Modern Boy

Lee, Yun-bok in his fourth grade lives in a poor family. His father is indulged in gambling, and his mother, who can no longer tolerate the cruelty of her husband, leaves home. Yet, Yun-bok comforts his younger brothers, makes a poor living by shining shoes, and keeps his journal everyday.

Jong-bun, in her eighties, is one of the last surviving 'Comfort Women' victims forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Army during World War II. Back in 1944, at the end of the Japanese occupation in Korea, Jong-bun was a poor but energetic girl while Young-ae was the smart rich clerk's daughter. One day, Jong-bun gets abducted and finds herself on a train for Manchuria. To her surprise, she also finds Young-ae on the train facing the same fate to become a comfort woman. Jong-bun and Young-ae help each other go through the living hell and as the war comes to an end, they finally escape from the comfort women camp, only to face two different paths of life. Decades later, Jong-bun helps out a teenaged girl who is disoriented in life, reminded of her own painful past.

A man wanders around the mountains with a bleeding leg, holding a rifle in his hand. Seemingly a fugitive, he runs from as-yet unknown pursuers, but he also seems to be following somebody who has already walked the same path. As he hides in a secluded cave, past memories sweep through his exhausted mind, memories of lifelong cowardice and evasion. And this recollection leads to a reconstruction of early 20th century Korean history. Winner of Best Picture (Nam-a Pictures Co., Ltd.), Best Actor (Ha Myung-joong), Best Art Direction (Kim Yoo-joon), Best Lighting (Son Young-cheol) at the 14th Grand Bell Awards. (source: Jiro Hong, koreanfilm.org)

An elderly bell maker reminisces about his life filled with tragedy.

In 1909, several years after Korea is forced into becoming a Japanese colony, freedom fighters plot the daring assassination of Japan’s prime minister during their quest for independence.

May, 1980. Man-seob is a taxi driver in Seoul who lives from hand to mouth, raising his young daughter alone. One day, he hears that there is a foreigner who will pay big money for a drive down to Gwangju city. Not knowing that he’s a German journalist with a hidden agenda, Man-seob takes the job.

A rousing tale of the Korean athletes who ran the 1947 Boston International Marathon, the first international marathon held since World War II.

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The sergeant is the shooter, but the lead investigator, a Swiss-Korean woman, receives differing accounts from the two sides.

At the end of 1944, Japanese imperialists stuck to nothing to reverse the war situation as they were defeated in war. They recruited young people by force to use them as student soldiers and drafted workers while they took women to use as comfort women by force. The girl who has lived in a town on the border between Jeon Ra Do and Kyeong Sang Do was kidnapped by armed Japanese army. She was dispatched to a front of the Philippines where she went through miserable pains that weren't understandable not only for as human being but also as women. Her dream was to marry Young-Su of the next door school and to be a good mother who has a son and two daughters.

Claire, a school teacher with a camera is on her first visit to Cannes. She happens upon a film sales assistant, Man-hee, recently laid off after a one-night stand with a film director.

During the Japanese occupation of South Korea, a Japanese bureaucrat is ordered to persuade an influential Korean patriarch into obeying the law of changing his Korean surname to a Japanese one.

Ahn Jung-geun, a commander in the Korean Independence Army, leaves behind his country, his family and his mother Cho Maria. Ahn Jung-geun and his comrades cut off the last segment of their ring fingers as a symbol of their dedication to liberate their nation, and as a solemn oath to kill Ito Hirobumi, a man at the center of Japan’s occupation of Korea, within three years. To keep his oath, Ahn Jung-geun arrives in Vladivostok. Meanwhile, Seol-hee, the independence fighters’ informant, disguises herself to get close to Ito Hirobumi. She finds out that Ito Hirobumi will be heading to Harbin to meet with a Russian delegation, and urgently informs the independence fighters. The fateful day of October 26, 1909 arrives. Ahn Jung-geun, who has been yearning for this day does not hesitate to fire his gun at Ito Hirobumi at Harbin Station. Arrested on site, he is charged with murder and tried not in a court of Joseon but in that of Japan…

During the Japanese colonial era, roughly 400 Korean people, who were forced onto Battleship Island 'Hashima Island' to mine for coal, attempt to escape.

The activities of a group of Korean independence fighters in Mongolia, who try to steal a valuable item from the Japanese Army.

On one gloomy rainy night, a writer encounters an unexpected visit paid by a woman of his past. Seeking solitude from her ex-lover, she finds solace in this gentleman and from that day on, they cherish every inch of each other's body and indulge in ecstasy until her forbidden past is gradually revealed.

Kim Chang-su, who participated in the Donghak Movement, escapes to Manchuria after being chased by the Japanese army, finally making his way home. Angered by the assassination of Empress Myeong-seong, he murders a Japanese lieutenant and is sent to jail. He escapes from prison turns his focus on the democratic movement by teaching civilians and organizing Sinminheo (a democratic organization), even changing his name to 'Kim Gu.' After he is imprisoned again, he gets out on parole and goes to China, where he participates in establishing a provisional government from which he can direct the anti-Japanese struggle. Kim Gu goes on to play a part in Yun Bong-gil's deeds in Shanghai, the events at Hongkou Park, the encounter with Jiang Jish, and the establishment of the Korean National Army, and leads the struggle for Korea's independence with warm fraternal love and clear national spirit. When Korea is liberated in August 15, 1945, he returns back to his native land.

Kwon, a language school instructor, stops by her old workplace and receives a thick envelope addressed to her. A Japanese instructor named Mori had proposed to her two years ago. She turned him down. Mori had immediately gone back to Japan, but now was back in Korea looking for her. The envelope enclosed letters he had written to her during his search through Seoul. After Kwon finishes the first letter in the lobby, she grows faint coming down the staircase and drops the letters. She gathers them off the floor and sees there are no dates on the letters. She now has no way of knowing the order in which they were written.

Based on the life of the Korean anarchist Park Yeol, the film shows his struggle to counter the massacre of Koreans by the government during the 1923 great Kanto earthquake, focusing on his activities as the leader of the anti-Japanese organization Bulryeongsa and his relationship with Japanese comrade Fumiko Kaneko.

In 1930s Korea, a swindler and a young woman pose as a Japanese count and a handmaiden to seduce a Japanese heiress and steal her fortune.

A Christian missionary group is abducted by Islamic rebels. In fear for their lives, the group slowly sees their faith in each other slip away.