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SPYING-CAM @
dir. WHANG Cheol-Mean
2004/35 mm/100 min
The summer is swelteringly hot, but the two youngish men stay locked up together in a cheap hotel room. Are they gay? What does Dostoevskyfs Crime and Punishment have to do with it? And whatfs with the good-time girl in the next room? Whang Cheol-Mean, trained in Germany, has been a significant force in Korean indie cinema for over a decade, and Spying-Cam testifies to his originality and skill. Rooted in powerful character conflicts (and superbly acted), it explores the space between the political and the psychological. This is a mystery-thriller in which the greatest mystery is the human heart. |
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SHIN SUNG-IL, SPIRITED AWAY
dir. SHIN Jane
2004/video/103 min
Shin Janefs astonishing debut feature seems at first like a satirical fantasy. Angel House is a rural orphanage where the children are taught that eating is a sin. A eblack economyf of forbidden cakes and candies comes to dominate the playground -- until the day the children discover that the institutionfs adults are secretly eating their fill. A rebellion erupts and the confused young inmate Shin Sung-Il escapes into town, where he finds that the world follows different rules and marches to a different beat... Itfs as if reality has invaded the fantasy. Or is that the other way around?
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CAPITALIST MANIFESTO: WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, ACCUMULATE!
dir. KIM Sun, KIM Gok
2003/video/115 min
With their characteristic dark, manic wit, the Kim Brothers offer a sardonic parable of the logic of capitalism: the endless cycle of wealth production and profit and the endless cycle of desire and gratification, both running inexorably towards crisis -- as experienced when supply exceeds demand. The characters are an exploited vendor of porno videos, a teenage prostitute and a hooker who uses her physical assets as collateral for stakes in a floating crap game. The narrative loops and twists like a Moebius strip, while the various settings keep interfacing like spaces in an MC Escher hall of mirrors. Brilliantly original.
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FADE INTO YOU
dir. Chegy
2004/video/70 min
IF I WEAR A SWORD IN THE STONE
dir.YOON Seong-Ho
2004/video/42 min
Chegy makes films full of diverse characters, interesting situations and details -- but with the narrative glue somehow missing. Fade into You is about a sleepless security guard on night shift, a baffled junior in a small production company, a young woman travelling alone to Jeju Island... A film of strange, haunting moments which may or may not be telling a story. With If I Wear a Sword in the Stone by Yoon Seong-Ho, a chaotic semi-documentary in which the closure of the Vital Intermedia Playground (Seoul city council axed its grant) is juxtaposed with the break-up of a relationship.
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CAMELLIA PROJECT: THREE QUEER STORIES ON BOGIL ISLAND
2004/video/90 min
KIM CHU-JA@dir. CHOI Jin-Sung
DRIFTING ISLAND@dir.SO Joon-Moon
LA TRAVIATA@dir.LEE SONG Hee-Il
WHY NOT COMMUNITY
dir.PARK Yong-Jae
2004/video/8 min
Koreafs first openly gay film-maker Lee-Song Hee-Il co-ordinated this portmanteau film which brings together anecdotes about gay life -- all set on the resort island Bogil -- by three different writer-directors. Choi Jin-Sungfs Kim Chu-Ja is a camp fantasia about the chance meeting of two former lovers, set to music. So Joon-Moonfs Drifting Island tells the story of a break-up. And in Lee-Song Hee-Ilfs own La Traviata a young widow comes to the island to spy on her late husbandfs gay lover. With Park Yong-Jaefs animated short Why Not Community, in which a disco cowboy finds the other side of the street.
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TWENTIDENTITY
2004/video/70 min
The Korean Academy of Film Arts celebrated its 20th anniversary last year by inviting twenty of its graduates (including such estarf names as Bong Joon-Ho, Park Ki-Yong and Hur Jin-Ho) to make short films for this portmanteau project. The only governing rules were (a) brevity, and (b) some reference to the number 20. We donft have the time or space to screen all of them, so wefve selected ten. Our choice includes several wonderful comedies, a musical, a thriller and one very touching break-up movie. It also features guest appearances from the likes of Ryu Seung-Bum (star of Arahan) and woman director Im Soon-Rye.
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IYAGI
dir.MIN Dong-Hyun
2004/video/7 min
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ILLUSION
dir.JUN Kyung-Il, PARK Ji-Hun, KIM Ji-Hye, JO Mi-Yoon, PARK So-Jin
2004/video/6 min
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JULGUI
dir.PARK Si-Won
2004/video/9 min
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HI
dir.CHOI Won-Jae
2004/video/12 min
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THE HOLE
dir.KWAK In-Ho
2004/video/9 min
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HEY,JUNGHYUN
dir.KANG Joon-Won
2004/video/7 min
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STORY OF MY MOTHER
dir.CHOI Hyo-Ju
2004/video/24 min
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REGION OF THE SHADE
dir.JUNG Byung-Mok
2004/video/11 min
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Therefs talk of crisis in the Korean anime industry, but this programme of eight shorts by newcomers (most made as graduation projects at Koreafs two leading film schools, the Korean Academy of Film Arts and the Korea National University of the Arts) suggests that a wave of fresh talent is about to break. Our selection includes many types of animation (line-drawing, puppet, computer) and ranges from domestic vignettes to cosmic fantasies. The programme opens with Min Dong-Hyunfs wry account of ganimatorfs blockh and closes with two remarkable films that blend live action and animation.
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BIDU
dir.CHOI Tae-Yeon
2003/16 mm/15 min
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TIME MACHINE
dir.LEE Won-Sik
2004/16 mm/23 min
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POETRY CLASS
dir.LEE Sang-Geun
2004/16 mm/18 min
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THE FATHER AND SON
dir.KIM Kweon-Sik
2004/16 mm/23 min
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W.C. JUNGLE
dir. JEONG Choong-Hwan
2004/35 mm/10 min
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These narrative shorts inhabit the space between the personal and the social or political; they tell small, intimate stories, but without losing sight of the larger issues and forces that impact on individual lives. Bidu centres on three immigrant labourers and one mobile phone. In Time Machine, a relationship comes to an end at the Demilitarized Zone on the border with North Korea. Poetry Class explores a disturbing situation in which nothing is what it first seems. Set in a hospital, The Father and Son shows two brothers struggling to overcome their differences. And W.C. Jungle takes a wry view of male violence.
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THINGS WE SHOULDN'T DO
dir.KIM Kyung-Man
2003/video/5 min
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THE DARK ROOM
dir.JANG Min-Yong
2001/16 mm/5 min
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THE MOMENT
dir.JANG Min-Yong
2002/16 mm/5 min
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WHEN A RUNNER LOVES SOLITUDE
dir.KIM Jong-Guk
2004/video/6 min
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WAITING FOR SPRING
dir.JUNG Sue-Yeon
2003/video/26 min
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THE THIRD TOUNGUE
dir.SON Kwang-Ju
2003/16 mm/14 min
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PUNK EEK
dir.SON Kwang-Ju
2004/35 mm/22 min
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All seven films in this extraordinary selection contain factual elements, but you wouldnft call any of them a edocumentaryf. Maybe the right name would be eessay filmsf. The movie-collage Things We Shouldnft Do asks: what is it with men and militarism? Both films by Jang Min-Yong are beautiful, silent vignettes from nature. When a Runner Loves Solitude is a durational joke with an unexpected punchline. Waiting for Spring collects video-letters between two elderly sisters, one in Korea, one in California. And Son Kwang-Jufs two films are superb provocations, pushing radical film-making into new, post-Godardian directions.
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All comments done by Tony Rayns.
Programmes will be subtitled in English and Japanese.
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