By Honorary Reporter Marla Josephine Arbach from Canada
Images = Ottawa Korean Film Festival

The fifth Ottawa Korean Film Festival on Oct. 4 held a Q&A on Zoom featuring three directors whose works were shown at this year's event. Moderated by Kim Jia from the Korean Cultural Centre in the Canadian capital and with simultaneous interpretation provided by Han Lee, Kim Boyoung, Shin Si-jeong and Chung Jiwoon discussed their short films and answered questions from the online audience about their experiences in film.

I participated in this discussion because I was curious about what the directors thought when creating their films and their perspectives as female filmmakers.

Kim Boyoung is an animator and filmmaker whose film "The Levers" has earned critical acclaim abroad.

Kim Boyoung spoke of how she uses environments unfamiliar with the public to deal with real situations. Viewers begin as observers, she said, but by the end of the film, they get immersed in the situation with the character, something that raises the impact of the moral and ethical questions posed in the work.

On the challenges she faced during production of her work "The Levers" (2018), Kim said getting voice actors not to show any emotion while delivering their lines (as lack of emotion is important to her story) was probably the most difficult. She added that with animation, even an incredibly short film takes a long time to make—her nine-minute work took about a year—so she said she is always on the lookout for any method to reduce production time.

Director Shin Si-jeong made "The Blank" (2021) as a graduate student at Hongik University in Seoul.

Director Shin Si-jeong spoke about the emptiness the main character feels in her work "The Blank" (2021) in toiling all day to provide for her daughter, as well as the role of classical music to fill her void. Shin said she drew on her childhood experience of listening to classical music in bathrooms while waiting for her mother, a cleaning lady at a department store like the protagonist in the film.

In a pivotal scene, the main character does something for herself by registering for piano lessons at an academy to learn to play a piece that inspires her while working. This was also from Shin's real-life experience of wanting to play a piano piece and pursuing her goal despite the academy normally only teaching children. 

On what she thought would happen after the end of the film, she said the character would probably continue musical training, and to emulate her character, Shin said she would keep making films.

Chung Jiwoon's "The Princess' Fruit Stand" was made with a theatrical feel.

Chung Jiwoon also drew on her real-life experiences in her work, "The Princess' Fruit Stand" (2021). She said her family has a tradition of holding conversations through song and dance and thus gave the film a theatrical feel. 

In one scene, the main character, a woman who believes she is a princess and must leave her family to return to her kingdom, cooks a whimsical pasta dish in which she chops up nonedible accessories as ingredients. The director said this scene conveys the woman's pure and bright personality and the film's atmosphere.

On the techniques she used to create the fairytale atmosphere in her film, she mentioned the personification of inanimate objects, unusual color palette, surreal costumes and dialogue in the style of live theater.

All three directors painted an optimistic portrait of the direction of women's participation in filmmaking. On being a woman in the field, Kim acknowledged the gender disparity and discrimination women face in the industry, but mentioned the many actions seeking to reduce this divide and that many are helping this movement toward equality. Shin agreed that the industry is changing and said women receive a lot of support and work as directors, writers and other roles. 

enny0611@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.