# DMZ International Documentary Film Festival

DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (Korean: DMZ국제다큐멘터리영화제), also known as DMZ Docs, is a South Korean film festival for documentary films jointly presented by Gyeonggi Province, Paju and Goyang. Launched in 2009, it is held annually for seven days in September/October less than twenty kilometers from the Korean Demilitarized Zone, and showcases films dealing with "peace, coexistence and reconciliation".

## History

* 1st DMZ Docs, October 21-26, 2009
    Films screened: 61 films from 33 countries
    Opening film: The Heart of Jenin, Lior Geller and Marcus Vetter, Germany
    Closing film:
* 2nd DMZ Docs, September 9-13, 2010
    Films screened: 74 films from 35 countries
    Opening film: Peace, Kazuhiro Soda, Japan
    Closing film:
* 3rd DMZ Docs, September 22-28, 2011
    Films screened: 101 films from 30 countries
    Opening film: After the Apocalypse, Antony Butts, Britain
    Closing film: The Tiniest Place, Tatiana Huezo, Mexico
* 4th DMZ Docs, September 21-27, 2012
    Films screened: 115 films from 36 countries
    Opening film: Ping Pong, Hugh Hartford, Canada
    Closing film:
* 5th DMZ Docs, October 17-23, 2013
    Films screened: 119 films from 38 countries
    Opening film: Manshin: Ten Thousand Spirits, Park Chan-kyong, South Korea
    Closing film:
* 6th DMZ Docs, September 17-24, 2014
    Films screened: 163 films from 33 countries
    Opening film: Crying Boxers, E Il-ha, South Korea
    Closing film:
* 7th DMZ Docs, September 17-24, 2015
    Films screened: 102 films from 43 countries
    Opening film: I Am Sun Mu, Adam Sjöberg, United States
    Closing film:
* 8th DMZ Docs, September 22-29, 2016
    Films screened: 116 films from 36 countries
    Opening film: One Warm Spring Day, Chung Su-eun, South Korea
    Closing film:
* 9th DMZ Docs, September 21-27, 2017
    Films screened: 114 films from 42 countries
    Opening film: Old Marine Boy, Jin Mo-young, South Korea
    Closing film:
* 10th DMZ Docs, September 13-20, 2018
    Films screened: 142 films from 39 countries
    Opening film: Coming to You, Minu, Jee Hye-won, South Korea
    Closing film:
* 11th DMZ Docs, September 20-27, 2019
    Films screened: 151 films from 46 countries
    Opening film: Across the Desert, Through the Lake Let's Peace!, Park So-hyun, South Korea
    Closing film:
* 12th DMZ Docs, September 17-24, 2020
    Films screened: 122 films from 33 countries
    Opening film: A Long Way to School, Kim Jeong-in, South Korea
    Closing film:
* 13th DMZ Docs, September 9-16, 2021
    Films screened: 126 documentaries from 39 countries
    Opening film: Soup and Ideology, Yang Young-hee, South Korea
    Closing film:
* 14th DMZ Docs, September 22-29, 2022
    Films screened: 137 documentaries from 53 countries
    Opening film: Keep Stepping, Luke Cornish
    Grand Prize: Disturbed Earth
* 15th DMZ Docs, September 14-21, 2023
    Films screened: 148 documentaries from 54 countries
    Opening film: The Eternal Memory, Chile
    Grand Prize: Obscure Night – Goodbye Here, Anywhere by Sylvain George
* 16th DMZ Docs, September 26- October 2, 2024
    Films screened: 140 documentaries from 43 countries
    Opening film: Farming the Revolution, by Nishtha Jain, India, France, Norway
    Closing film: Filmlovers! by Arnaud Desplechin
    Grand Prize: In Limbo by Alina Maksimenko

## Awards

* International Competition: White Goose Award (cash prize of ₩15 million); Special Jury Award (₩7 million)
* Korean Competition: Best Korean Documentary Award (₩10 million); Special Jury Award (₩5 million)
* Audience Award (₩3 million)
* Youth Competition: Best Youth Documentary Award (₩1 million); Excellence Award (₩500,000)

### White Goose Award

| Year | Title | Director | Country |
| 2009 | Defamation | Yoav Shamir | |
| 2010 | | | |
| 2011 | The Tiniest Place | Tatiana Huezo | Mexico |
| 2012 | With or Without Me | Tran Phuong Thao, Swann Dubus | Vietnam |
| 2013 | | | |
| 2014 | | | |
| 2015 | Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) | Abbas Fahdel | Iraq |
| 2016 | Those Who Jump | Abou Bakar Sidibe, Moritz Siebert, Estephan Wagner | Denmark |
| 2017 | Communion service | Anna Jametska | Poland |
| 2019 | 143 Sahara Street | Hassen Ferhani | Algeria, France, Qatar |
| 2020 | King Asu | Alyx Ain Arumpak | Philippines, France |
| 2021 | Soup and Ideology | Yang Young-hee | Korean-Japanese |
| 2022 | Disturbed Earth | Kumjana Novakova and Guillermo Carreras-Candi | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, North Macedonia |
| 2023 | Obscure Night – Goodbye Here, Anywhere | Sylvain George | France, Switzerland |
| 2024 | In Limbo | Alina Maksimenko | Poland |

### Special Jury Award

| Year | Title | Director | Country |
| 2009 | Sweet Crude | Sandy Cioffi | USA |
| 2010 | | | |
| 2011 | Bombay Beach | Alma Har'el | USA |
| 2012 | | | |
| 2013 | | | |
| 2014 | | | |
| 2015 | | | |
| 2016 | When Two Worlds Collide | Heidi Brandenburg, Mathew Orzel | Peru, United States, United Kingdom |
| 2017 | Wash Show | Andrea Dalsgard, Obaida Zaytun | Denmark, Finland, Syrian Arab Republic |
| 2020 | I Am a Journalist | Mori Tatsuya | Japan |
| 2021 | President | Camille Nielsson | Denmark |
| 2022 | We, Students! | Rafiki Fariala | Central African Republic, France, Democratic Republic of Congo, Saudi Arabia |

### Best Korean Documentary

| Year | Title | Director |
| 2009 | | |
| 2010 | | |
| 2011 | My Father's House | Kang Yu Ga-ram |
| 2012 | Summer Days in Bloom | Go U-jung, Roh Eun-ji |
| 2013 | | |
| 2014 | | |
| 2015 | | |
| 2016 | The Remnants | Kim Il-rhan, Lee Hyuk-sang |
| 2017 | Forgetting and Memory 2: Looking Back | 4.16 Solidarity Media Committee |
| 2020 | People Who Don't Carry Guns 2: Challenge the Taboo | Hwan-Tae Kim |
| 2021 | Boundary: Flaming Feminist Action | Yoon Ga-hyun |
| 2022 | Time of Seeds | Seol Suan |

### Audience Award

| Year | Title | Director | Country |
| 2009 | | | |
| 2010 | | | |
| 2011 | Goodbye Homerun | Lee Jung-ho | South Korea |
| 2012 | Turn It Up to Eleven 2: Wild Days | Baek Seung-hwa | South Korea |
| 2013 | | | |
| 2014 | My Love, Don't Cross That River | Jin Mo-young | South Korea |
| 2015 | | | |
| 2016 | The Remnants | Kim Il-rhan, Lee Hyuk-sang | South Korea |
| 2017 | Rice Flower | Oh Jeong-hoon | South Korea |
| 2021 | A fairy tale in its prime | Won Ho-yeon | South Korea |
| 2022 | I am More | Lee Ilha | South Korea |

### Best Youth Documentary

| Year | Title | Director | Country |
| 2009 | | | |
| 2010 | | | |
| 2011 | Uncomfortable Eyes, Uncomfortable Truth | You Seok-hyun, Park Ka-young | South Korea |
| 2012 | Less Than 1% | Ha Seo-young | South Korea |
| 2013 | | | |
| 2014 | | | |
| 2015 | | | |
| 2016 | Between 9 and 0 | Kim Su-min | South Korea |
| 2017 | Step by Step | Heo Na-kyung | South Korea |

### Excellence Award in Youth Competition

| Year | Title | Director | Country |
| 2009 | | | |
| 2010 | | | |
| 2011 | High School Student's Guide to Be a Filmmaker | Kim Seul-gi | South Korea |
| 2012 | I Want to Be a Nineteen | Yu Min-ah, Jung Min-su, Kim Su-min, Kim Seul-gi | South Korea |
| 2013 | | | |
| 2014 | | | |
| 2015 | | | |
| 2016 | We Can Call It Love | Min Geo | South Korea |
| 2017 | Friends | Minseo Kim, Namjoo Kim, Seongjae Lee | South Korea |