Synopsis

After going through the 1948 Hanshin Educational Struggle, over 540 Korean Schools in Japan started taking their place as ethnic Korean Schools. However, the numbers of Korean Schools in Japan declined sharply due to the constant oppression of the Japanese right-wing government. The Japanese government still refuses to recognize Korean Schools as formal educational institutions. Korean Schools continue to instill 4th and 5th generation Korean-Japanese of their ethnic identity and help the students build dreams just like other schools. Crying Boxers focuses on the daily lives and intimate stories of students attending Tokyo Joseon Middle and High School. It’s also a coming-of-age story of the students Yu-sam and Won-ho who are in the Boxing Club and their coach Sang-su. The scenes are shot in a diary format about their training and competition schedule without any particular special effects. The reason why this movie allures the audience is because we come face to face with our modern history; especially, when the students talk about realizing their dreams in their interviews. It also portrays the contemporary political and social dilemma Korea and Japan are currently dealing with – the historical ‘reality’ to be exact. We need to answer the following questions; how did our modern history betray the immigrants from other countries to maintain its ideology and ruling power? Are we going to reinstate the rights of these powerless caught between two identities? Crying Boxers, the documentary that was funded by DMZ Project Market’s up-and-coming documentary, asks the audience these questions. (JEON Sung-Kwon)

Director

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  E Il-ha
  

  Born in Korea, E Il-ha moved to Japan in 2000 and was in the course of a Bachelor at Tama Art University, a Master at the graduate school of Nihon University, and a Doctorate of the documentary major at the graduate school of Osaka University of Arts. He was taught by Kazuo Hara, the director of The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1986) and Extreme Private Eros : Love Song 1974 (1974).
  
  Crying Boxer (2014)
  Goldfish, and Razor (2010)
  Road mentary (2008)
  Latte Index (2006)
  Your March (2003)