Photo:
Horoomon
“Horoomon”—grilled offal once discarded, now considered a delicacy—becomes a powerful metaphor in Lee Il-ha’s resonant portrait of Zainichi Korean identity. At the film’s center is Shin Sugok, a third-generation Korean Japanese entrepreneur whose life is upended after a Tokyo mayor’s xenophobic, defamatory remarks on Japanese television awaken her activist instincts. Charting a legacy of resilience passed down from Shin’s grandmother and mother, this monumental documentary becomes a protest in motion—a layered, unflinching reflection on “strategic racism,” erasure, and solidarity. With stunning historical images and powerful contemporary footage, Lee (Counters, NYAFF 2017; I Am More, NYAFF 2022) traces Shin’s courageous campaign for justice and for freedom from discrimination, and the cultural bridge-building crusade that she continues to wage.