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The painful question many young men ask when it comes to mandatory army service in Korea was explored in the contemporary artist CHA Jea-min’s films which reached the far away land of Germany. An artist and also a director, CHA Jea-min’s Hysterics and Autodidact were invited to the 65th Berlin International Film Festival’s Forum Expanded program. This section is known to invite experimental films, video art, documentary and exhibition, and encompasses a large variety medium in the arts. In this section, 16 rising artists’ and directors’ 19 works were selected. The sole Korean contemporary artist to be invited to this year’s festival was CHA Jea-min.

 

CHA’s shorts take a forensic scientist named HUR Young-chun as the subject who tried to reveal the truth for thirty years about the death of his son which happened at the army. Autodidact is a dramatic reading from HUR and Hysterics is made in an abstract theatrical format. Last fall, CHA had her first solo exhibition of Hysterics in Korea, followed by Berlin, and will soon have her solo exhibition in New York. Graduate of the Korea National University of Arts’ (K’Arts) Fine Arts program, there is no separation between contemporary art and the film industry as she visualized the modern developing city and unraveled the problems of current society. “I want to take the uncomfortable social problems and show them in an artistic way that people can relate to,” said the director. Through her participation at Berlin, this dream may have already come true.

 

I heard that your invitation to Berlin was unusual?
When I participated at the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival through an exhibition, I met with the Forum Expanded team from Berlin there. They were visiting on the occasion to find works to distribute from the arsenal cinema and were also looking for Forum Expanded titles. The Forum Expanded’s theme for this year was ‘To the Sound of the Closing Door.’ To find works that represent what is rare to see and hear in the mainstream; my two films fit the theme well and were invited.

 

Your two shorts deal with the social issue of mandatory military service in Korea. What were the international responses like?
From February 5th to the 15th, there were two guided tours during the Berlin International Film Festival. In the first tour, we took turns in front of other artist and the audience to have about 30 minutes to explain each of our works. From the elderly to young students, there were about 40 or so in the room. The concentration level was high and also the attending artists had a lot of questions for each other. The main focus of my films were the Korea’s army, but there are also many other countries experiencing civil wars. A Lebanese director who moved to France due to the civil war in Lebanon had big interest in my work. Just like the theme itself, many directors from countries with political issues attended such as Lebanon, Taiwan, and Israel. Although we weren’t very knowledgeable of each nation’s conditions, we felt it from the works. When I was watching the work from Lebanon, I wished for the happiness of the children who were running around happily along the sea shore. Our English were broken but our hearts connected. I was touched by the works.

 

Were there any memorable feedbacks?
There were quite a few critics on the tour as well. One of them said that the film is very beautiful, perhaps too beautiful. In return I said, “Art is a slow medium and it doesn’t try to teach anyone. That’s why I chose to express poetically even though the story itself is uneasy. My work is abstract and although that may look fashionable, the core of the work is not that beautiful.” I had to think a lot in order to project these uneasy and psychological materials in an artistic way. I wasn’t aiming to make something that’s beautiful to the eyes but for something that’s beautiful in aesthetics, and I think I still have a long way to go.

 

You’re working as a contemporary artist as well as a director. Do you plan to be more involved in the film industry in the future?
While attending K’Arts I was influenced a lot by fellow students in film studies. Our cinematographer KANG Gook-hyun is also a very talented person who worked on The Shameless which stars JEON Do-yeon, and also Stateless Things (2012). Many artists already go back and forth from video art to film and although I tried to condense the number of crew for my work, art films pretty much follow the grammar of filmmaking. That’s why I don’t see the reason why the two should be separated.

 

I heard you have an upcoming solo exhibition in March in New York?
There is an artists’ workshop run by Doosan where I will be working at for six months, while meeting with professionals and setting up the exhibition. At New York Chelsea Doosan Gallery, my exhibition will be held from mid April to early May. In Europe, a single exhibition might be up for a whole year in a given space, but in Korea, there are seven to eight different exhibitions in half a year. This fast turnover is very tiresome and also the themes are likely weak. Attending the Berlin International Film Festival and other festivals, I had a chance to meet diverse audiences and the experience let me take breather. It acted as a turning point for me. While I’m in Berlin, which is famed for its curation contemporary art, I want to see many exhibitions and performances as possible before I go back.