Film : A Taxi Driver, 2017 (138 min.), Korea

FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Directed by Jan Hoon (Korea)
Gwangju, Korea is a historic center of struggle for the Korean people and this powerful dramatic film shows the story of the May 1980 Gwangju people’s rebellion against the repressive dictator Chun Doo-hwan. His military government is portrayed through the eyes of the students and taxi drivers in the city under assault, the story based on actual events of that struggle. A German journalist, Jürgen “Peter” Hinzpeter, wants to get the story out and ends up with a Seoul taxi driver named Kim Man-seob (Song Kang-ho) who really isn’t aware of what is going on there. They start off from Seoul and have to get into the city where the military have locked it down and are massacring protesting civilians. The role of the taxi workers in supporting the people of Gwangju is a powerful story and the role of Korean troops was in fact allowed by the US, which still controls troop movements in the country of Korea.

K.J. Noh, Flaspoint’s Asia-Pacific Correspondent will introduce the film and moderate discussion after the film.