DMZ International Documentary Festival

official poster for 2015

Up near the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea, during September, there is a great little documentary festival that goes on.

It's about an hour out of Seoul to get to the first location of Baekseok and then a further 30-40min bus ride to get to Paju, the second location.
The split locations make for some logistical difficulties but they do provide a shuttle bus that leaves on the hour every hour and is comfortable and free.

2015 marks 70 years of the division of Korea and that topic was a special focus for the festival.
Time and logistics prevented me from seeing the lions share of the program, which is a shame because it attracts some very good documentarys.

This is its seventh year and this is what I saw.

The full program can be seen here

Aim High in Creation by Anna Broinowski

the Sydney cast in training for their film alla Kim Jong il style

Off to North Korea to learn the art of propaganda filmmaking from the master himself, though posthumously through his written manifesto.
Why? To stop fracking in her Sydney backyard of course.
It's a great premise for a film and it is a pretty wild ride with Anna getting great access to the North Korean film industry and some of its greatest exponants. Actors, Directors and Composers and they all contribute to her effort of making an anti fracking film that will stop the industry in it's tracks. The film is split between her fact finding efforts in Pyeongyang and her directorial efforts back in Sydney. The time in North Korea is by far the most interesting and entertaining part of this doco.
7 won out of 10

Holy Working Holiday by Lee Hee-won

the pain of harvesting onions in Gaton QLD

A Korean in Australia and her and her friends attempts to get an extension on their working visa by accumulating the hours working on farms in NSW and QLD. Sounds romantic....NOT! This is an autobipgraphical film, though the filmmaker hides behind the camera most of the time, of dreams smashed, hopes dashed and inspiration lost. It's just tough shitty work but it is a great insight into the Korean perspective of Australia compared to their reality back at home and what they want in life.
A little slow and messy at times but kinda interesting.
not too many won out of 10

B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West Berlin 1979-1989 
Directors: Klaus Maeck, Jörg A. Hoppe, Heiko Lange Story by Mark Reeder

another wild night in West Berlin, ah the life.

 This was a very entertaining insight into life in West Berlin at a pretty exciting musical point in history. It's more or less the memoirs of Mark Reeder and he has some pretty good memories. He transplanted himself from Manchester and got to hang out with some pretty cool musicians, managed a few bands and lived a pretty full life in a decadent time. Nick Cave was his room mate, he organised Joy Division's one and only tour of the city, knocked around with Blixa Bargeld of Einstürzende Neubauten and The Bad Seeds fame and generally got to indulge in his favourite pastime of getting around in military attire more or less unnoticed. Bowie & Iggy Pop were there, Christiane F was there, Kraftwork were there and the list goes on and on. This was a city of seething creatives who took no prisoners in their pursuits of Art for arts sake. The doco is heavily stylised and laden with cool music and sights. 
8 Deutsche Marks out of 10.

Bicycle City by Kong Mi-Yeun

cycling in Seoul

 A pretty in depth study into the city of Seoul from the perspective of how it's not a cycling city.
 I wont score it cause I didn't see it all but it was very interesting and went into topics of the high rise living in the city and the design of the motorways. People interviewed were bike frame manufacturers, bike couriers, recreational cyclists etc. Overall it was presenting a very interesting thesis but was taking a long time to make its points. However unlike the other three docos this was the only one that wasn't a personal retelling of a story, it let its people tell the story rather than the filmmaker narrating the events. A nice point of difference but not perfect at all.

The festival also has a DMZ Documentary Fund and I spent an afternoon watching the hopefuls pitching their projects. These come from not only Korea but also from greater Asia. Each filmmaker received post pitch feedback from the selection panel  and some pretty interesting projects were presented. The lucky ones will make up part of the program next year. It's a great initiative and also ensures plenty of fresh and vibrant films for the festival.

Documentary is an emerging sector of the South Korean Film Industry and festivals like this one are ensuring that it will continue to grow and strengthen. I only wish I had the time to fully immerse into this years program and get more of the gold. Maybe next year?

The Serenity of Kaeamsa Temple 개암사

Somewhere just out of JeonJu, South Korea
One of life's treats is when places of delight are shared amongst friends.
I had such an experience not long ago when a native JeonJuen took me to her favourite temple just near her hometown in the countryside outside of JeonJu.
This temple has been in existence for over 1000yrs, it is small but indeed very special.
The setting is serene, tucked under the twin peaks of a mountain surrounded by the forest.

Grand Entrance

Lush Forest

Twin Peaks

The inner sanctum

beautiful carved dragons adorn the ceiling

 

This statue is over 800 years old

some artistic license

the back end of the gates

PEACE minus one or G-Dragon takes over high art by stealth

There is always controversy about shifts in perception of Art. What becomes acceptable and how.
Like punk rock in the seventies was dangerous, untouchable for the majority, something abhorrent yet nowadays it has comfortably shifted into the mainstream and can now be heard playing as elevator musak. The same happens with pop culture. What are the criteria for the shift from pop culture to high art. Actually what is high art?

In this case I'm talking about what it takes for pop culture to move off the stage, out of the earphones, away from the computer and be placed within a frame and hung in the 'Art Gallery' And specifically the Seoul Museum of Art!
Is that not the pinnacle of 'High' Art in South Korea? or at least one of them?
G-Dragon from the Big Bang K-Pop band fame has done exactly this with an exhibition called
Peace Minus One - Beyond the Stage.

 To tell you the truth my expectations were not high. The music that Big Bang produce is considered to be good K-Pop but is that an oxymoron? They have one or two good songs and they are very lavish in the costume and make up department and over the top in the music video department but is it high art? will it translate to the gallery?

 The first space is a sort of surreal interpretation of life according to G-Dragon. It's a space that has been set up by him displaying a lot of his personal items and art from his own collection. As a surreal space it is a bit amateurish, a little bit like a bad Dali rip off from the 40's. Everything off tilt, hands coming out of doors etc No dripping clocks but the room is filled with the sound of a clock. But what fills the space is quite interesting and starts to give you an insight into this individual. He actually collects some very interesting art and artifacts from all around the world. It is easy to say that with that kinda money I would too but it's just as easy to do nothing with that kinda money too. His decisions and interests seem to be very well informed.

 And just like in real life where he is more than just a pawn in a boy band, he is power producer too, song writer?, artist! his artworks chosen for this display are very interesting and certainly worth the time to peruse.

 There are not too many items of 'favourite jacket', hat, shoes etc but a collection of crucifixes and a fantastic electric organ are just some of the things you will see.

 Once out of this first space you move into spaces where other artists have collaborated in setting up the space or it is just exhibiting their work because the G-Dragon likes them or they like the G-Dragon.

 This is where the exhibition gets very interesting, a series of rooms with all types of Artworks, like the interactive video installation above, or gigantic Hip Hop picture grams, sculptures, paintings, drawings etc etc.

 G-Dragon as Slayer or the slain?

Osang Gwon - untitled G-Dragon, a space with no name

Certainly my view of G-Dragon as vacuous, pretty boy toy singing doll has changed somewhat. The exhibition certainly changed that misconception.


At the very least we can say that Jiyong Gwong currates a great exhibition and certainly I am comfortable with his transition to High Art or the spaces of the galleries and museums of the world.

Videos that are a Gas #13

Where passions collide. Surfing in Sth Korea, who would've thought and so freak'n perfect though rather cold! Sit back and enjoy this one, most definantly a GAS!

The Winter Surf from AnotherDay on Vimeo.

Presented by YESiSURF.com & Another Day

"The Winter Surf" is a film shot in South Korea in winter, 2014.
It is directed, filmed and edited by a few dedicated surfers.
This film’s vision is to showcase surfing in Korea.
The Winter Surf includes two parts.
The first part captures the beauty of winter surf in Korea.
The second part shows how fun winter surf can be, especially to those who have never surfed in cold conditions.
Please enjoy the film. And if you like it, please share.
Thank You
-KWS project crew-
The Winter Surf 는 2014년 겨울, 대한민국 에서 촬영된 영상입니다.
이 영상은 한국의 겨울 서핑을 국내외에 알리기위한 목적으로 비영리로 진행되었으며
촬영부터 감독, 편집 등의 모든 과정이 서퍼들의 손에 이루어졌습니다.
The Winter Surf 는 크게 두 개의 파트로 이루어져 있습니다.
첫 번째 파트에는 한국 겨울 서핑의 아름다움을 담았으며,
두 번째 파트에서는 겨울 서핑이 얼마나 즐거울 수 있는지 보여드리려고 노력했습니다.
이번 영상 제작에 큰 도움을 주신 후원 업체 배럴, 지프코리아와 협력 브랜드인 서프코드, 롱로드에 진심으로 감사드립니다.
그리고 영화로 치면 주인공이나 마찬가지인 8명의 서퍼분들께 모두 감사의 말씀을 전합니다.
마지막으로 촬영기간 내내 많은 분들이 응원해주신 덕에 추운 날씨에도 즐거운 마음으로 촬영에 임할 수 있었으며 그것이 이 영상 제작의 가장 큰 원동력이 되었습니다.
즐겁게 감상하시고 많은 공유를 통해 한국 서핑을 널리 알려주시기 바랍니다.
감사합니다.
-KWS 프로젝트 크루 일동-

Yangyang is where this is at, up the top of the East Coast

What I spied in July # 1

late one afternoon on JeJu Island.

                                                                                     

 In between bites

 




out amongst the weather







I spied a film crew.

scene in can, location wrap

& they were gone!

 JeJu, July  2014.

Kim Ki Duk is all over BIFF

Moebius

Almost 90min of no dialogue but certainly not a silent film.
Par for the course, Kim Ki Duk (김기덕) ROARS in this film. And as the man says himself conversation is made up of laughing, crying and screaming and there is plenty of this in Moebius, so the characters do speak!
Initially banned in South Korea this is the follow up film after Pieta which picked up the Golden Lion at Venice (1st Korean film ever) and like Pieta it's in your face and confronting but also it has some quite funny moments. Mind you I questioned myself that I was laughing (it'll be a lifelong inquiry). Moebius really does take you on a journey into the weird, the perverse, the unspoken realm of human nature. A place where things aren't quite what they seem, recognisable but broke? Sometimes the bumpy road is the track worth taking.

Lee Eun-woo (이은우) is amazing as the mother and the lover. At BIFF this year I saw her play 4 roles, 2 in Moebius, one in Godsend and as herself in 2 x Q&As. Wow, she is good. It was retrospective that I learnt she played the two roles in this film. Not for a moment watching the film did I pick it, a clear sign of good acting, being totally immersed in the character.
In both roles she plays an unhinged siren, totally seductive, totally dangerous! Neither is similar in any way demonstrating her great range, she is 100% given to this film. it is rare for me to hunt down films through their actors but in this case I will watch anything that she is in.
Cho Jae-Hyun (조재현) as the father is the instigator of this torrid tale, succumbing to carnal lust but once his wife finds out his character becomes quite weak and soon, quite literally, impotent. Another great performance portraying the horror of witnessing the cause & effect of his actions on others. He never regains his mantle of head of the family always wracked by guilt, always trying to make amends. Very powerful, non-heroic stuff.

Lee Eun-woo, Cho Jae-Hyun & Kim Ki Duk post Moebius Q&A BIFF 2013

Perhaps Suh Yeong Ju (서영주) is the only innocent in this world. Mother extracts revenge on father through son.
Oh yeah that is, she chops his dick off! With no manhood he is subject to much ridicule and humiliation at the hands of many but his father sympathise (I wonder why?). He liases with dad's lover, he sleeps with mother and progressively that innocence is eroded away.
With dad's help he learns to live without that which defines a man, he learns to achieve orgasm through other means. So much has been written about the chop, his, his dad's and the local punks (how many dicks can you chop in the one film?) but I'm more interested in how they all learn  to get pleasure from pain.
Google can teach you anything and in this case dad learns these dark arts from endless late night surfing.
The results are pretty gruesome. Have you ever watched someone rub themselves raw with a rock?
But it gets better. Dad's lover learns how to pleasure the son via a dagger in the back. What starts out as truly brutal turns humorous as she masturbates the dagger and soon he is overcome with ecstatic pleasure and of course it is a happy ending!

So you kinda get the idea, Moebius is pretty weird shit but it is also cloaked in ample good filmmaking, great performances, great visuals, many many great moments and after the film hearing the master talk about this film was quite amazing. Director Kim spoke of the struggle to raise enough money to make this film. Now this amazed me, even he of such high standing and achievement has to scratch in the dirt to find the funds. He spoke of the digital revolution and how he by-passed a DOP because the cameras are small enough for him to operate himself. Wow! and this helped him communicate with the actors on a more intimate and creative level, it allowed him to make the film quicker (ie less money) and it allowed him to forgo having to translate his thoughts into words in order for that DOP to then capture his vision on film. Makes a lot of sense really.
At no point was there ever a question about quality when I was watching, format or craft.

Moebius.... not for everyone that's for sure but a whole lot more than a controversial film.
Kim Ki Duk.... can't wait to see what's next but will continue to view the back catalogue till it arrives.

Film Fuel, Food Found 먹다

So, of course, in between the BIFFo sessions one must eat and between Centum City & Haeundae there was plenty of choice. On the whole cheap and plentiful, you pick.
But it took a few expeditions to discover the fresh food, not that I could cook (lack of facilities) but there is something comforting about fresh produce and in the case of Busan something totally exciting and fascinating.
Just take a look.