Ikaino

Directed by Lee Won-sik (이원식)

98min | Release date in South Korea: No release date in Korea yet

Synopsis
Ikaino, located in Ikuno Ward, Osaka, Japan, is a residential area for Koreans in Japan who, partly willingly or involuntarily, crossed the Genkai Strait to Japan in the 1910s. For the past 100 years, they have lived in Ikaino as a marginalized people, unable to belong to either Korea, Japan, or North Korea, having endured the turbulent modern and contemporary history of Japan, including the Japanese colonial period, liberation, the Jeju April 3 Incident, and the Korean War.

Through the stories of first-generation Koreans living as outsiders in this borderland, such as Im Sin-cheol, second-generation Bu Yeong-cheol, fourth-generation Jo Cheong-hyang, and Japanese citizen Ide Kazushi, who lived among Koreans in Japan, this exhibition explores the diaspora space of Ikaino, focusing on their lives and histories. Furthermore, it explores Ikaino's transformation into a new space of multicultural diversity.