돌들이 말할 때까지

On the shores of Jeju Island, a fierce group of South Korean divers fight to save their vanishing culture from looming threats.

Jeju-do is the largest of Korean islands and lies between Korea and Japan. There, for hundreds of years, women dive without breathing apparatus, to the ocean floor and collect shellfish, octopus, and urchins that they sell. The divers are in their sixties and seventies and their daughters do not want to inherit their work, lifestyle, and health problems that go with diving. As a filmmaker I was privileged to meet many of these women and dive with them. Their stories of hardship and pride confirmed my desire to record this unique and ancient tradition.

In the turmoil of the Jeju 4.3 incident, Jeju Island witnessed the loss of an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 lives, with women constituting a significant yet often unrecognized proportion of the victims. This documentary illuminates the once-shrouded experiences of these women, led by a dedicated Jeju 4.3 researcher.

Confronting half of her mother’s life—her mother who had survived the Jeju April 3 Incident—the director tries to scoop out disappearing memories. A tale of family, which carries on from Dear Pyongyang, carving out the cruelty of history, and questioning the precarious existence of the nation-state.

According to a survey by the U.S. military government in 1946, 78% of the South Korean people wanted socialism and only 14% capitalism. By appointing the pro-Japanese collaborators and the rightists, Rhee Syngman, who had not received the people's support, massacred those groups and civilians that were political stumbling blocks. In dealing with the Jeju 4.3 uprising in 1947 and the Yeosun incident in 1948 and The Korean War having broken out, massive civilian massacre became regularized.

Seven months pregnant and apprehensive of the effect motherhood would have on her career as a professional freediver, Kimi Werner took a trip to the island of Jeju in South Korea to meet her heroes, the haenyeo – a group of freediving and fishing women often regarded as Korea’s first working mother’s whose culture dates back centuries.

Documentary about the struggle of the people of Jeju Island, South Korea. Set in the context of the U.S. presence in Korea after World War II, the film reveals horrible atrocities at the hands of the U.S. Military Government of Korea.

In Jeju Province, located off the southern coast of Korea, are the women of the sea, those who hold breath for life. These women still exist and they still dive the old way, without tanks. They go into the waters of 10- to 20-meter depth to harvest seaweed and shellfish to make a living. They make a living in the same sea, but each haenyeo’s sea of life is different. The community is divided into three tiers- Group A, B and C, based on skills and capabilities. One’s rank is determined by sum or breath. Sum, is pre-determined at birth. Therefore, sum is desired. However, the ocean is harsh. May you desire! But seek what is not yours, the ocean will devour you. Life, for these women of the sea, is about holding one’s breath, and containing and controlling one’s desire. The film is a six year record of the lives of the haenyeos in Udo, an islet in the province of Jeju, known to be the birthplace of haenyeo. It is a close look into the lives that stand on the boundary of life and death.

The oral writer of the April 3 Uprising and a Rwandan who came to Korea to study face each other, have a conversation, and then go on a trip hand in hand. The two people, from different generations, nationalities, and occupations, have something in common: they are the daughters of massacre survivors.

Gangjeong Village, located at the southernmost part of Jeju Island's Seogwipo City, is in the true sense a 'breathtaking land of water.' In this film, eight directors independently yet collaboratively orchestrate a clever and humorous "mission" at this place where the groundwork for building a naval military base is in progress.