Yongjugol (2026)

What if a place slated for erasure turned out to be a fiercely living ecosystem? That’s the question at the heart of this documentary, which opens on a stark premise: the conviction that prostitution must cease to exist. The lens then shifts to Yongjugol, Paju’s notorious red-light district, where government-ordered shutdowns have ignited unexpected resistance. The protesters aren’t just the usual suspects—no monolithic “victims” or “criminals” here. Instead, we meet a sprawling, messy coalition: sex workers, activists, LGBTQ+ individuals, those grappling with mental health challenges, and other outcasts from mainstream society. Their rallying cry is simple—"life cannot be shut down"—yet the people chanting it remain strangers to one another, bound by a slogan but not by shared identity. These are relationships that defy labels, and as fragile bonds form, each person crafts their own survival playbook from their unique corner of the margins. The result is a raw, human challenge to the tidy narratives of “women’s rights” used to justify sweeping policy—forcing us to ask: whose lives are we really protecting when we decide what should disappear?