After his notable debut with End of Winter, director KIM Dae-hwan has officially released his second feature film. The First Lap was selected for the Jeonju Cinema Project production support program at the 18th Jeonju International Film Festival, and it won the Best Emerging Director award at the 70th Locarno International Film Festival, followed by a Silver Astor for Best Screenplay at the 32nd Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata. The First Lap is a road movie that centers around Ji-young (KIM Saebyuk) and Su-hyeon (CHO Hyun-chul), a young couple who have lived together for 7 years while putting off their marriage. The camera follows their small car as they go on their first trip together to visit their parents with news of a possible pregnancy. The two youths are on an unfamiliar road of marriage and birth while their fears and strange emotions are delicately exposed in this charming film. We met with director KIM Dae-hwan who explained that “it was a story I had to tell now,” to discuss the worries of millennials and how it became cinematized.

The best part about making a film in school is having those boundaries. People like director PARK Ki-young are reliable professors who teach you how you should apply what you learned into your thesis film. Once I graduated, I no longer had that reliable support. On the other hand, the good thing is that I got to try new methods without any restraints. Thanks to the support I received from the Jeonju International Film Festival, I was able to climb over my second mountain without difficulty. Also, the experience of producing Autumn, Autumn was helpful. Autumn, Autumn was produced through Bomnae Films and was directed by JANG Woo-jin of A Fresh Start. At Bomnae Films, JANG Woo-jin and I produced each other’s films and we took turns directing. What Bomnae Films is doing is an original attempt in the Korean cinema production system. I saw many charms while producing Autumn, Autumn, and I was able to experience them again through The First Lap. The production process itself became very cinematic to me.

In End of Winter, I wanted to make a film about a household with the father as the head of the family. Meanwhile, I strongly felt The First Lap was a story I had to make now or never. It started off from a personal thought. I dated for 7 years with my current wife. Both of our parents talked about our marriage very lightly, and we wanted to get married as well, but it wasn’t easy. While sharing our concerns with our friends, we had many discussions. How did anxieties become such a huge part of our generation? I thought it would be good to encompass this uneasiness in a film.

(Smiling) Actually, I put in a lot of effort in the script. But I wanted the script to be just a guide. I thought it would be arrogant of me to ask and answer questions about marriage when I haven’t been married myself. Also, the production system had to focus on the two protagonists to shoot the film. That’s why we shot a lot of impromptu scenes. We didn’t have the power to discuss anyone else’s story, so we solely focused on the two protagonists.

I met CHO Hyun-chul while looking for someone to play Su-hyeon. Even before we met, I liked the way he performed in some shorts, as well as the film he wrote and directed, Dempseyroll: confessions. When we first met, we talked a lot about Su-hyeon. He said, “These two must have gotten along for a long time because they find the same things funny.” Could that mean Ji-young gets to see a side of Su-hyeon that no one else can? With that as the starting point, we talked about Su-hyeon’s family, his position at the art academy, and his desire to go to grad school for art. I was able to gain a lot of ideas about Su-hyeon. Hyun-chul not only played Su-hyeon, but he also had a personal revelation through the character and that’s how the character came to be. As for Saebyuk, I met her at a film festival where End of Winter had been invited. I thought her personality and the way she performed were both attractive and wanted to work with her one day. Once the script was complete, I sent it to her, and she was interested in the idea of improvising more than the script itself.

There was one scene that just came to me when I first started working on The First Lap. I thought it would be great to have a couple climb on the Taebaek Mountains to see the sunrise and the sunset. With that image in mind, I wrote the story around it. I chose Incheon and Samcheok as the settings due to personal experiences. I lived for a short time in Incheon when I was young, and I still remember it as a gray city. Samcheok is my mother’s hometown. My grandparents’ house was located just beside a huge cement factory, and it felt like I was in a different place and time whenever I was there. I thought it would be interesting to have a family that lived in such a place to appear in the film.

(Laughing) For some reason, it always snows or rains when I shoot. Because I shot both films in time for the Jeonju International Film Festival, they had to be set in the winter. From the beginning, The First Lap was to be set in late autumn. While location scouting on Taebaek Mountains, I thought it would be really startling to have the couple see their first snow while climbing. But then it really did sleet during the shoot. I shot a short for fun with director JANG Woo-jin this summer, and the sky suddenly turned cloudy and it rained. I think I’m pretty lucky with weather. (Smile)