DMZ Docs unveils International, Frontier Competition selections
The DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (DMZ Docs) has announced the International and Frontier competition lineups for its upcoming 17th edition, presenting works that explore the aftermaths of historical conflict and their broader implications for global communities.
A total of 18 titles were selected from over 600 submissions by the festival's programming committee, which includes chief programmer Jang Byung-won, programmer Kang Jin-seok and film critic Lee Seung-min. Ten films will compete in the International Competition and eight in the Frontier section.
Highlights from the International Competition include "To the West, in Zapata," a black-and-white Cuban documentary that received the Jury Special Award in Visions du Reel's Burning Lights section. "La jetee, the Fifth Shot," which won the Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig, examines Algeria's colonial past through family archives. Romanian-Korean co-production "Bright Future" draws on footage from the 1989 World Festival of Youth and Students in Pyongyang to offer a counter-narrative to Cold War-era spectacle.
Ongoing global conflicts are represented prominently across the selections. "Militantropos" employs direct cinema techniques to examine aspects of the Russia-Ukraine war, while Abbas Fahdel's "Tales of the Wounded Land" documents life in southern Lebanon in the wake of the Israel-Lebanon conflict.
The Frontier section showcases formally inventive works that expand the documentary form. Kamal Aljafari's "With Hasan in Gaza" reconstructs footage from 2001 to recover images of people and places now lost in Gaza. "Ancestral Visions of the Future" blends personal narration and poetic imagery to reflect on the filmmaker's own exile from Lesotho during civil unrest. In "New Beginnings," director Billy Luther follows a Vietnam War veteran on California's Native American reservation, exploring the intersection of ecological degradation and intergenerational trauma.
Launched in 2009, DMZ Docs has grown into one of Korea's leading documentary festivals. It introduced its current competition format — comprising International, Korean and Frontier sections — in 2023 as part of a broader programming overhaul.
The International and Frontier categories will award a combined 45 million won ($32,000) in prizes, including 20 million won for the International Competition Grand Prize, 10 million won for the Jury Special Award and 15 million won for the Frontier Competition Grand Prize.
The 2025 edition of DMZ Docs will take place Sept. 11-17 in Paju and Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Its industry program, DMZ Industry, will run Sept. 12-16 as a co-production and project development platform.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
22-07-2025
- Korea Herald
DMZ Docs unveils International, Frontier Competition selections
Festival selects 18 titles from over 600 submissions, with 45 million won in total prizes The DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (DMZ Docs) has announced the International and Frontier competition lineups for its upcoming 17th edition, presenting works that explore the aftermaths of historical conflict and their broader implications for global communities. A total of 18 titles were selected from over 600 submissions by the festival's programming committee, which includes chief programmer Jang Byung-won, programmer Kang Jin-seok and film critic Lee Seung-min. Ten films will compete in the International Competition and eight in the Frontier section. Highlights from the International Competition include "To the West, in Zapata," a black-and-white Cuban documentary that received the Jury Special Award in Visions du Reel's Burning Lights section. "La jetee, the Fifth Shot," which won the Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig, examines Algeria's colonial past through family archives. Romanian-Korean co-production "Bright Future" draws on footage from the 1989 World Festival of Youth and Students in Pyongyang to offer a counter-narrative to Cold War-era spectacle. Ongoing global conflicts are represented prominently across the selections. "Militantropos" employs direct cinema techniques to examine aspects of the Russia-Ukraine war, while Abbas Fahdel's "Tales of the Wounded Land" documents life in southern Lebanon in the wake of the Israel-Lebanon conflict. The Frontier section showcases formally inventive works that expand the documentary form. Kamal Aljafari's "With Hasan in Gaza" reconstructs footage from 2001 to recover images of people and places now lost in Gaza. "Ancestral Visions of the Future" blends personal narration and poetic imagery to reflect on the filmmaker's own exile from Lesotho during civil unrest. In "New Beginnings," director Billy Luther follows a Vietnam War veteran on California's Native American reservation, exploring the intersection of ecological degradation and intergenerational trauma. Launched in 2009, DMZ Docs has grown into one of Korea's leading documentary festivals. It introduced its current competition format — comprising International, Korean and Frontier sections — in 2023 as part of a broader programming overhaul. The International and Frontier categories will award a combined 45 million won ($32,000) in prizes, including 20 million won for the International Competition Grand Prize, 10 million won for the Jury Special Award and 15 million won for the Frontier Competition Grand Prize. The 2025 edition of DMZ Docs will take place Sept. 11-17 in Paju and Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Its industry program, DMZ Industry, will run Sept. 12-16 as a co-production and project development platform.
Korea Herald
14-07-2025
- Korea Herald
Naver Webtoon's 'Wind Breaker' joins growing list of plagiarism cancellations
Popular series removed from platform after tracing allegations, highlighting systemic challenges in South Korea's digital comics market A decadelong franchise came to an abrupt end last week when Naver Webtoon pulled one of its most popular series from the platform after plagiarism allegations were confirmed. "Wind Breaker," a sports webtoon about a high schooler who discovers his passion for competitive cycling, had amassed over 600 million views since its 2013 debut. Created by Jo Yong-seok, the series followed protagonist Jo "Jay" Ja-Hyun as he broke into amateur racing circuits and built friendships through a cycling team. Controversy erupted on June 30 when readers noticed similarities between episode 176 and panels from the Japanese manga "Tokyo Ghoul." Side-by-side comparisons of the illustrations that show nearly identical compositions and character poses spread rapidly online. The artist made changes to the disputed artwork without any public acknowledgment. Throughout early July, users uncovered more instances of apparent copying from various Japanese manga and fan art. Each discovery prompted silent edits to the webtoon, which drew further criticism from fans who saw the unannounced changes as dishonest. On Friday, both Jo and Naver Webtoon issued statements acknowledging the allegations. "Among the reference materials I used during production, some scenes ended up being very similar to — or nearly identical in expression to — those from other works," Jo wrote in Korean. "This is clearly my fault." Jo posted the story's draft ending on his blog before the work was permanently removed from Naver's platform Saturday. A pattern in the industry Tracing represents one of the most blatant forms of plagiarism in the comics industry. It involves copying the exact composition, poses and angles from existing work — often by literally drawing over the original or reproducing it nearly identically. "Wind Breaker" adds to a growing list of webtoons canceled mid-publication over plagiarism. In 2018, veteran artist Kim Sung-mo's "High School Chronicle" was pulled after readers discovered traced panels from Takehiko Inoue's basketball manga "Slam Dunk." The plagiarism problem on the platform extends beyond traced illustrations. "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" was pulled in 2021 after accusations of imitating character designs and layouts from Naoki Urasawa's "Monster" manga and the "Evangelion" anime series. In 2023, "Desperate to Date" faced cancellation over similarities in scripting and panel layouts to the popular manga "Kaguya-sama: Love is War." Following the "Wind Breaker" fallout, a Naver Webtoon official said the platform has enforced stricter internal measures since 2023. The company conducts regular monitoring and provides educational guidelines to creators, the official added. Gray areas Under South Korean copyright law, tracing constitutes an act of reproduction, defined as fixing or recreating work through any method. The reproduction does not need to be identical; substantial similarity is enough to establish infringement. Unauthorized tracing for commercial purposes can violate both reproduction and transmission rights, according to guidelines published by the Culture Ministry. What makes these cases tricky is that plagiarism remains a complaint-based offense in South Korea, as is the case in many other countries. Without the original rights holder pressing charges, these cases rarely become legal matters. This means that platforms can move on after terminating contracts and removing content. Given the absence of legal proceedings, some in the webtoon community have downplayed the gravity of these incidents. In 2021, the artist known as "248," who creates "Iseop's Romance" for Naver Webtoon, posted in the platform's comment section defending colleagues who had faced similar accusations. While acknowledging that tracing was "unethical," the artist argued that the practice should not result in career-ending consequences, particularly given the lack of legal action from original creators. "Comics artists should be more cautious about this issue," said an industry official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We're in an era when viewers are paying to view work, and they have very high awareness about these issues. It's up to the artists to raise the standard."
Korea Herald
11-07-2025
- Korea Herald
Frederick Wiseman's complete works to tour Korea in landmark retrospective
Five-year restoration project brings 45 films to venues across Korea through 2026 The 17th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (DMZ Docs) announced Thursday a complete touring showcase of Frederick Wiseman's 45-film catalog, set to launch this September and continuing through July 2026. The 95-year-old Boston native, often called America's greatest living documentarian, has spent nearly six decades creating what he terms "reality fictions" -- observational studies of American life through the lens of its institutions: schools, hospitals, welfare offices, courts and military bases -- systems of power and control that shape the individual experience. His films range from his controversial debut "Titicut Follies" (1967), an expose of conditions at a state hospital for the criminally insane, to recent works like "City Hall" (2020), which tracks Boston's municipal operations from mayoral meetings to homeless outreach programs. Other highlights include "Welfare" (1978), a sprawling portrait of New York's social services system; "La Danse" (2009), which captures the Paris Opera Ballet in rehearsal and performance; "Ex Libris: The New York Public Library" (2017), exploring the public library's role as both a repository and a community hub; and "A Couple" (2022), an intimate study of Leo Tolstoy and his wife through their correspondence. The retrospective follows an ambitious restoration effort that has made Wiseman's works newly accessible to viewers worldwide. Thirty-three films shot between 1967 and 2006 have been restored in 4K from their original 16mm negatives, a five-year project involving the Library of Congress, Harvard Film Archive, and restoration labs DuArt and Goldcrest Post. Wiseman personally reviewed and approved each restoration. DMZ Docs will screen 20 titles during its Sept. 11–17 run in Goyang and Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The full 45-film program will then move to Seoul Art Cinema and Busan Cinema Center, with selected works touring cinematheques and arthouses across the country — including stops in cities such as Gwangju, Gangneung and Jeonju — through next summer. 'This retrospective offers a comprehensive look at Wiseman's lifelong investigation of how we live together -- how institutions mediate human behavior, and how people shape and are shaped by the systems they inhabit,' said DMZ Docs senior programmer Jang Byung-won. The festival will also host symposiums and screenings featuring scholars, critics and filmmakers from Korea and abroad, alongside the publication of a comprehensive catalog documenting Wiseman's complete body of work.
