In the Absence

2018 0h 29m KO

🙌

7.7

BANGER

★7.7TMDB · 52

Documentary

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Park Geun-hye
Self (archive footage)
Yoo An-sil
Self
Kim Sung-mook
Self
Jeon Gwang-geun
Self
Jeong Bu-ja
Self
Kim Soo-hyun
Self (archive footage)
Kim Kyung-il
Self (archive footage)
Kim Seok-kyun
Self (archive footage)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Yi Seung-jun
Languages: Korean
Countries: South Korea

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 29-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 8 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Yi Seung-jun, shot by Park Bong-nam. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Hwang Myung-su. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Yi Seung-jun shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Park Geun-hye and Yoo An-sil and Kim Sung-mook carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt9464764 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 52 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Yi Seung-jun directs. Park Bong-nam behind the camera. Hwang Myung-su scores. Yi Seung-jun cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in South Korea. Dialogue in Korean.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 29-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Released 8 years ago.
3Directed by Yi Seung-jun, shot by Park Bong-nam. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Hwang Myung-su. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Yi Seung-jun shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Park Geun-hye and Yoo An-sil and Kim Sung-mook carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt9464764 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 52 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Park Bong-nam
Original score: Hwang Myung-su
Editing: Yi Seung-jun
Sound: Lee Hae-nee
Runtime: 29 min · 0h 29m
Status: Released
Original language: KO
IMDB: In the Absence (2018)

Also by

Yi Seung-jun

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-09-17
★ 7/10
There is something really quite bizarre, almost sedate, about watching the first fifteen minutes or so of this documentary. We witness a ferry - the "Sewol" - that is clearly listing and is surrounded by ships of all sizes, but that is still more or less fully occupied by most of it's 476 passengers and crew who are awaiting an evacuation order. The authorities seem to be relying on the captain - who has been removed safely, or awaiting video evidence of just how perilous the plight of these folks might be before actually taking the precautions of getting them off. Better safe than sorry, surely? It did sink, eventually, with 304 fatalities and the subsequent enquiry and court proceedings illustrate quite effectively a shocking degree of governmental paralysis and led to the removal of the President of South Korea (though as much for other corrupt practices as for her inept leadership during this crisis). What I couldn't quite get my head around is that we actually watch this ship being swallowed up by the sea in the most surreal of fashions. It's not like there were raging seas, squals and battering rain. The conditions were calm, there were ample opportunities to get people rescued yet nobody was prepared to act. Why is just the most bamboozling question - and one that the family's of the survivors were just as perplexed with as traumatised divers went down into the gunnels of the craft to find who they could in the immediate aftermath and then some three years later after the boat was raised from the sea bed and efforts could be made to find and/or repatriate any remaining bodies from it's rusted infrastructure. There isn't a detailed narration here, the narrative comes more from textualising the radio and phone communication between the Coast guard, the Rescue services and the civilian authorities, so at times we are reading a little more than I'd have liked - but this is still a strikingly simple actuality of a disaster that's looks something akin to an Hollywood disaster movie.

Production companies