October 2025 Long Interview Published
October 2025 Long Interview
Interview with Director Mai Park on 'Voices Resurrected'
We are publishing on note the interviews that could not fit into the monthly schedule papers for the Seventh Art Theater and Theater Seven.
1. Please tell us about the background and thoughts that led to the production of this film.
In 1986, my mother, Park Sunam, directed her first documentary film, 'Another Hiroshima: Arirang Song,' to convey the experiences of Korean atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whom she had been covering for many years. In 1991, she produced 'Arirang Song: Testimony from Okinawa' by uncovering testimonies in South Korea and Okinawa to reveal the reality of Korean 'military employees' and 'comfort women' who were taken to the Battle of Okinawa. The 16mm film shot at that time amounted to 100,000 feet (about 50 hours). 90% of the film remained unreleased and was facing a crisis of becoming impossible to play back due to aging. We started the 'film restoration' project to pass on the experiences of the victims of colonialism and war to the future, which led to the production of this film.
2. What are the highlights of this film?
Why did my mother, Park Sunam, start covering first-generation Zainichi Koreans? I traced my mother's life as if turning over old family albums one by one, and restored the documentary film by going back to the Komatsugawa Incident (1958), which was the starting point of her activities. I have included the process of that daily life itself. The historical testimony footage that has been revived after 40 years is overwhelming. The footage of first-generation Zainichi Koreans taken to Gunkanjima in Nagasaki and the 'Kibachi Dormitory,' where Koreans taken to the Nagasaki Mitsubishi Shipyard were housed, is a must-see. And the voices of people in South Korea and Nagasaki who were interviewed while pursuing the responsibility for historical harm and the victims that have still been left behind... Please watch it on the big screen!
Film Information
'Voices Resurrected' Screening at Seventh Art Theater from Saturday, October 25, 2025
■ Seventh Art Theater Official Website
We look forward to seeing you there.