Oscar-nominated documentary short In the Absence made history for South Korea. Its makers hope Americans learn from it too.

The “absence” in the title of In the Absence, the Oscar-nominated documentary short from director Yi Seung-jun, refers to the absence of the government. But a different kind of absence is also the source of the documentary’s strength, as Yi approaches the tragic subject matter with a considered restraint. As Yi put it to me, the film “starts from the pain and suffering of the families of the deceased students and the civilian divers who helped with the rescue or salvaging and then works its way back to the source of this suffering.” Following the film’s history-making nomination—it and Parasite are the first South Korean films to ever receive recognition from the Academy Awards—I spoke to Yi and producer Gary Byung-seok Kam. “It was actually much harder during my breaks, when these images would float into my mind, unbidden.” — Yi Seung-jun Ultimately, I didn’t want the documentary to be merely heart-rending, or to appeal to that kind of sentiment. “Our primary aim isn’t retaliation but to prevent such a thing from happening again.” — Gary Byung-seok Kam Yi: The parents of the victims, and the civilian divers, had raised questions about government culpability at the outset.