프로그램 노트

Program Note 

The film addresses the deaths of countless Koreans forcibly relocated to Sakhalin during the Japanese colonial period. It begins with the sound of crashing waves, transitioning into images of the billowing sea. The sea is not merely a natural landscape; it is a space of the diaspora—a place where the countless souls who could not return from Sakhalin and were massacred and buried at sea near Tsushima now linger. In this diasporic space, the dream of return was thwarted by colonial power, and lives were ultimately lost at sea. Here, diaspora is not movement, but the time of those who finally failed to arrive and aimless lingering. The sea is a place where the questions left behind by these deceased stay; according to the expression in the film, it is a record of and a response to “Sheol.” The film moves along the sea and floats in the sea as if caressing the journey of the inaudible and invisible deceased.

The film connects “I” within the sea and death. “A young soldier in uniform, a pastor crying out from a podium, and a recluse who chose the life of an ideological loyalist. [···]  These three were brothers and cousins, and I am their descendant.” This approach differs significantly from summoning an era through one's own story; instead, it places the grand flow of history at the forefront and subtly attaches a personal history to its edges. It is an associative and emotional connection rather than a causal or inevitable one. This is ultimately confirmed by the short, concise voice heard alongside the film's ending credits. (LEE Seungmin)​