Living next door to Cheong Wa Dae

For decades, Cheong Wa Dae in central Seoul’s Jongno District stood as an immovable monolith of power, serving as the site of the presidential office and residence since the Republic of Korea government was established in 1948. However, for director Ahn So-yon, it was simply the neighboring building with the blue roof just a stone's throw from her childhood home. In her documentary "The Blue Roof from the Window," released on Christmas Eve, Ahn turns the camera inward to document the 50-year odyssey of her own family, following three generations living under one roof. More than just a personal video diary, it asks the public to think about the people living near crucial public landmarks. The documentary shows that while political activity and civic participation is important, they can also make life very difficult for the ordinary citizens who live next door. Her grandparents moved to the red brick house in a neighborhood located less than a kilometer from Cheong Wa Dae in the late 1970s. During the years of military rule, the neighborhood was filled with security guards, which kept tWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times