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SHIN Yeon-shick has so far directed Rough Play (2013), where he helped LEE Joon, an idol singer, to become a real actor, and The Russian Novel (2013) and The Avian Kind (2015) with his own unique imagination and cinematic world. SHIN is now back with two new films. One is Like a French Film, an omnibus work where he did the planning, producing, script writing and directing, and DONGJU; The Portrait of A Poet where he did the planning, producing, and script writing.

 

However, SHIN still has a long way to go, because both films are made as first films in a series. Like a French Film aims to discover new actors and expand established actors' acting scope, and DONGJU; The Portrait of A Poet which depicts a major Korean poet is to open the "Artist Series" that introduces the greatest Korean artists. Thus, SHIN is a true multi-player who freely moves between independent cinema and commercial cinema, where he is a planner, producer, script writer and acting trainer of idol stars.

 

 

The central purpose of this film is to discover new actors, hence I named the project the "Actor Discovering Project“. Originally I was planning to put all the actors in all the four pieces in different roles, thus training them on acting. It consists of 4 shorts, namely, A Time to Leave, A Lady at the Bar, A Remaining Time, and Like a French Film, featuring ensemble acting, drama acting, foreign language acting, and image acting, respectively. Among these, A Lady at the Bar and Like a French Film were written when I was at high school, which I never produced but only used for training actors. In 2015, I was thinking of producing the film with the help of Jeonju Cinema Project in Jeonju International Film Festival, but then starting from that year it changed into the program for feature length films instead of shorts. (laughs) Finally I added two more short film scripts and turned the whole thing into an omnibus work.

 

 

It is a short film series where you aim to discover new talents and to provide new acting opportunities for established actors. Most actors in my films have been quite successful, and many directors often ask me to recommend promising rookies for their new films. Also, established and active actors are often confined within similar roles, wanting to break free for new type of acting. I wanted to accommodate these needs, and I am very happy when my actors are successful. I would like to contribute to Korean cinema in my own way. I thought a low budget short film series would be economically viable for me to produce. I hope it will become some kind of platform for actors.

 

 

These are all serious actresses, wanting to learn. Some idol stars were in fact dreaming to be actors but happened to make a debut as singers. Especially, I was told that Da-som was greatly interested in acting. She has acting experience in TV dramas, and she did great in A Lady at the Bar which is her screen debut, although the role must have been hard for her. The film is about a waitress at a beer house and two men who are after her. Da-som was to serve customers beer, do dialogues and also act her emotions. It was a completely different type of acting from that of TV drama where she started her acting career. She was rather confused at first but soon got adjusted.

 

 

 

I wanted to shoot it real time, like Boyhood. The couple is to meet again after breaking up as foretold, and I wanted to shoot it after one year in real time. Now, the man and woman after breaking up, their reunion in one year and revisit to the fortune teller, my goal is to turn all these three shorts together into a feature length film. Steven YEUN is really a great actor. It was shot in a hurry to accommodate his busy schedule in Korea, but he showed a great acting all the same, which made me want to do more works with foreign actors in the future.

 

 

For me, DONGJU; The Portrait of A Poet is the first work in the “Artist Series.“ I am planning on more or less 10 pieces for this series, where major Korean artists are introduced by major directors. So far, LEE Mi-yeon of L'Abri (2002) works on LEE Nan-young, a singer, JEONG Jae-eun of Take Care Of My Cat (2001) works on BAEK Seok, a poet, LEE Myung-se of Nowhere To Hide (1999) works on LEE Joong-seop, a painter, and PARK Jung-bum of Alive (2015) works on SHIN Bool-chool, a comedian. I am going to work on director KIM Ki-young.

 

 

Different pieces have different sizes. DONGJU is to be released in February and LEE Nan-young movie has almost completed casting. SHIN Bool-chool movie is about to begin script writing. Among these, LEE Nan-young movie will be a well made music film with USD 3.3 million budget.

 

 

DONGJU depicts the friendship and conflict between a young national independent movement activist SONG Mong-gyu and a major Korean poet YOON Dong-ju, who died in his twenties in the prison during Japanese Occupation. LEE Nan-young was the greatest singer and SHIN Bool-chool was the best comedian in their time. LEE is famous for her popular song Tears in Mokpo but this film defines her as an independent female artist who attempted at postmodernism for the first time in Korea. You could say she is a combination of Edith Piaf and Madonna. She made her debut at 17 years old and released a music album, and did a world tour, while having seven or eight children. SHIN is not that well known in Korea since he moved to North Korea, but I would say he is much like Charlie Chaplin. He named himself Bool-chool (“not born” in Korean), meaning he wishes he would not have been born in this shitty world. He was such a political and philosophical comedian.

 

 

The reason why I am in the film business is I want to make a better world. Artists pose a question, something to think about, so that the world will be a better place to live. Of course every day I feel desperate because I have to keep my business running, but I have know-hows for low budget production and resources, along with the ability to write scripts very fast. I want to help others with what I have.