse into this years program and get more of the gold. Maybe next year?