South Korea cinema has been booming since about 1999 with locally produced films often out grossing Hollywood fare at the Korean box office. Films such as Shiri, JSA, Old Boy and The Host have even received successful art house releases here. But North Korean cinema is something of a mystery. The country has been producing government-controlled films for decades but none have received distribution in the U.S. Now you might ask why would we even be interested in seeing anything produced by this small communist country?
The press release describes the event like this: "The University of California, San Diego Libraries and its partners are proud to present, for the first time in North America, a three-day presentation of lauded films from both the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North) and the Republic of Korea (South). Never before has such material been presented with a comparative academic purpose, and with an eye to opening the doors to understanding these two countries. Some of the films from the DPRK have not been viewed outside of their native country. Bound by a common history and yet so disparate in their political, economic and cultural transformations, the two countries have delivered some of the most compelling films, worthy of serious contemplation and critique."
UCSD Library's Jim Cheng oversees the film collection and he adds, "As an academic institution we want to show all different perspectives of any international affairs. I am the director of film collection at UCSD and we have about 100 North Korean films and 200 South Korean films in our collection. So our faculty and student use these and we have a solid Korean studies program and collection. This event is unique in terms of film festivals because we have academic content. The films we choose are unique; they are not blockbusters. And we have lectures and panels."
Cheng is proud that this is the first time North Korean films will be showcased in a festival in North America. For me the interest was in seeing pop culture from a country that has become isolated and cut off from the rest of the world. The films may be government controlled but they are still a mass medium in the country and being able to see these films provides a unique cultural insight into the country. Plus, as a film critic, I was excited about the possibility of seeing my first films from North Korea. But because there are no formal relations between the U.S. and North Korea, gaining access to these films was difficult.
"At first we thought about just choosing the North Korean films because these films have never been shown in North America," says Jim Cheng, "But we realized that there were no North Korean film specialists here so in the end we asked the North Koreans to select the films for us. Then after we viewed the seven films submitted, we selected five, and then we think it is even better to show them with the South Korean films. So we want to show people all the different perspective of the entire Korean peninsula."
A diverse selection of films now makes up the program. From North Korea there is Hong Gil Dong, a martial arts epic based on a Robin Hood-like folk tale;Oh My Love, an elaborate period musical; Our Fragrance, a romantic comedy;
Our Lifeline, a stiff spy tale; and Blood Stained Wood Block, a film Cheng says "was made directly under the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il." One of the surprises about these films is that the two from the 1980s, Hong Gil Dong and Oh My Love, possess higher production values that the rest of the films, which were all made after 2000.
Cheng says they questioned the North Koreans about their selection of these films: "The answer we got was that these two films were made during the eighties but they were made by the most famous, most legendary film director, Shin Sang-Ok, a man who was kidnapped by future dictator Kim Jong Il in order to make films. He was the one responsible for bringing the influence of Hong Kong martial arts films to North Korea in Hong Gil Dong, and he directed Oh My Love."
But don't expect to see Shin's name on the credits. North Korea had claimed that Shin had defected to their country but the truth was he had been kidnapped. So when he had the opportunity he fled North Korea and escaped to the west. So that's why his name has been removed from his films. Yet despite all this, Cheng says, "the North Koreans still consider these films the highest level for the cinematography and content." So the films are in the program and reveal an unexpectedly entertaining example of North Korean cinema. Both films draw on folk tales to impart stories of national pride.
Another surprise for me was how almost all of these films employed a high degree of melodrama as a hook for the audience. These are not stark black and white propaganda films directly lecturing a message. Instead they use the emotional pull of melodrama to couch their message.
"These films are very typical of North Korean Cinema," says Jim Cheng, "and these films remind me of the films I watched growing up in China in the 60s and 70s. They are very similar. When I was a kid watching them in China, [North Korean films] were more approaching the people's emotions, feelings, and sensitivity. They have a saying at that time, 'Watch North Korean films and you're always crying so hard.' So they are really trying to approach people's human sensitivity and that's still the same although we know that all of these are strongly controlled by the government and we know it starts from the top all the north Korean leaders are interested in films."
So the tale of Hong Gil Dong becomes a lesson in how bad the nobles (you can read them as capitalists) are, and how important it for the common people to bond together and redistribute the wealth. When the hero Hong receives martial arts training, he is told by his master: "Your art is for defending your country against foreign aggressors and for poor people only." And those foreign invaders come in the form of ninjas that represent Japan. Hong Gil Kong presents is Robin Hood as a kind of leader of a peasant rebellion and champion of North Korea. Through the character of a nobleman's daughter who rejects the rights of her birth, the film suggests that anyone can be "reborn" and join in the rebellion against the nobles and any foreign invaders. The film proves quite entertaining as it tries to imitate Hong Kong action films.
The festival has no films from 90s North Korea. Cheng says that's "because of the extremely difficult situation in North Korean especially the agricultural disaster, and economic problems plus in the mid-nineties there was a transition of leadership so there are almost no movies made."
Also worth noting is one of the films from this decade, Our Fragrance, a film that is something akin to a sitcom romantic comedy. I've always been fascinated by the idea of comedies from communist countries because we are so conditioned to think of those countries as humorless. But Cuba and China both have filmmakers that not only make comedies but also actually serve up political and social satire within their comedy. (In case you are interested the two most prominent filmmakers in this vein are Cuba's Gerardo Chijona and China's Huang Jianxin.) Now Our Fragrance is not that clever nor does it contradict the party line, but it is funny to see messages of national pride mixed in with goofy comic antics. And at the end, the "Americans" that we see (Korean actors in bad wigs) are not depicted as evil aggressors but rather as silly, uninformed people who once exposed to North Korea's traditions and customs come to see what a wonderful country it is. One tourist even says to the Korean lead characters, "I admire your spirit of valuing your own things."
I find it fascinating to get this window into North Korea, even if the films are government controlled and with obvious messages. Seeing these North Korean films you realize that we have more than we might have imagined in common despite the vast political and sometimes cultural differences.
South Korea's To the Starry Island
Five films plus one documentary film about Koreans living in the USSR during World War II represent the South Koreans. Scholars from UCSD, USC, and UC Irvine selected these films. One of the films, To the Starry Island will be presented by director Park Kwang Su will come from Korea, and USC professor David James will provide a lecture about Park's films. To the Starry Island tells the story of an old man who asks a friend and his son to bury him on a distant island. But complications based on divisive feelings ensue. The film is sweet and bitter and delicately told.
From South Korea I also want to highlight Chang-dong Lee'sPeppermint Candy. The film (shown as part of the Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival) offers a heartbreaking drama told in reverse chronology and spanning twenty years in both the life of the main character and the political history of Korea. Peppermint Candy begins with Yongho (Sol Kyung Gu), a visibly distressed, middle-aged man, stumbling into a reunion party on the shores of a river. He alarms his former co-workers with his erratic behavior and then climbs a nearby railroad trestle. As the train speeds toward him, he shouts, "I want to go back." And that's precisely what the film does. Using the image of a train moving backwards, the film takes us back in time to end where it began--at the same riverbank but in 1979 when Yongho is a shy 20-year-old confessing his dreams to Sunim (Moon So Ri). The end has a quiet, heartbreaking power because the audience knows what the young man does not: that in the next two decades he will drift from youthful optimism into brutal, callous manhood and cynical, ultimately despairing middle age. Sol Kyung Gu takes Yongho through all these changes and it's a remarkable performance. The pivotal moments in Yongho's life are reflected in larger events in Korean history such as student rebellions in 1987 and a tense military mobilization in 1980 that leads to the Kwangju massacre, a crucial turning point in South Korea's transition to democracy.
South Korea's Peppermint Candy
Although emotionally devastating, there's an aching beauty to Lee's storytelling and an unexpected hopefulness in his final images. Lee never lets Yongho become a mere victim of fate or bad luck. He is a man who makes choices in his life and it's the realization that many of those decisions were bad that prompts Yongho on his backwards journey, wishing that he could rewrite his own history. This is a powerful film that deserves far wider release than it's been given to date.
Offering some lighter moments is South Korea's Welcome to Dongmakgol. But the film reveals the penchant of South Korea filmmakers to mix every genre imaginable into one film. This one blends goofy comedy, war drama, tragedy, action and social commentary for a highly entertaining ride. Set during the Korean War, the story involves an American pilot who crash lands in a small village where soldiers from the North and South eventually find themselves as well. The village, though, is like Brigadoon in the sense that it seems completely isolated from the real world. The villagers cannot understand the soldiers or their conflict. At one point the villagers fail to react to the threats of the soldiers armed with guns and hand grenades. But they do react to news of a wild boar in the fields, now that's something that not only can they relate to but that scares them. There's also a bit of King of Hearts in the anti-war sentiments of the films. Plus its impish young female character that recalls Genevieve Bujold's blithe innocent from King of Hearts. This film isn't afraid to go for low comedy and tragedy, showing us that not even the innocent are spared in violent conflict.
UCSD's Korea, North and South provides a fascinating and provocative event. No matter what you may think sabout North Korea and its politics, you should not miss this opportunity to get a rare glimpse into both North and South Korea. If we ever hope to solve or address the problems of that region, understanding the culture and the people can only help. The UCSD Libraries deserve high praise for assembling this remarkable program.
Special guests will be Minister Kim Myong Gil, DPRK Mission to the United Nations in New York City, and Ambassador Byung-hyo Choi, ROK Consul General in Los Angeles. Minister Kim Myong Gil is making his first visit to UC San Diego.
Schedule Friday January 25
9:00 - 10:30 am
HONG GIL DONG/Kim Kil-in/1985/104 min. /DPRK
Synopsis: Based on a folk tale that emerged about a real person living in early 17th century Korea. Koreans have a love for Hong Gil Dong as the English do for Robin Hood, the robber of British history and legend.
Location: Atkinson Auditorium
2:15-3:48 pm
TO THE STARRY ISLAND/Park Kwang-su/1994/102 min. /ROK
Synopsis: Just before his death, an old man from Seoul asks his friend, a poet, and his son to bury him on the distant island of Kwisong, where he was born. This plan is thwarted when the islanders refuse to let the body come ashore. The poet, also an island son, tries to negotiate, and discovers past, unhealed wounds from the Korean War.
Location: Atkinson Auditorium
4:15-5:15 pm
Park Kwang-su's Cinematic Politics
7:30-9:40 pm
WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL/Park Kwang-hyun/ 2005/133 min. /ROK
Synopsis: An American pilot and soldiers from both sides of the Korean divide live among villagers who know nothing of the war. Eventually, they jointly decide to protect these friendly and innocent people from the war.
Location: Atkinson Auditorium
Saturday January 26
9:00-11:20 am
OUR LIFELINE (2 parts) /Kim Yu-sam /2002/140 min. /DPRK
Synopsis: Jo Yun Chol was an innocent man who wanted to be a teacher. He volunteers for public security work after discovering that a double agent of the U.S and Japan has penetrated the northern half of the Republic. In order to follow the trail of the spies, he sacrifices his youth and even love.
Location: Atkinson Theater
1:15-2:30 pm
KORYO SARAM: THE UNRELIABLE PEOPLE/Y. David Chung & Matt Dibble/2007/60 min. /USA.
Synopsis: In 1937, Stalin began a campaign of massive ethnic cleansing and forcibly deporting everyone of Korean origin living near the border of North Korea to the unsettled steppe country of Central Asia, 3700 miles away. & This documentary tells the story of 180,000 Koreans who became political pawns during the Great Terror.
Location: Atkinson Auditorium
3:45-5:50 pm
PEPPERMINT CANDY/Yi Ch'ang-dong/2000/125 min. /ROK
Synopsis: The tightening grip of the military government during the 1980's is mirrored by Yong-ho losing his innocence and becoming more and more cynical during his stint as a brutal policeman. He later loses his job during the late 1990's, during the Asian financial crisis.
Location: Atkinson Auditorium
OUR FRAGRANCE/Jon Jong-phal /2003/81 min. /DPRK
Synopsis: A fashion show and a food exhibition are the venues for this comedy of errors in which Pyong Ho and his family meet Sae Byol and her family. The result is an understanding between the parties involved and a broader understanding of Korea's standing in the world.
Location: Atkinson Auditorium
8:40 am -10:38 pm
MAY 18/Kim Ji-Hun/2007/118 min. /ROK
Synopsis: The movie is based on the Gwangju massacre that occurred in South Korea after then President Chun declared martial law. The next day, on May 18, students in the city of Gwangju gathered in front of the Chonnam National University to protest its closing. & The movie centers around four characters, inspired by real life incidents during the Gwangju tragedy.
Location: Atkinson Auditorium
Sunday January 27
9:00-11:25 am
BLOOD-STAINED WOODBLOCK (Two Parts) /Phyo Gwang /2004/133 min. /DPRK
Synopsis: The film depicts efforts to protect a golden Buddhist statue of Koryo, which was handed down through the generations on the Usan (Tok) Islet, from Japanese invaders.
Location: Atkinson Auditorium
3:45-5:52 pm
WOMAN ON THE BEACH/Hong Sang-su/2006/127 min. /ROK
Synopsis: Joong Rae, a film director, goes on a road trip to the west coast with his friend Chang Wook and Chang Wook's girlfriend, Moon Sook, a music composer. In the beautiful beach setting of Shinduri, Joong Rae finds himself attracted to Moon Sook.
Location: Atkinson Auditorium
7:15-9:46 pm
O MY LOVE (Two Parts)/Ri Hyon-su, Han Tong-ho, & Sin Sang-ok/1984/151 min. /DPRK
Synopsis: "Oh My Love" is the third film the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has based on & ldquo;The Tale of Chun Hyang & rdquo;, a well-known and typical classic Korean novel. The romance between Chun Hyang, of humble birth, and Ri Mong Ryong, an aristocrat, is the main story of this musical.
Location: Atkinson Auditorium
For a complete listing of the films, lectures and discussions for the three-day Korean film festival, go to http://kns.ucsd.edu.
