No-da-ji Land 노다지땅2025 2K | scanned 16mm analog film | Stereo | 10:20
No-da-ji Land 노다지땅 is a fiction documentary filmed on 16mm film that explores displacement and the haunting presence of history. The film is set in my family’s hometown, an abandoned mining village marked by gold rushes and buried money scandals. The old mine tunnel functions as a portal, connecting past and present, across timelines and generations while carrying a sense of estrangement.
Three protagonists-- an ancestor ghost, a younger version of my father and myself--encounter mysterious incidents that echo the impacts of extraction and displacement. These traces remain present and visible in the land, in people and in memory.
The title No-da-ji, derived from the phrase “No-touch”, comes from Korean history and refers to something so precious that locals sought to keep it untouched by outsiders, like their gold or their own heritage.
Three protagonists-- an ancestor ghost, a younger version of my father and myself--encounter mysterious incidents that echo the impacts of extraction and displacement. These traces remain present and visible in the land, in people and in memory.
The title No-da-ji, derived from the phrase “No-touch”, comes from Korean history and refers to something so precious that locals sought to keep it untouched by outsiders, like their gold or their own heritage.
film still
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