HONG Hyung-sook hails from Seoul Visual Collective, a group of progressive filmmakers that was formed in the 1980s. She specializes in documentary films by exploring macroscopic issues in a microscopic manner. She gained fame with <Doomealee, a New School is Opening>(1995), a documentary about people who wanted to keep a school stay open, as many rural schools were closing down due to a drop in school-aged population in the areas, and received critical acclaim with <...More

HONG Hyung-sook hails from Seoul Visual Collective, a group of progressive filmmakers that was formed in the 1980s. She specializes in documentary films by exploring macroscopic issues in a microscopic manner. She gained fame with <Doomealee, a New School is Opening>(1995), a documentary about people who wanted to keep a school stay open, as many rural schools were closing down due to a drop in school-aged population in the areas, and received critical acclaim with <Reclaiming Our Names>(1998), a story of a Korean Japanese boy anguishing over his ethnic identity. Her best works are <The Border City>(2002) and <The Border City>(2009), documentaries about Professor Song Du-yul, who had been denied entry to Korea for many years on account of alleged anti-government activities. The first installment dealt with the ghost of Korea’s National Security Act and the “red complex” even after its democratization and the second installment reflects on the division and infighting within the progressive camp after Song returns to Korea. Through these works, HONG shows a directorial approach faithful to the documentary genre with her long observation of the subject and a keen eye on history. Less