Dream House by the Border (Gyeonggyeeseo-Kkumkkuneun-Jip)

Korea/France 2013, 89 min, English subtitles

The director, who herself comes from a family near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South, explores an issue largely forgotten between the Korean War and current tensions: In the 1960s, North Korean refugees were settled here in houses provided by the Park Chung-hee dictatorship for propaganda purposes. For decades now, they have lived along the line of confrontation. The most personal border zone runs through their houses, where individual history and collective memory meet.

Kim Lyang (*1972) has explored politically sensitive territory around the world since 2010 in the project “Light Up Zone”. While her “Dream House by the Border” (2013) dealt with the border between North and South Korea, her short film “Dragonfly Visits the Island” (2012) showed the island of Yeonpyeong, which was bombarded by the North Korean army in 2010.