Jang’s latest film is a powerful period drama that returns to the time of the June Democracy Movement, the popular uprising that, against great odds, finally ended South Korea’s long period of brutally repressive military dictatorship. 1987: When the Day Comes skillfully evokes the fear and chaos out of which the movement emerged, dramatizing the key events that transformed youth into politicized activists, especially the death by torture of twenty-two-year-old university student Park Jong-chul. Working with his largest cast and budget to date, Jang creates a sweeping panorama of the historic struggle that nevertheless gives real intimacy to key figures. The timing of the film’s release seemed uncanny, reaching screens within a year after a massive wave of protests, the so-called Candlelight Revolution, helped bring about the removal of President (and daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee) Park Geun-hye, who was impeached for blatant corruption and cronyism.