Movies Similar to The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol

K-Family Affairs(2025)

In her first feature-length documentary, filmmaker Nam Arum turns her camera on her parents, two members of South Korea’s 386 Generation. The political activism of this generation came to a head in June 1987 with major protests that forced the authoritarian government to hold universal suffrage elections and implement key democratic reforms. Over 35 years later, the filmmaker reflects on the state of this democracy through a warm-hearted family portrait set against the backdrop of the country’s recent history. Using a personal and intimate cinematic style, Arum examines her father's adherence to conventionality as a high-ranking civil servant and her mother's fervent enthusiasm as a feminist activist. In the midst of these two contrasting dynamics, Arum seeks to discover her own role and how she can contribute to social change.

The Talent Show(2023)

Middle-aged women start acting and launch a drama club. However, nothing big or small goes right. But they never give up the play.

Shadow Flowers(2021)

Ryun-hee Kim, a North Korean housewife, was forced to come to South Korea and became its citizen against her will. As her seven years of struggle to go back to her family in North Korea continues, the political absurdity hinders her journey back to her loved ones. The life of her family in the North goes on in emptiness, and she fears that she might become someone, like a shadow, who exists only in the fading memory of her family.​

The Last of the Sea Women(2024)

On the shores of Jeju Island, a fierce group of South Korean divers fight to save their vanishing culture from looming threats.

Ghost Ship(2020)

A thousand lies to conceal the truth of the Sewol Ferry. As many as 1,000 ships, 160,000 AIS data, were manipulated to hide the truth behind the sinking of the Sewol Ferry on April 16, 2014. Who are the organizers of this and why did they build a ghost ship! We must ask persistent questions. Since that day, nothing has been revealed yet. Government AIS data of a thousand lies. Now it is time for the Korean prosecution to answer.

After Diving Bell(2018)

A documentary that reports on the the rescue failure of the Sewol incident. In the days of media control, Park Geun-hye and her government sabotaged the screening of "Diving Bell" at the Busan International Film Festival.

Intention(2018)

A documentary that scientifically analyses and tracks down the route of the Sewol Ferry that sank on the 16th of April in 2014 using its AIS to discover the cause of the unconfirmed sinking.

In the Absence(2018)

When the MV Sewol ferry sank off the coast of South Korea in 2014, over three hundred people lost their lives, most of them schoolchildren. Years later, the victims’ families and survivors are still demanding justice from national authorities.

Korea: The Never-Ending War(2019)

Shedding new light on a geopolitical hot spot, the film — written and produced by John Maggio and narrated by Korean-American actor John Cho — confronts the myth of the “Forgotten War,” documenting the post-1953 conflict and global consequences.

Two Doors(2012)

The documentary Two Doors traces the Yongsan Tragedy of 2009, which took the lives of five evictees and one police SWAT unit member. Left with no choice but to climb up a steel watchtower in an appeal to the right to live, the evictees were able to come down to the ground a mere 25 hours after they had started to build the watchtower, as cold corpses. And the surviving evictees became lawbreakers. The announcement of the Public Prosecutors’ Office that the cause of the tragedy lay in the illegal and violent demonstration by the evictees, who had climbed up the watchtower with fire bombs, clashed with voices of criticism that an excessive crackdown by government power had turned a crackdown operation into a tragedy.

Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror(2022)

Anonymous and exploitative, a network of online chat rooms ran rampant with sex crimes. The hunt to take down its operators required guts and tenacity.

Cruel State(2015)

In April 2014, the entire nation of South Korea watched on television live as The Sewol capsized off the coast of Jindo. The tragedy left life-long wounds in the hearts of people whose family and friends had been among the 304 passengers killed. The majority of the victims were high school students on a school trip. Their parents were not even given the luxury of grieving, as they had to camp out in front of the Parliament, City Hall and the Presidential House, asking for only one thing - to know the truth about why their children had been left to die. But after more than a year, that truth has yet to be brought to light. This film is a documentation of the year-long struggle and painful soul-searching of people destined to be labelled as 'bereaved families' for the rest of their lives, as they come face to face with the naked face of their cruel country.

King of Clones(2023)

From groundbreaking human cloning research to a scandalous downfall, this documentary tells the captivating story of Korea's most notorious scientist.

Propaganda(2013)

An anti-western propaganda film about the influences of American visual and consumption culture on the rest of the world, as told from a North Korean perspective.

Non Fiction Diary(2014)

What happened in Korean society in the 1990s? The film starts with the Jijon-pa (Supreme Gangsters) case. The shocking story is narrated through the discussion by the two detectives who arrested the gangsters, of details of the roundup, data screens, and the death sentence. Nevertheless, Nonfiction Diary’s focus is not on the crime story. Starting from Jijon-pa onwards, the film reflects on the 1990s, when Korea digressed into contemporary history. The Seongsu Bridge and the Sampoong Department Store’s collapses are recalled, followed by the then-government’s punishment of the May 18 Uprising leaders, revealing the Korean legal system’s death penalty status, touching on political and power issues. The audience is reminded that today, 2013, is an extension of that same flow.

Jalpi(2023)

Reset(2025)

On April 16th, 2014, the Sewol Ferry sank in South Korea, taking with it the lives of 304 of its 476 passengers. South Korea's worst maritime disaster traumatized a nation while simultaneously sinking the country's emotional spirit. The film asks why the rescue of Korea's children and people was neglected on the fateful day the Sewol sank.

State of Play(2013)

A feature documentary about the world of South-Korean professional gamers. Every year thousands of South-Koreans flock to the game stadiums in Seoul to watch the Pro League, a live sports event where professional gamers compete to be the best at one single video game: Starcraft. It’s a title many young South Koreans dream of. The game itself is more than a decade old, almost ancient in the fast developing world of video games, but in South Korea it has become a national past-time. Like most specator sports, this world of eSports rapidly evolved in a multi-million dollar business. In this story, we follow 3 boys in different stages of their career as a Pro-Gamer in South Korea. For some it will be a struggle to stay on top of their game, for others it might be the turning point of their lives

Mis-President(2017)

My father led a coup in 1961. Two years later, I became the president's daughter.

Open Shutters(2021)

While reporting on the rise of spy cam porn in South Korea, a crime that affects thousands each year, a journalist discovers that she too is being watched in her own home. She decides to speak out, joining a nationwide movement of women seeking protection from this frighteningly ubiquitous crime.