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During the 48th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, where he is serving on the jury, Fantastic Fest head programmer Evrim Ersoy sat down with us to chat about his love of Korean cinema and the various challenges associated with distributing and marketing the country’s films overseas.

 

 

I also help program for the Boston Underground Film Festival and I run a very small festival in London called DukeFest. Beyond that I’m a writer and director. I’ve made a few shorts that have been on the festival circuit and I’m currently trying to get my first feature off the ground. I also work as a journalist and have written for Twitchfilm, Electric Sheep, Time Out Istanbul and Monsters and Critics. I’ve also appeared on radio, including BBC Radio, and done some presentations and Q&As for film events. I’ve now been based in London for 21 years.

 

 

Yes, I love Korean cinema! It started for me during the boom of Korean cinema in the UK, which started when Tartan Asia Extreme (Tartan Films’ distribution label) was bringing things in. While not a Korean film, the first thing everyone saw was The Ring (1998) and then there was a surge of interest in Korean cinema. I ended up going to Chinatown to buy VCDs of films, and then more things like Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Old Boy (2003) popped up. I found myself drawn to these films.

 

 

 

It’s never a question of the technical aspects, as Korean cinema is so accomplished, delivering very polished and glossy products. It’s mainly in terms of scripts, and trying to find things that are unusual and new. Korea does certain genres very well, but they don’t always distinguish themselves from things that came before. Whether gangster films or thrillers, there’s a lot of good product on offer, but nothing that stands out, so I look for something different. This year, Veteran was a film that distinguished itself as a title with a great balance between character work and the action on screen, not to mention its very dark humor. The rule is that it has to be different from the norm.

 

 

From my standpoint, it seems that the number of productions has slowed down. Back in the heyday it felt like an endless number of these films were coming out. But that is the same everywhere, with the global financial crisis, as every industry has stalled, so I’m not surprised to see that in Korea as well. However, I’m also seeing new independent films that weren’t there before. Rough, edgy films that are incredibly personal, confrontational and angry, which talk about history, politics and social status, or even gender politics. I suppose it’s a matter of finding a balance. I believe a popular cinema needs to be established before an industry can expand its identity. Without a popular cinema, you wind up only seeing one kind of film. Korean cinema is evolving, which means it’s constantly shedding or changing some elements.

 

 

I’m going to be cheeky and say no, as the audiences at these festivals are very sophisticated. In terms of their film knowledge, they’ve seen the same sort of things that I have so I don’t worry about them not being up to pick up on these elements. I always assume that the audience is willing to try new things and will make an effort to understand something different. If I don’t understand something in a film I will go and research it and given the infrastructure we have these days with the internet, it’s very easy for anyone to do that.

 

 

The numbers dropped a lot in the UK after Tartan went out of business and now distributors are more afraid to touch these films. As a result, general audiences don’t have the same opportunities to see these films. Which is a shame as they are still very popular on the festival circuit, often selling out at numerous events, including the London Korean Film Festival. There are people out there still fighting the good fight but of course the DVD industry isn’t the same. There aren’t any specialist shops any more: HMV is completely scaled down, Virgin is gone, Tower Records is dead. All these places where I used to browse are gone. Now people find DVDs in supermarkets and getting these films onto those shelves is very difficult. There’s a lot compromise on the part of distributors, who aren’t happy with the situation, but they need to shift a thousand units to justify what they paid on a film. For Korean films, it’s very difficult as the demographic that buys films in supermarkets doesn’t match.

 

 

 

I really liked Hwayi: A Monster Boy (2013), which was very unusual and tried something different in terms of looking at a patriarchal society. Last year there was A Hard Day, although the last act falls apart, and then there was Haemoo, which was a great mix of thriller and stage play, almost liked chamber piece, or I am Trash, which is a very personal film. On the opposite side of the scale you have KUNDO : Age of the Rampant, which reimagines the Korean period film as a spaghetti western very cleverly. And then there are animations like The King of Pigs (2011) and The Fake (2013). What stand out are individual directors and personalities which are letting their voices come through.

 

 

You know what, I have one that many people probably wouldn’t say, Epitaph (2007). It’s one of the greatest horror films of our age. It’s stunning to look but also incredibly emotionally astute. It starts with the idea of haunting and ghosts, which we’ve all seen, but then each story equates the appearance of ghosts with death and loneliness. By the end, it’s become this very delicate tale of people dealing with loss, who betrayed their loved ones and now suffer through this loneliness which is manifested through the presence of ghosts.

 

Obviously anything from PARK Chan-wook, I’ve loved everything he’s done. Then of course BONG Joon-ho, who also hasn’t stepped a foot wrong. I love all his films, but I would probably secretly choose Mother (2009) as my favorite. The last shot of that film sent shivers up my spine. RYOO Seung-wan is another great filmmaker.

 

I’m also very interested in the history of Korean cinema. I believe that film is organic and you can draw these lines through cinema. A lot of people won’t look beyond the obvious, and don’t go further back than the 70s or 80s but I think that’s a colossal mistake. Older Korean films were to access but then the Korean Film Archive began a Youtube channel with films in HD and English subtitles. I go there regularly to watch films and among the best I’ve seen are the remakes of The Housemaid (1960). It’s amazing to see how KIM Ki-young interpreted his same work three different times in different ways with different social contexts. It’s a terrific resource and people should be shouting about from the rooftops.