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Three Korean shorts have been invited to the ‘Cannes Film Festival of short films’, the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Director NA Young-kil’s Hosanna and SHIM Chan-yang’s Minsu Kim in Wonderland are selected for International Competition while CHOI Bong-su’s animated short The Hole is selected for Lab Competition. The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival running from late January to early February is one of the three major international short film festivals including Finland’s Tampere International Short Film Festival in March, and Germany’s International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in April. Official competition selections are split between International and National Competition, and Lab Competition. Held in the city of Clermont-Ferrand known for rock music, rugby and short films, the annual event is scheduled to launch on January 30th, 2015.

 

NA Young-kil’s Hosanna selected for International Competition section has already been recognized in the local festival scene with its 15th Jeonju International Film Festival Korean Competition for Shorts Special Jury Award, and the 13th Mise-en-scene Short Film Festival’s Special Jury Award. In addition, the film’s production designer KIM Hyeon-ah received The Passionate Staff Member Prize at the 40th Seoul Independent Film Festival.

 

The film title ‘Hosanna’, a familiar term to Christians, means ‘save, savior’ in Hebrew. According to the bible, it is the praise Jews shouted during Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The film, Hosanna also starts with a young savior ‘Sup’ who heals the wounded and the sick with his blood, even bringing people back from the dead. However, those reborn with the help of Sup’s flesh and blood are bored with their lives rather than being thankful. And instead of making the most of their new gift, they choose to fight, kill and be killed. What can redemption mean in a world like this? And what can a savior mean to people who do not wish to be saved? What can a savior possibly do in a time of total decay with no hope for redemption? Hosanna compactly addresses these questions. Director NA reveals the reason for making the film as an “inquiry into the ethics and value of redemption”. Film critic AN Shi-hwan, who was on the preliminary selection committee for the Jeonju International Film Festival’s Korean Competition for Shorts section commented, “The film’s consistently unemotional gaze at the world is impressive enough to have the film remembered as the most controversial Korean short film of 2014”.

 

Director SHIM Chan-yang’s Minsu Kim in Wonderland is also programmed in International Competition. The filmmaker already showed great potential with his previous short An Unexpected Vacation which won the Apple Cinema Award at the 14th Daegu Independent Short Film Festival, and a Jury Special Mention at the 7th Daejeon Independent Film & Video Festival. Minsu Kim in Wonderland deals with high school student KIM Minsu whose first visit to Korea from Indonesia in 13 years turns out to be a strange, frightening and weird string of events. Set off by an off the wall question, “What if a nuclear bomb explodes in our neighborhood?” various keywords representing the current state of Korea appear in this film. From a member of the Korean ultra conservative Internet community ‘Ilbe’, ‘Jongbook (Pro-North Korean)’, ‘Balgaengie (commie)’ to illegal aliens, the mishaps caused by the people surrounding Minsu seem absurd, yet more or less probable. As Minsu becomes flustered by the strange accounts he comes across, the audience can contemplate the reality Korea is now facing. “Once again, this year has been ridden with senseless incidents. It made me feel like I’m living in a strange country where anything can happen. That’s why I wanted to make a really strange film filled with things even more absurd,” said director SHIM regarding his motivation to make the film. For SHIM who is making films in this ‘strange country’ called Korea, this film impressively displays his unique world of imagination.

 

CHOI Bong-su’s animated short The Hole is in the Lab Competition, where experimental works are usually introduced. At the 2010’s Festival, JOUNG Yu-mi’s animated short Dust Kid was also introduced in the same category. With a running time of almost 5 minutes The Hole opens to a score reminiscent of Buddhist music. Odd events occur in an unknown space where there is a man and a woman, and a monster appearing from darkness. The man who is in psychological distress is gradually pushed to the edge as he gets buried under the ground or falls into a bottomless pit. The tight underground or bottomless pit the man falls into corresponds to the film’s title, ‘hole’ (read as ‘gu’ from the Chinese character ‘口’ which means ‘hole’ or ‘mouth’). The man continues to descend into the hole, and the woman who was sharing a meal with him disappears, leaving her ‘mouth’ behind. The director equates the mouth with the hole, cleverly associating the desire to eat with the desire to hide oneself in a hole. The director who studied visual design at Seoul National University received the KIAFA Special Prize at the Indie-AniFest 2006 for his film The Bebe Penguin Blues.

 

The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival which was launched in 1979 by the Clermont-Ferrand University Film Society as a short film week is now already celebrating its 37th year. First starting out as a domestic short film showcase, it grew to inspire a short film renaissance. And by adopting an international competition section, the festival stepped up onto a global scale. It plays a key role in understanding the trends of world short films and the Clermont-Ferrand Film Market is known for attracting outstanding short works from all around the world. The Market where short film publicity, marketing, distribution and sales take place is now on its 30th year.

 

Korea’s relationship with the festival first started in 1993 with the Research Prize and Youth Jury Prize-winning film, E J-yong and BYUN Hyuk’s Homo Videocus. In 1998, KIM Jin-han also received the Research Prize for his film Crack of the Halo while actor YOO Ji-tae was appointed as Juror for International Competition program with also a showcase of his directorial work How Does the Blind Dream in the Spécial Découverte section in 2006. In 2012, director YOON Ga-eun showed the power of Korean shorts by winning the Grand Prix in International Competition for her film Guest. It will be interesting to see how the three Korean films will be received at this year’s Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.