Writer/Director YI OK-SEOP - "Maggie" Writer EOM YU-NA - "A Taxi Driver" Writer/Director KIM BORA - "House of Hummingbird"

Female Korean Filmmakers to Check Out

Student protesters in Gwangju, South Korea, lean out of a bus during a pro-democracy demonstration on May 18, 1980
"A Taxi Driver" (2017) was written by screenwriter Eom Yu-na (who's also a director but didn't direct this particular film). It's based on the true story of the German journalist Jurgen Hinzpeter, who broke the story to the western media of the 1980 Gwangju uprising, and the taxi driver, Kim Sa-bok, who drove him all the way from Seoul to Gwangju and back. (The Gwangju Uprising was of the most important paradigm-shifting moments in recent South Korean history as the country continually fought toward building a democratic society and is a cited source of inspiration today by such pro-democracy activists as Hong Kong's Joshua Wong. As the taxi driver, you'll recognize actor Song Kang-ho (in a giggle-inducing departure from his usual on-screen intensity and seriousness). This film won three awards at the 2017 Blue Dragon Film Awards: