Overall Review of DMZ Docs Fund
It is a great privilege to meet the works of Asian documentarists, especially when they are still in the earlier stage of the production. We watched them holding their cameras to document, intervene, and represent the reality, and we acknowledged their full awareness on the political issues and historical responsibility in Asia, as well as the delicate views on the human existence.
Among the many works of Asian countries, Korean documentaries seemed to have the most diverse themes and forms along with the fresh approaches to the topics, showing many different possibilities that documentaries could have. The documentaries of other Asian countries have ‘courage’ to speak out important political remarks with risks and ‘subtlety’ to care about the people in marginal situations. They are the works that help people to exist in the world although they are ignored by society.
We had a long discussion and experienced a hard time once again to select the works that we want to support. We exchanged views on many aspects of production preparation, feasibility, artistic value, social meaning, and communication, and made a difficult decision.
We want to convey our excitement to the directors of selected films, how thrilled we are to meet them at the next DMZ Docs. And we also would like to give the message of encouragement to the directors who are not selected.
Finally, I hope that the DMZ Docs Fund will continue to contribute to the development of Asian documentaries and become a substantial network of Asian directors.
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Feature-length Documentary Projects
| No | Title | Director | Nationality | Amount of Grant(KRW) |
| 1 | The Birth of Resonance | LEE Jeongjun | Korean | 30,000,000 |
| 2 | Burning Flower | WON Ho-yeon | Korean | 20,000,000 |
| 3 | A Cellist Coming to Earth | PARK Hyuckjee | Korean | 20,000,000 |
| 4 | A Long Way Gone | KIM Jung-in | Korean | 20,000,000 |
| 5 | Kabul Dystopian Symphony | Aboozar AMINI | Afgan | 30,000,000 |
| 6 | Death and Song in the Time of Digong | Ditsi CAROLINO | Filipino | 20,000,000 |
| 7 | A Man Without a Country | Debanjan SENGUPTA | Indian | 20,000,000 |
| 8 | The Secret Ancestral Village | Torsha BANERJEE | Indian | 20,000,000 |
| 9 | Smog Director | HAN Meng, Vincent DU | Chinese | 20,000,000 |
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DMZ Documentary Project
| No | Title | Director | Nationality | Amount of Grant(KRW) |
| 1 | Let’s Peace | PARK Sohyun | Korean | 20,000,000 |
| 2 | Mother, Youngsoon | LEE Chang Jun | Korean | 20,000,000 |
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New Directors Documentary Project
| No | Title | Director | Nationality | Amount of Grant(KRW) |
| 1 | Boy’s Room | KIM Jayang | Korean | 10,000,000 |
| 2 | A Cucumberphobic’s Radical Will | LEE Byungki | Korean | 10,000,000 |
| 3 | UNKNOWN | LEE Somyi | Korean | 10,000,000 |
| 4 | House in Pieces | Jean Claire DY, Manuel Domes |
Filipino/German | 10,000,000 |
| 5 | LEFT-Where I am- | HAYASHI Ryuta | Japanese | 10,000,000 |
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RCCZ(Reconciliation and Coexistence in Contact Zones) Awards
| No | Title | Director | Nationality | Amount of Grant(KRW) |
| 1 | Shadow Flowers | YI Seungjun | Korean | 10,000,000 |
| 2 | Let’s Peace | PARK Sohyun | Korean | 10,000,000 |
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Docedge Kolkata Award(Providing attendance of Docedge Kolkata and air ticket )
| No | Title | Director | Nationality | Benefits |
| 1 | UNKNOWN | LEE Somyi | Korean | Providing attendance of Docedge Kolkata and air ticket |
Overall Review of Fund for Release
There were six candidates for the Fund for Release section of DMZ Docs this year. Those documentaries were with various themes and forms, and we had many in-depth discussions during the screening process. We are very grateful for having the opportunity to meet the various works from experimental documentaries to the documentaries containing the pains of our time. We want to convey our gratitude to the staff of the documentaries, as they enriched the experience of the judging process. During the process, we confirmed the recent trends of how documentaries encounter with the audience, discussed the distribution process for documentaries, and exchanged views on the different opportunities and public impacts that can be newly added. We agreed to select <Garden, Zoological> and <Coming to You, Minu>; they are the works with the exceptional quality and cinematic attitude that can communicate with the audiences at the theater. Through this supporting project, we will contemplate with the audience with the hope for more opportunities for the documentary distribution and the expectation to meet the more documentary audience.
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Fund for Release
| No | Title | Director | Nationality | Amount of Grant(KRW) |
| 1 | Garden, Zoological | WANG Minchul | Korean | 20,000,000 |
| 2 | Coming to You, Minu | JI Hyewon | Korean | 20,000,000 |