'Crush' docuseries on Itaewon tragedy up for documentary Emmy

The docuseries produced by Jeff Zimbalist and Stu Schreiberg recounts the events of Oct. 29, 2022, that resulted in 159 deaths on what was supposed to be a fun Halloween weekend.

A poster image of Paramount+ docuseries ″Crush″ [PARAMOUNT+]

“Crush” (2023), a two-part docuseries on the deadly Itaewon disaster in 2022, was nominated for the 45th News & Documentary Emmy Awards’ Outstanding Investigative Documentary categories.

Produced by Jeff Zimbalist and Stu Schreiberg, the program shows the testimonies of survivors and real-live footage of the incident from witnesses' phones and surveillance cameras. The docuseries were released on Paramount+ on Oct. 17, 2023.

The tragedy, which took place on Oct. 29, 2022 in the Itaewon neighborhood of central Seoul, an area locally renowned for its Halloween atmosphere, claimed 159 lives after hundreds of people who visited the area to celebrate Halloween were trapped in a narrow alleyway.

The docuseries will compete with four other documentary works, including Netflix’s “Victim/Suspect” (2023), which exposes the misconduct committed during the investigation of sexual violence cases by the U.S. police.

"Crush" is currently unavailable in Korea due to copyright issues.

The annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards honor the best U.S. news and documentary programs released the previous year. This year’s ceremony for the documentary categories will be held on Sept. 26 at the Palladium Times Square in New York City.

BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]