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Talented filmmakers are expanding their horizons beyond the silver screen. KIM Tae-yong directed a traditional Korean musical performance, while PARK Chan-wook and PARK Chan-kyong’s 3D artwork is currently on display, and KIM Jee-woon directed a music video as part of a musical number. 

Filmmaker KIM Tae-yong of Late Autumn (2011) and Family Ties (2006) will direct the National Gugak Center’s presentation of Kkokdu, a traditional Korean musical performance inspired by kkokdu, the wooden ornament piece on a funeral bier, connecting the secular world with the transcendental world. This performance, arranged as a special event in hopes of a successful 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, is a large-scale stage performance with a budget of KRW 1.2-1.3 billion. Music director BANG Jun-seok of films Veteran (2015) and The Throne (2015) will also work on the music of Kkokdu.

KIM Tae-yong has had a history of presenting pieces that combine stage performances and film. In 2013, during the 1st Muju Film Festival opening ceremony, he presented the silent film Crossroads of Youth (1934) accompanied by a band concert. In 2016, he showcased the 2016 Film Pansori Chun-Hyang which combines the tradition of Pansori (Korean opera) and live music with the 1961 SHIN Sang-ok-directed Seong Chun-Hyang. This June, he merged the reggae music of NST & The Soul Sauce and Pansori with the 1967 KANG Tae-woong-directed stop motion puppet animation film The Brothers of Hungboo and Nolboo to create the musical play Reggae inna Film. The public will have the opportunity to enjoy the accumulation of filmmaker KIM Tae-yong’s keen interest and affection towards Pansori through Kkokdu which is scheduled to play at the National Gugak Center’s Yeak-dang venue in Seoul from Oct. 4th –22nd. 

In 2015, the director of The Age of Shadows (2016) and A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003), KIM Jee-woon wrote and directed the family dance play The Little Prince, which was sponsored by the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company. Based on Antoine De Saint-Exupery’s quintessential classic, Le Petit Prince, this performance was created to celebrate the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company’s 5th anniversary by using 3D technology to introduce extraordinary scenes of dancers on stage interacting with video images of dancers off the stage. This performance was presented again for the 2016 end-of-year repertory.

YIM Pil-sung who directed Scarlet Innocence (2014) and Antarctic Journal (2005) directed the National Dance Company of Korea’s 2015 performance Red-We All Dance at the Cliff. Inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Red Shoes, Red-We All Dance at the Cliff was billed as an account of ‘desire’. Music director of Silenced (2011) and Masquerade (2012), bassist Mowg worked on the music of this performance. CHOI Jin-wook, former principal dancer of the National Dance Company was in charge of choreography and costumes created by fashion brand Pushbutton’s Park Seung-gun, who served as Creative Director, added perfection to the performance. 

Meanwhile, there are filmmakers making their mark in fine arts as well. Brothers PARK Chan-wook of The Handmaiden (2016) and PARK Chan-kyong of MANSHIN: Ten Thousand Spirits (2014) created the artist duo group ‘PARKing CHANce’ in 2011 and have been attempting various video works. The first piece by PARKing CHANce was Night Fishing (2010) which won the Golden Berlin Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival. PARKing CHANce has recently showcased their latest work Decades Apart at ‘Highlights’, an exhibition commissioned by the Collection of the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain. 

The exhibition is a unique experience of the senses, using the Panmunjeom set of PARK Chan-wook’s film Joint Security Area/ JSA (2000) in 3D and adding the voices of the cast and other sounds from the film. The optimistic mood between South and North Korea during the time the film was made, which even inspired a summit between the two Koreas, and the drastically deteriorated current state presents an extreme contrast that recalls a ‘deep sense of changing times’ as the artwork literally is titled after. Commissioned by the Fondation Cartier, this is the first 3D piece created by the filmmaker brothers. The exhibition also introduces ceramic works from Japanese filmmaker KITANO Takeshi, and drawings and lithographs from filmmaker David Lynch. ‘Highlights’ through which the public will have the opportunity to experience the artistic touches of the masters of cinema will be held until Aug. 15th at the Seoul Museum of Art. Admission is free. 

Filmmaker IM Heung-soon of Jeju Prayer (2013) and Factory Complex (2015) will be presenting his exhibition Things That Do Us Part from Dec. 2017 – April 2018. IM Heung-soon has been chosen as an ‘MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2017’ artist, which is an annual long-term project sponsored by the Hyundai Motor Company and selected by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA). His latest work, Things That Do Us Part explores Korea’s modern and contemporary history through the lives of four elderly people. It will be completed as a media art work which will be displayed on site, and ultimately be made and screened as a film. The Silver Lion for a promising young artist-winner at the 56th Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition for his take on labor and women issues in his 2015 Factory Complex, IM Heung-soon is an artist the contemporary art scene is paying keen attention to at the moment. 

Music videos require outstanding directorial skills and artistic taste and are thus the perfect vehicle for filmmakers. This March, filmmaker KIM Jee-woon introduced the music video of ‘Before and After You / One Second and a Million Miles’, the lead song of the musical The Bridges of Madison County, which is the first music video made since his debut as a filmmaker. Without the help of computer graphics, lights are projected onto dozens of curtains and screens to create the uniquely melancholic mood of The Bridges of Madison County. The significance of cinematography, lighting and props required a number of talented film professionals in the Korean commercial film scene to come together for this project such as JUNG Gui-ho who worked on the camera team of The Tiger (2015), Asura: The City of Madness (2016) and The Age of Shadows, LEE Seong-hwan, Lighting Director of Asura: The City of Madness, and C’est si bon (2014), and JEONG I-jin, Art Director of The Age of Shadows and The Fatal Encounter (2014).

RYOO Seung-wan who joined the ten million admissions club with his film Veteran, and CHOI Dong-hoon of The Thieves (2012) both directed music videos for hip hop duo Leessang. CHOI Dong-hoon directed the music video for ‘I’m Not Laughing’ on Leessang’s 3rd album Library of Soul, while RYOO Seung-wan directed ‘Ballerino’ on the duo’s 4th album Black Sun, and ‘Can’t Breakup Girl, Can’t Breakaway Boy’ on the 6th album Hexagonal. All three music videos which cast actor RYOO Seung-bum present outstanding qualities of well-made short films with the help of great directorial skills, performance and music. PARKing CHANce directed and produced the music video for singer and actress LEE Jung-hyun’s song V in 2013.