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This course covers twelve Korean films made after 1987 and their depictions of Korea’s post-liberation history from 1945 onward. It explores national cinema as historiography, symptom, and discursive practice that constructs and confounds national identity. With our attention on marginalized characters, urban and industrial settings, and themes of social unrest, we will discuss how Korea’s tumultuous history of war, military dictatorship, neoliberal developmentalism, and U.S. alliance birthed a cinematic undercurrent of madness and trauma. The latter part of the semester focuses on the works of three auteurs—BONG Joon Ho, LEE Chang Dong, and PARK Chan Wook.