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A couple of familiar faces from Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) showed up at a theater in Seoul on 10 September. Alice in Earnestland director AHN Gooc-jin and the film’s female lead LEE Jung-hyun, Socialphobia director HONG Seok-jae, The Night of the Prophet director KIM Sung-moo and the cast LEE Mi-so and SIN Soo-yeon were welcomed on stage. That was the opening of a special showcase, ‘KAFA FILMS 2015: Bad Films’ that was held between 10-30 September.

 

‘KAFA FILMS 2015: Bad Films’ is the 7th special showcase presented by the KAFA. For this edition, publicly released films such as Alice in Earnestland, which attracted 40 thousand moviegoers this summer, and Socialphobia, which has been the highest-grossing diversity film since its March release had the opportunity to meet public audience as well as with new titles including KIM Sung-moo’s The Night of the Prophet, HUR Bum-wook’s animation On The White Planet, and PARK Hye-mi’s Crimson Whale.

 

Meanwhile, the special showcase opened with a speech from the KAFA head YOO Young-sik and a welcome speech from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) Chairman KIM Sae-hoon. This year’s edition was designed in the form of a film festival and award ceremony. The KAFA pick for this year’s The More, The Better Award, was actor BYUN Yo-han who starred in a number of the KAFA shorts and feature films including Socialphobia, while LEE Mi-so of The Night of the Prophet received The Martyr Award. LEE Jung-hyun of Alice in Earnestland received the Matchless Beauty Award. LEE Mi-so’s award speech “This is my first award. The KAFA signifies the word ‘first’ to me. The times I’ve spent with the KAFA have been grueling, exciting and will be remembered for a longtime,” particularly attracted attention as such words seem to imply the accomplishments and journey of the KAFA Feature Film Production Research Program that has established itself as an important gateway to a professional career for directors and acting talents who are now receiving the spotlight from the Korean film industry.

 

The Cradle of Young Talents
 

Launched in 2007, the KAFA Feature Film Production Research Program is an advanced film production training program for graduates who have completed the regular curriculum. Unlike other existing production support programs, this program offers supervision that spans the entire filmmaking process from its start to completion. And through the special showcase launched in 2008, the program has guaranteed theatrical screenings for all completed titles, some of which also had commercial distribution. In other words, it has become a cradle for noteworthy feature debut works.

 

The first special showcase in 2009 introduced BAEK Seung-bin’s Members of the Funeral, LEE Suk-gyung’s The Day After, and KO Tae-jeong’s The Room Nearby. Members of the Funeral, in particular, received acclaim after it won the NETPAC Award at the 13th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). In 2010, RYU Hyung-ki’s Our Fantastic 21st Century, PARK Jae-ok, Soo-Kyoung and HONG Eun-ji’s animation What Is Not Romance were showcased, while SO Sang-min’s I’m in Trouble! won the New Currents Award at the 14th BIFF.
 

 

The KAFA-branded animated features are also extraordinary. KIM Sun-ah and PARK Se-hee’s The Dearest, shown at the 4th special showcase in 2012, was critically recognized as the animated version of the acclaimed hit feature Silenced in the way it dealt with the subject of people with mental disability. What Is Not Romance depicting the life of the lower middle class was highlighted for its 2D handworks. This year’s line-up including noir On The White Planet and sci-fi adventure Crimson Whale are paving the way of new genres for Korean animation.

 

The KAFA feature project boasts its fruitful products: Alice in Earnestland and Socialphobia.

 

 

Tony RAYNS, noted East Asian film critic, described Alice in Earnestland as “funny, shocking and sometimes cruel, this film has enough invention and energy to take your breath away.” Filmmaker PARK Chan-wook is also known to have commented after reading the screenplay, “This is the best script I’ve read recently,” subsequently recommending the film to a good friend and actress LEE Jung-hyun. The film went on to win Grand Prize in Korean Competition at this year’s Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF), and an invite to compete for the Dragons & Tigers Award at the 34th Vancouver International Film Festival. Attracting popular and critical response from the public with an unprecedented 40 thousand ticket sales for a ‘diversity film’ since its theatrical release on 69 screens, now the film will have its chance to reach out to a larger international audience with such positive vibes from the domestic market.

 

AHN Gooc-jin, who already won the Grand Prize in Korean Competition for Shorts at the 12th JIFF for his short film Double Clutch, a piece dealing with an extremely serious subject matter but directed with superb finesse. The director’s debut feature and a 7th KAFA class graduation piece, Alice in Earnestland is a black comedy that sheds light on contemporary issues.

 

Soo-nam, in her quest for an elite life and success, has been adding various qualifications to her resume since she was in high school. When her husband with whom she had hoped to share her happiness falls ill, she works herself to pieces with the goal of buying her own house, the symbol of happiness in contemporary Korean society. The director, who projected the hardships and state of the working class through Soo-nam, draws the issue of ‘redevelopment’ that has become a key topic of current Korean society within the film’s narrative, and presents us with a surprising twist. LEE Jung-hyun’s Soo-nam, reminiscent of PARK Chan-wook’s ‘Geum-ja’ in Sympathy For Lady Vengeance is the epitome of poverty, alienation and labor. And through her character, AHN explains “I wanted to touch upon the problems of the system and not the individuals.”

 

Socialphobia deals with the subject of Internet ‘witch-hunting’. A military soldier’s suicide emerges as a social issue, and the netizens’ collective rage is targeted at a woman who leaves an online hate comment at the news of man’s death. Ji-woong’s drawn into a plan with his friends to go live on the Web as they meet the woman face-to-face. But what awaits them when they finally reach her place is her dead body. And this time the blame heads in a totally different direction. When presented at the 19th BIFF, the film was praised for “depicting the subject of Internet addiction with a dynamic and realistic touch” through a well-written script that covered issues of rage towards online hate commenting, live Web broadcasting and witch-hunting, and murder.

 

Director HONG Seok-jae was inspired by a true story of cyber-tailing that occurred in 2008. A subject matter addressing an era ruled by smartphones, outstanding performances from young acting talents such as BYUN Yo-han and LEE Ju-seung, well-structured end results that makes his audience forget the fact the film was made on a low budget, all contributed to attracting 260 thousand moviegoers to the theaters. Both 7th KAFA feature projects released in 2015 successfully found their own ways of communicating with the audience through social dramas dealing with contemporary issues.

 

On 17 July during the 19th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan), the ‘KAFA 3D Homecoming Day’ was held. Then the event introduced a total of 25 KAFA 3D shorts including omnibus films, and a report on the program’s progress up to date. At this year’s BiFan, the 8th ‘KAFA+Next D’ Project’s Elephant in the Room was showcased. This film consists of GWON Ho-young’s sci-fi thriller Lucid Dream, PARK Soo-young’s black comedy Chicken Game and KWON Chil-in’s erotic melodrama Second Account. In fact, another reason why the ‘KAFA 3D Homecoming Day’ received focus was due to its announcement of a feature length project and not an omnibus film this time.

 

E J-yong, who presented his commercial feature, My Brilliant Life in 2014, will be directing The Killer Woman (working title) as the KAFA’s next ambitious 3D film production project. The director will be exploring senior citizen issues in a dramatic format that has both thriller and erotic elements through the so-called ‘Bacchus Grannies’ who sell sex to male senior citizens as they sell the well-known health drink Bacchus to them. Writing the script himself, the director is kicking up speed with casting and pre-production as the film shoot is scheduled to start this October. The film is aiming for a world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival and a theatrical release afterwards.

 

In addition to its feature project program, the KAFA continues its challenge with 3D filmmaking. “The industry has been holding back from 3D filmmaking lately. We (at the KAFA) hope to attempt at making another well-made 3D film,” states YOO Young-sik, the KAFA head. Now we’ll just have to wait and see whether his wish will become a reality.