What is the point of making a work if it doesn’t have the smell of failure in its broil. Few people realise that its that teetering on the brink of…nonsense/silliness/anger/WTF feeling that gives a work its heartbeat and human-ness. And to that end, I love the idea of a failure, and a spectacular one at that. This would be a work that tries to reach for the sky but does not hit its mark by far, but certainly not for the want of trying. No safe familiar trajectories here.
I had a great time Korea. Its my third trip there, and for the first time, I had time to watch many Korean films and have conversations with Koreans – the DMZ International Documentary festival was sequested in Paju Book City so we had to gather in the hotel lounge every night to talk, there wasn’t anywhere else to go. The tone of the whole trip was set by a harrowing trip to the 38th Parallel on my first day. I think everyone who wants to understand Korea must make that visit. I was at DMZ because I was one of four directors commissioned by the festival to make a documentary about “peace and co-existence”.
Thinking about what to do for this and since we have free reign for this project I feel that now is time to take on an unfamiliar path, and from here on too. If it be a failure, it must be a spectacular one. Just priming you.
Meanwhile, here is a picture of some of my friends, amongst them Korean documentary luminaries, all sharing soju and conversation. Lee Chung-ryul one of the directors came over with four boxes of roast pork to be shared with everyone.
I miss them.
Clockwise: Kim Dong-wan (Director, Repatriation checked shirt, bald ), Mun Jeong-hyun (Director, Grandmother’s flower), Lee Chung-ryul (Director, Old Partner), Hong Hyosook (DMZ programmer), Jung Sangjin (Cinus cinema chain owner)
