film-directors-from-south-korea

"I’ve always wanted actors to simply and purely feel the emotions rather than feeling like they have to express them. During the film shoot, I tried to have as much conversation with them as I could about the characters and their circumstances. Having conversation was a more effective way of communication than simply giving directions, and I believe it allowed much more freedom for the actors."

"To me, it seems that the world we live in continues to become more and more sophisticated, convenient and cool on the outside, but there are so many problems underneath that we can’t really discern — and that’s the nature of this post-modern world and its problems."

"To be honest, it’s very difficult to explain what stories I see fit to become a film or not. I have several people I regularly work with — producers, actors, crew members — and it’s always very difficult to explain why this story can or can’t be a film. It often puts me in trouble, as well. I can find it hard to explain myself. Whether the story is fun or moving or might receive good reviews is honestly not that important to me. It’s a very intuitive feeling that I have — mainly about whether the story is worth reaching out to the audience to communicate with them at this point in time. Is the story worth the effort of bringing it to the audience? It’s sort of a very sensitive and intuitive decision-making process that happens within me."

"When I used to write novels, I always wrote for one person, for this person who thought and felt the same way as I do. It almost felt like I was writing a love letter to this very specific person who would understand what I’m writing and share the same feelings and thoughts."

"Poems are about things and occurrences that we don’t see visually, it’s the needing of beauty and meaning, that’s what poetry can be. In a natural way there are many stories that interweave throughout the film, and the film’s big scene is not just about the tragic event, but it also meets with what poetry is about, they interweave together."

"It’s very different between writing a novel and making a film, in a novel you’re using language to bring a story to life, so through this you’re speaking of it. Film is not a medium that is carried through with language, but something else. A film can tell a story very strongly, and a film’s great asset is that it can depict characters very well. For the most part, telling a story from a novel is very strong, but I feel that films have more power to do that."

"I have to wonder how much obvious messages like ‘justice prevails’ would affect our lives, which leads me to make films that ask questions."

"I’ve never made films that delivers messages, nor have I ever felt the urge to make such pieces. I just like to ask questions."

"To me it seems that films these days are becoming more and more simple, and the audience seems to desire simpler stories. Of course, films sort of shape the desires and the demands the audience makes, so I kind of wanted to go against this trend and see if a film can sort of throw endless questions at the audience. Endless questions about a larger mysterious world."

"Literature is different from cinema in that, when I’m writing it, I’m thinking of one reader who will go through a range of emotions with me, whereas with film I’m addressing a larger audience. For me, writing fiction is like writing love letters."

"From my understanding, there is already quite a lot of independent films with adolescent girls as protagonists. Women have been telling such stories all this time. Couldn’t it be that this period has become more visible as our society is changing? Most of the film markets all over the world are dominated by white men’s stories, and after them come white women, and then Asian men, in this order. Still, I think the reason other female directors are now getting noticed, like with House of Hummingbird, is that Korean society is finally ready to embrace women’s narratives. It might also be that it has finally come to people’s attention not for the particular narratives, but because we are at a special moment."

"Cinema takes me to another world. That world is authentic, real, and welcoming. Cinema doesn’t belong to the winner but to the loser/loner. The blissful loser. I like that world."

"When you create something, it becomes a fictional story, but in the beginning, I was very true to the emotions that I went through in middle school. It’s a creation in the end, but I also wanted to bring the emotions I went through and my growing pains and what it was like to grow up there. I wanted to bring my own memories to the film, so that people could bring their own memories while watching."

"After House of Hummingbird got released, the ticket sales were amazing. It was very overwhelming to see its success. Whenever I had Q&As with the audience, a lot of the audience – they raised their hand and while they were asking questions, they started to cry. It wasn’t just once. So many people – they couldn’t even finish their sentence because they were so emotional. I also cried. My actors cried. Because it was so touching and it was a very deep, human connection between the filmmakers and the audience."

"Growing up as a woman in Korea was tough, but was also a gift at the same time. If I were a Korean man, or a white male in the States, I would not have been able to make this film. You got to experience complex human emotions because you were going through a lot of things."

"I wanted to produce something that would resonate strongly with the audience. When we showed it to the Korean audience, they said it was a good mix of both the personal and political aspects of that era."

"In this film, it’s very difficult to separate the good ones from the bad ones. Even the rich characters are not your conventional, typical, greedy villains that you see onscreen. I was sympathetic to everyone. I identified with every character, to some degree, but at the same time I also maintained a sense of distance from all of them as well."

"Maybe just from life. It seems like there are no new stories in the world. Even though there are stories with something to say, and we have heard everything. But more than new stories - what kind of feeling could we get from them? If it could give you a different feeling, that's probably the kind of story I want to do, is how I feel."

"Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films."

"Even the characters I create, they aren't clear-cut supervillains or superheroes, they're all residing in the grey area. Maybe that's why a certain amount of optimism or pessimism mixes into my films. I do feel, however, that's more realistic and more reflective of how society is, and how life is. If everything is clear-cut and residing in one direction, it might feel a bit forced."

"Sometimes in life, you have to run, sometimes you fall down, and sometimes you have to take a break, but it seems I have always focused on running."

"Directing takes more courage than acting."

"Big question! When my film was released in the autumn, there was a huge discourse regarding feminism in Korea, and thanks to that, there were a lot of discussions connecting my film and the issue of feminism; I felt really thankful about that. Now, the #MeToo movement in Korea… It means that many people in Korea are going through a hard time now, not just the victims and the offenders, but also people who were there when it happened. But, I think this is a time that we have to go through; of course, it is very painful, but we need to go through the pain in order to heal. Also, in the film industry, there are a lot of trials and movements to make the situation better. There are discussions about sexual equality not only in the film industry, but also in the world of theatre, and in other cultural professions. It’s very hard and painful right now, but it is a period of time that we need."

"I find that in every new film – whether in terms of becoming a new character or more generally the shooting or production – I’m rarely working with the same people or in the similar situations. Sometimes the director is someone I haven’t worked with before, or the actors are different and the stories we are telling are different, so overall every role is kind of challenging but attractive at the same time. There were some roles that I found either mentally or physically challenging but I would find it hard to pinpoint one specific role that I found more challenging than any other. I guess that understanding each character is the most challenging for me."

"There are actors who have a naturally cold aura. I don’t think I’m a big fan of that. You have to talk about people’s lives [in acting]. We probably don’t understand [others] 100 percent. It’s not possible. But I believe that the best method for acting is to love other people. ... I think there has to be warmth toward living beings"

"It’s hard for people to know themselves. It’s hard to know how you’re charming. When you’re young, even when people compliment you, it’s difficult to accept that."

"Right now, the industry might have gotten bigger. More people may be watching films. Those are positive aspects. But diversity in Korean cinema has decreased a lot since then. There are more female film students in schools."

"Sci-fi gives you the advantage of being able to say what you want pretty directly. Like, in Snowpiercer, that scene where Ed Harris has a long monologue in the engine car. Parasite has the landscape stone. The movie has symbols, but I wanted to focus more on the mundane atmosphere, on the stories of our neighbors."

"A lot of people say it’s a universal story because it’s about the gap between rich and poor, but I don’t think that’s all the answer. I think this film has done so well because it appeals in a very cinematic way, as a film in itself. I really want to take time to look back at what that cinematic appeal was."

"I grew up in a middle-class family. Even in terms of real estate, the house that I grew up in is in the middle – between the semi-basement home and the rich house you see in the film. I was really close with friends and relatives from both classes."

"My main job is not promoting a film, it’s writing scripts, and, of course, I’m doing that right now, in hotel rooms and on flights, but it hasn’t been easy. So there’s a duality with this entire process. Of course, it’s great and exciting, but I’m also desperate to return to my main job as soon as possible."

"I don’t think I’m pessimistic at every point, but I want to be honest in the face of the reality that stands in front of us. With Parasite, my thinking was that mankind’s achieved such great development — like the mobile devices we see in front of us but if we think about the past 30 years, has the gap between rich and poor dissipated? Not really. I have a son myself, do I think things are going to improve in his generation? I don’t really think that either. That is the source of a lot of fear, actually. So I wanted to be honest with that fear and sadness and really deliver that."

"This is something that applies to all countries, yes. Of course, there can be understanding and sympathy and communication between different classes, but I do think that it is very plausible things could turn out the way they do in the film. We are all aware of this gap between rich and poor and this is very sad and frightening, but what is fundamentally even more frightening is the fear I mentioned earlier, that this won’t be resolved in the future, in our children’s generation. That’s something we all feel, and it’s very hard to get rid of."

"Are they? As I am one of the filmmakers creating genre films and not a critic with a general overview of the trend or what is coming out, I’m glad to hear it. I am a huge fan of genre films and although I like to destroy or twist genre conventions, generally I operate within the boundaries of genre. There is a very specific kind of cinematic excitement that genre films can bring. And that is what I love about it as well, so I am glad to see it."

"Compared to Japanese or Hong Kong film, the history of Korean cinema is relatively lesser known to American and European audiences. I hope, due to the opportunities that have arisen from Parasite, people will realize that Korean cinema has also had a lot of masters"