Lee Hyuk-rae

This intimate documentary explores a bygone era of cinematic passion and the emergence of young film enthusiasts in South Korea, including Bong Joon Ho.

Dae-Han News was the name of a propaganda film series made by the Korean government press from 1952 to 1994. During this time, Dae-Han News produced one film clip per week. Long Live His Majesty is a sampling of the Dae-Han News series. Long Live his Majesty is about the dictator RHEE Syngman who was the first president of South Korea. He appears in this documentary as a man whose every day is a birthday.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, girls aged 12 to 16 began working at Pyeonghwa Market. Running sewing machines, they also study the Labor Standards Act under the tutelage of Jeon Taeil. On September 9, 1977, they were imprisoned fighting against the government that closed labor classes, shouting, “The next Jeon Taeil will be a woman!” Now the middle-aged girls recall the memories of the life of female workers, social contempt, and stigma. Watching the sunrise in the East Sea, they admire, ‘How fair it is because everybody can see it.’ Sewing Sisters rewrites the history of maledominated Korean labor struggles in the 1970s with news interviews of female workers belonging to the Cheonggye Clothes Union.