Japari Film is the name under which the collective of creators Japari Laboratory conducts its film production business. It was established by film director O Muel in 2004 with the aim to “carry out enjoyable experiments in search of meaning in the useless-looking things of the world”. Based in Jeju Island – its name means “joke” in Jeju dialect – it has been producing plays and independent films that are ingrained with the peculiar culture of the region. Japari�...More

Japari Film is the name under which the collective of creators Japari Laboratory conducts its film production business. It was established by film director O Muel in 2004 with the aim to “carry out enjoyable experiments in search of meaning in the useless-looking things of the world”. Based in Jeju Island – its name means “joke” in Jeju dialect – it has been producing plays and independent films that are ingrained with the peculiar culture of the region. Japari’s most notable work is the historical drama film <Jiseul> (2012). Directed by O Muel himself, the film tells the real-life story of a group of villagers who spent two months in a secret cave to avoid the massacre of “suspected communists” by Korean soldiers and police following 1948’s Jeju Uprising. This dark episode of Korean history was actively covered until the 1990s and remains controversial even today, which explains why part of the budget of the film had to be raised through a crowdfunding campaign.Less