LEE Chung-ryoul is the director of <Old Partner>, which soared into an uncharted territory for Korean documentary films and independent films by attracting 2.9 million viewers. He had long worked as a freelance producer on TV broadcast films, but faced difficulty in working on subject matters of his liking due to differing interests of his clients. For his own independent project, he chose a story of an older farmer and his old cow, which was also a tribute to his fathe...More

LEE Chung-ryoul is the director of <Old Partner>, which soared into an uncharted territory for Korean documentary films and independent films by attracting 2.9 million viewers. He had long worked as a freelance producer on TV broadcast films, but faced difficulty in working on subject matters of his liking due to differing interests of his clients. For his own independent project, he chose a story of an older farmer and his old cow, which was also a tribute to his father in his rural village of Young-am in South Jeolla providence. <Old Partner> reflects on what it means to be a farmer working on land, people choosing to live without the comfort and amenities of the modern times, and a life in the countryside as opposed to one in the city. LEE learned documentary filmmaking virtually on his own, without belonging to any particular documentary group or receiving formal training. It can be said that a stranger to the tradition of Korean documentary filmmaking pulled off the greatest feat of all documentary films. Less