24th New York Asian Film Festival

July 11-27, 2025

International Premiere

Horoomon

호루몽

“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.

Director: Lee Il-ha
Cast: Shin Sugok
Languages: Japanese and Korean with English subtitles
2025; 99 min.; DCP
Countries: South Korea, Japan

SCHEDULE:
Lee Il-ha
이일하

Lee Il-ha was born in Korea and has lived in Japan since 2000, working with Japanese and Korean broadcasters such as NHK and MBC. His first feature documentary as director, Crying Boxers, was the opening film of the 2014 DMZ International Documentary Festival. Counters was screened at NYAFF 2017 and I Am More, his third feature, screened at NYAFF 2022.