Colonialism and Imperialism on Screen

• Release Date: 1972

With the country being occupied by Japanese imperialists, Koppun struggles to earn money to care for her sick mother and visually impaired sister, as her brother is imprisoned and her father is dead.

• Release Date: 1987

The film takes place in a rural village in China's eastern province of Shandong during the Second Sino-Japanese War. All forms of oppression are under critical scrutiny in Red Sorghum: Jiu’er’s father’s patriarchal tyranny, the leprous winery owner’s feudal orders and later on Japan’s Imperialism.

• Release Date: Aug 30, 2007

Set in Hong Kong in 1938 and in Shanghai in 1942, when the city was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army.

• Release Date: Apr 22, 2009

The film deals with the Battle of Nanjing and the following massacre committed by the Japanese army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

• Release Date: Dec 16, 2011

The story is set in Nanking, China, during the 1937 Nanking Massacre in the Second Sino-Japanese War.

• Aired: May 30, 2012

Set in Seoul, Korea, during the 1930s Japanese colonial era, the story follows a man named Lee Kang-to, a Korean police officer commissioned by the Japanese Police to betray his own country and aid the Japanese in the annihilation of the Korean rebellion.

• Aired: Mar 8, 2014

Battle of Changsha tells a story about an ordinary family in Changsha, Hunan Province, China, coping with the Anti-Japanese war between 1938 and 1945, reflecting Chinese people's lives during that ill-fated period.

• Release Date: Oct 1, 2014

Manchurian essayist and novelist Xiao Hong was one of the most radical Chinese female writers of the early 20th century. Through the seismic shift from dynastic imperial rule to a modern state, Hong survives poverty, family chaos, the Japanese invasion in the 1930s, and post-war trauma.

• Release Date: Jun 18, 2015

Set in Gyeongseong in 1938 during the Japanese occupation of Korea.

• Release Date: Jul 22, 2015

In Japanese-occupied Korea, three freedom fighters are assigned a mission to assassinate a genocidal military leader and his top collaborator. But the plan goes completely awry amidst double-crossings, counter-assassinations, and a shocking revelation about one of the assassins’ past.

• Release Date: Feb 24, 2016

The film is set during the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1943, when 14-year-old Jung Min’s ordinary yet happy life shatters when she is taken by Japanese soldiers to a comfort station located in China.

• Release Date: Jun 1, 2016

During 1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, Sook Hee is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to elope with him, rob her of her fortune, and lock her up in a madhouse. The plan seems to proceed according to plan until Sook Hee and Hideko discover some unexpected emotions.

• Release Date: Aug 3, 2016

Under Japanese colonial rule, Princess Deok Hye, the last princess of Korea, is taken to Japan as a hostage, with the era’s harsh conditions, she struggles to maintain the hope of the Korean people. Jang Han is a fighter for Korean independence, his mission is to bring Princess Deok Hye back to Korea.

• Release Date: Apr 13, 2016

The story takes place in 1943, during the Imperial Japanese occupation of Korea. In the film, best friends Jung So Yul and Seo Yeon Hee are two of the last remaining Gisaeng. Although they enjoy pop music, they are committed to singing Jeongga, or classical Korean songs. So Yul's life falls apart when her lover, pop music producer Kim Yoon Woo, falls in love with Yeon Hee and helps her debut as a pop singer. The story follows So Yul's downward spiral as she is consumed by uncontrollable jealousy.

• Release Date: Mar 1, 2017

With the country being occupied by Japanese imperialists, Jong-Boon and Young-Ae are two girls from totally different backgrounds. Jong-Boon  is kidnapped and thrown onto a train where she sees Young-Ae, who volunteered to join a student work group, but was deceived, thinking that if she joined the student work group, she would go to Japan to study. Jong-Boon and Young-Ae are now on the same train, but they don't know where they are headed. Soon, they face the horrific reality of "comfort women."

• Aired: Jul 7, 2018

Unlike most sageuk dramas dealing with the Japanese occupation of Korea, Mr. Sunshine takes place before the Japanese annexation, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has a heavy focus on the Righteous Army and depicts the lives of people who fought for Joseon's freedom.

• Release Date: Sep 17, 2017

A grumpy old woman befriends a young civil servant and learns English from him. She then reveals to him her shocking past.

• Release Date: Feb 27, 2019

17-year-old Yu Gwan-Sun participates in the Korean independence movement. The country is under the rule of Japan, which annexed the country in 1910.

"Even if my fingernails are torn out, my nose and ears are ripped apart, and my legs and arms are crushed, this physical pain does not compare to the pain of losing my nation. My only remorse is not being able to do more than dedicating my life to my country." - Yu Gwan-Sun

• Aired: Mar 25, 2022

Pachinko follows four generations of a Korean family starting from 1915 to 1989. In 1931, Sunja leaves her family, living in Korea under Japanese rule, to move to Osaka, Japan, and start a new life among the Korean minority in the Koreatown there. The series details the living conditions and discrimination of Korean immigrants in Japanese society.

• Aired: Apr 11, 2022

Higa Nobuko lives with her family in Hinabita Village on Okinawa's main island in the 1960s, when the island was still under the American troops occupation.

• Aired: Aug 4, 2023

The series is set during the Qing invasion of Joseon, and portrays the inspiring story of people who find hope and positivity even in the most challenging times.

• Release Date: Sep 27, 2023

Ki Jung won the gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but because Korea was under Japanese colonial rule at the time, he wore the Japanese flag on his chest. In 1947, two years after Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, Seo Yoon Bok is a 24-year-old marathon runner who is preparing for the upcoming 51st Boston Marathon with Head Coach Ki Jung and Coach Nam Seung Yong. Winning was not the only goal, Ki Jung badly wants Yoon Bok to win while wearing the Korean flag on his chest.