Four years ago, life in South Korea came to a standstill as the country’s citizens were collectively glued to their TV sets, watching in horror as a disaster sent shockwaves throughout the nation. The MV Sewol, a ferry traveling from Incheon to Jeju Island carrying 476 people, capsized near the Southwestern tip of Korea.

While the ship sunk for over an hour during a quiet day at sea, the ship’s captain, one of the first people to be rescued, never issued an order to evacuate. Instead, he urged passengers to remain below, an order that likely sealed their fates. Following a great deal of confusion during the media storm and government rescue operations that followed, 304 civilians perished that day, most of whom were students of the Danwon High School.

Though not the first major accident to rock Korea, the Sewol Ferry Sinking was a painful moment for Koreans as they were forced to watch on helplessly at a crisis that may have been avoided and rescue operation that was widely criticized. Misinformation spread like wildfire, as initial reports claimed that everyone on the boat had been saved but by the time the truth was revealed later in the day, hundreds of souls were drawing their last breaths as botched rescue attempts were being mounted on the nearby shore.

The anger of the day has yet to subside and over the interceding four years, Korea’s culture sectors have become more and bolder in addressing the issue. In the film industry, a number of documentaries on the subject have made their presences felt, while dramatic recreations of the day are now also underway.

Discussions over poor safety regulations in the country were reignited due to Sewol in a country that has experienced several similar incidents over the years. Among the most prominent tragedies to strike Korea in its modern history were the collapse of the Seongsoo Bridge in 1994, which claimed 32 lives, and most notably the collapse of the Sampoong Department Store of 1995, which resulted in the loss of 502 lives when the company owning the building sacrificed safety to a deadly degree in order to cut down on costs.

Beyond the recent films that have directly dealt with the topic of the ferry sinking, several prominent Korean films have also referenced the inadequate responses to disasters in Korea, among them KIM Seong-hun’s rescue drama Tunnel (2016), YEON Sang-ho’s zombies on a train thriller TRAIN TO BUSAN (2016) and PARK Jung-woo’s nuclear plant drama Pandora (2016). In Tunnel, for example, HA Jung-woo plays a man trapped in a tunnel that has collapsed and the rescue operation that was deployed to save him makes mistakes at every turn. KIM Hae-sook also appears in a small role that is eerily reminiscent of former President PARK Geun-hye as a National Assemblywoman that visits the rescue operation and is more concerned with her image than the fate of the man in the tunnel.

Released on April 12, four days before the fourth anniversary of the incident, Intention is a new documentary work jointly helmed by documentarian KIM Ji-young and investigative journalist KIM Ou-joon. Produced over four years and financed through crowd-funding, the film makes a bold claim that the sinking of the Sewol Ferry was a deliberate action by an unknown party. The film assembles a wealth of data to support two hypotheses: first, that the Automatic Identity System (AIS) which plotted the ship’s course was altered; and second, that the cause of the actual sinking was orchestrated. The film was released in Korea on April 12.

The controversial work, which is narrated by popular actor JUNG Woo-sung (Steel Rain, 2017), has been a hit with viewers in Korea, where in 11 days it has already accrued 385,000 admissions (USD 3 million) and is currently sitting in second place on the daily box office chart.

A few years after his internationally acclaimed black and white Jeju Massacre drama Jiseul (2013), O Muel turned his attention to the Sewol crisis with his austere indie drama Eyelids, which debuted in the Korean Cinema Today section of the Busan International Film Festival in 2015, where it earned the CGV Arthouse Award and DGK Award. MUN Seok-bum stars as an old man living an ascetic life on a remote island. As he lives his harsh and quiet life, one day he becomes agitated after hearing news of the Sewol Ferry on the radio. This is the only time the incident is referenced in a film that acts as a requiem for the lives lost on April 16, 2014.

The first film to come out regarding Sewol remains the most controversial and has had a devastating effect on the film industry over the last few years. Directed by investigative journalist LEE Sang-ho and AHN Hae-ryong, The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol debuted at the Busan International Film Festival in 2014. However, it did so by going against the wishes of the local government, which had attempted to block it. The struggle that ensued almost tore apart the festival, which was considered the premier film event in Asia. After several years of restructuring, the festival is only now starting to mend itself from the incident.

The film examines the botched rescue attempts in the days that followed the disasters. LEE Sang-ho went to the site of the sinking immediately after news of its reached his ears, and his film, released just six months after the event, deliberately takes a narrow focus on a large subject. LEE’s film centers around a man’s failed attempts to use his diving bell to rescue passengers of the ship after the government repeatedly prevents him from using it.

The first major dramatic work to tackle the subject of Sewol is currently gearing up for production. The debut film by LEE Jong-eun, formerly an assistant director on Ounie LECOMTE’s A Brand New Life (2009) and LEE Chang-dong’s Poetry (2010), Birthday will reunite SUL Kyung-gu and JEON Do-yeon, who previously appeared on screen together in I Wish I Had a Wife (2001).

Birthday follows a married couple played by SUL and JEON who deal with the aftermath of their child’s death, who perished in the sinking of the Sewol Ferry. The father feels guilt at having been unable to look after his family while the mother supports what remains of her family by working in a grocery store.

The film will be produced by LEE Chang-dong and his brother LEE Joon-dong through their production house PINEHOUSE FILM and is set to be distributed by Next Entertainment World. Production begins this month.

The Sewol has not only drawn the interest of local filmmakers as British filmmakers Matt Root and Neil George explored the aftermath of the disaster in their documentary After The Sewol (2017). Root and George are currently working on making the second part to the documentary that would focus on the so-called ‘Sewol Generation’, the youth generation that came of age around the time of the disaster and may be able to change the direction of the country in the future.