Violinist Eugene Park sets the tone for KAFFNY Opening Night.
I have to admit — as I write this blog post, my heart’s a little broken. There’s been nothing short of a deluge of terrible news from Japan, a country to which I have both personal and cultural ties. Not many superlatives can begin to describe Japan’s contributions to the fields of art, entertainment, and, of course, world cuisine. Whoever we are, wherever we live, our cultural lives are enriched because of the Japanese imagination and their passion to make things better, more beautiful, and therefore true.
It was with this slightly sober mindset I attended KAFFNY’s (Korean American Film Festival of New York, 3/17-3/20) Opening Night at Chelsea Clearview Cinemas. If you’re in New York this weekend, I urge you to explore the line-up of feature and short films by not only Korean American directors but also international talent from South Korea and beyond. I say this because when it comes to Korean film, or films about Korea, there’s always more than meets the eye. The film will spool to the end, but emotions will linger, and – if it’s your thing – you leave the theater feeling a little more Korean than when you came in.
For me, Opening Night was a blast. Directors were out and about, including documentary filmmaker Dae-Sil Kim Gibson and new-on-the-radar South Korean Kim Young-nam. I had fascinating conversations with both and came away with a renewed appreciation of the diversity within the larger Korean community. Korean American Gibson spoke of home as not so much a physical place or country, but wherever she finds like-minded people. Her films address urgent issues such as racism, historical redress for comfort women, and forgotten migrants. Come see her speak at a panel this Saturday, as she and other panelists bravely address the legacy of the LA Riots in all its “It’s Complicated” nuances.
Dae-Sil Kim Gibson, Korean American documentary filmmaker. |
Kim Young-nam, South Korean film director of The Boat (2009). |
It was also a real treat to take a peek into the mind of fresh talent Kim Young-Nam. Kim is in town for the international premiere of his second feature-length film The Boat (2009) a story of a silently moving friendship between a South Korean smuggler and his Japanese handler. Kim is a filmmaker with all the charms of a roman-à-clef novelist: outwardly withdrawn though not aloof, and as our conversation quickly revealed, secretly harboring a sense of fun. The Boat will be screening this Saturday and Sunday.
The electrifying mambo scene in 'Madame Freedom' (1956).
Opening Night highlights also included a one-of-a-kind live re-score of Madame Freedom (1956) by Paul Miller (DJ Spooky), violinist Sean Lee, cellist Okkyung Lee, and electric violinist Eugene Park, a fitting start for a film festival that was about the new, but also about reinventing the old.
KAFFNY will screen over 14 feature films and more than 25 short films. For more information, see here.
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