Crush

Nominated for a 2024 Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Documentary, Crush unravels the chilling events of the deadly 2022 Halloween crowd crush in Seoul, South Korea that killed 159 people. Most of the dead were young party-goers celebrating the first Halloween festivities since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Drawing on hundreds of hours of footage from cell phones, bodycams and surveillance cameras, the two-part documentary is told through first-hand accounts from people who were caught in the crush, as well as interviews with residents of the city, first responders and government officials.

Directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Jeff Zimbalist (11 Minutes, Favela Rising, The Two Escobars), the documentary delves into both the tragedy itself and the investigative hearings and government response in its aftermath, centring on evidence of police failures to respond to numerous emergency calls as 100 000 people converged on the popular Itaewon neighbourhood on the evening of 29 October.

Rolling Stone says this “horrific tale, told calmly and soberly… unfolds like a slow-motion nightmare,” while Decider calls it “brutally effective,” saying, “Crush is just damn good, effective journalism.”