Naro's Search for Space
Director KANG Haeryun | Producer Matthew KOSHMRL | Korea | 60min | Delivery Date: December 2026
Project Description
Director | KANG Haeryun |
Producer | Matthew KOSHMRL |
Production Company | Dububiji Productions |
Shooting Format | 4K |
Keyword | Human interest, science, declining population, rural |
Length | 60min |
Language | Korean |
Production Country | Korea, USA |
Contact | haeryunwork@gmail.com / mkoshmrl@gmail.com |
Production Schedule
Pre-production | 2022. 11. - 2023. 12. |
Production | 2023. 5. - 2025. 12. |
Post-production | 2026. 1. - 2026. 12. |
Delivery | 2026. 12. 31. |
Synopsis
The Korean space program is in Naro, a fishing and farming island. It promotes a future of cosmic progress, while the aging islanders struggle to preserve their disappearing ways of life.
Yeompo Village, on Naro, is next-door to the Space Center, with fewer than 100 inhabitants. Aging people and declining birthrate pose existential issues, as for most of rural Korea. But Yeompo may disappear sooner than expected, replaced by a massive, private space complex, to be built by 2031. Many islanders are excited, but many are worried.
The film empathetically explores this unique period of transition. Space industry insiders drink with fishermen; elderly widows watch rocket launches from the beach; Yeompo’s last child plays with village dog Cookie; shamans and farmers dance at the annual Space Festival… Through the lens of a rural community that coexists with a global, futuristic industry, Naro’s Search for Space meditates on our relationship with nature and our place in the universe.
Director's Note
The Korean space program is at a peculiar transition between infancy and maturation. After first building the space center on Naro Island in 2009, Korea launched its first moon orbiter from the island in 2022, and is pouring billions into an emerging industry.
But much of the public discourse is limited to superficial narratives of “sky's the limit” progress. The idea of space is still colonized in the Korean mind by American institutions, like NASA and SpaceX. Most Koreans do not know where Naro is, what the island signifies in space exploration, and how the space industry has changed the lives of the islanders.
Naro’s Search for Space challenges these dominant narratives by exploring the local spaces in which the space programs are being built. How have islanders’ lives changed because of the space industry? How will they change in the future? How do islanders view our relationship with the skies, and the brief time we all have on earth?
 | Haeryun Kang is a documentary filmmaker and journalist based in Korea. Her journalism has appeared on NPR, Time and the cover of Rolling Stone. Her short films have shown at DMZ Docs, KAFFNY, Minnesota Film Festival, and more. |  | Matthew Koshmrl is an Emmy-nominated director, cinematographer and producer based in Korea and Minnesota, USA. The films he directed and/or shot, including the feature film Land of My Father, have played at Jeonju, IDFA, Full Frame, True/False, etc. |
| Director KANG Haeryun | Producer Matthew KOSHMRL | ||
