| iR:
When did you decide to be a filmmaker? How did you get
started? What or who inspires or has inspired you as a
filmmaker? Who are filmmakers you like or you look up
to? |
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| My art background is what brought me into
filmmaking. I had been drawing a lot of pictures and comic
books since I was five years old. I studied hard in high
school and finally got into the best art school, Hong-ik
University in Korea in 1986. I studied visual design,
conceptual design, story boarding, creative idea development,
animation, TV commercials and film at that school. The
moment that inspired me about moviemaking happened in
my third year at the University. I'd watched a lot of
films from America, Europe and all over the world. Federico
Fellini, Andrea Tarkovsky, Werner Herzog, Stanley Kubrick,
John Casavettes, Akira Kurosawa, Alejandro Jodorowsky,
etc., especially my favorites Werner Herzog, Akira Kurosawa
and John Casavettes. These artists have such a profound
impact on their audience. I thought I could create a different
world through filmmaking where anything is possible and
where I can [share] entire worlds of experience with my
audience. |
| |
| iR:
You are incredibly prolific. Since 2000, you have made
four features and one documentary. Can you talk a little
about each project, and what each means to you as a filmmaker? |
| |
 As
a Korean making movies in the U. S., I try to make films
that combine both nations' perspectives into a new style
based on bi-cultural and interracial subjects. My first
feature "Cupid's Mistake" is a story about interracial
dating between a Korean girl and a Japanese guy, as well
as a German girl and American guy in Los Angeles, a quadrangle
cross-cultural romantic comedy. |
| |
 My
second feature, "1st Testament: CIA Vengeance"
was the first independent co-production between a Korean
and an African-American [production company] in Los Angeles.
"1st Testament" is about a North Korean female
spy versus and an African-American CIA agent. |
| |
 My
third feature "Death Valley Diary" was about
a confrontation and adventure with nature, a terrifying
journey with a racially mixed cast and crew living out
their worst fears in Death Valley. |
| |
 "Haitian
Slave Children" the documentary that I shot 100%
in Haiti was a challenge in my approach toward a heavily
humanist subject about Haitian slave children, for which
I got a Best Documentary Award at the 2001 Jamerican International
Film Festival and a Silver Award at the 2002 Worldfest
in Houston. |
| |
| My fourth feature, "Soap Girl"
is a tale of love between an Asian massage girl and a
virgin American poet. I think it's controversial. |
| |
| iR:
I was told that you made your first feature "Cupid's
Mistakes" for US$980. Is that true? How did you manage
to make it on such a limited budget? How did you get it
distributed? |
| |
| "Cupid's Mistake" broke the world's
record for the lowest budget feature film of all time.
The budget was $980. As you may have guessed, all of the
actors in "Cupid's Mistake" are my friends.
I came up with the idea that one character should pursue
the other. Three days of crazy filming. No permits, guerrilla
shooting, no script, [and] 100% improvised. Handheld shooting
with long continuous shots made "Cupid" both
cost effective and easy to edit. |
| |
| In the winter of 1999 we showed "Cupid"
at the "Light and Screen Film Festival" held
in New York City's celebrated Siberia Bar. We were amazed
at the audience's overwhelmingly positive response. Phaedra
Cinema, best known for its foreign films "The Terrorist,"
and "La Separation" had scheduled theatrical
releases "Cupid" in Los Angeles and New York.
|
| |
 |
|
Young
Man Kang (Center) on the set of "Soap Girl"
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|
| |
| iR:
What inspired you to make "Soap Girl," your fourth and
most recent feature? Why does the subject matter appeal
to you? What was your vision for the film? Is it just
pure entertainment or do you have a message with it? What
are you trying to convey to the audience? |
| |
| The story was pitched to me by the producers
Tomiko Lee, Dennis Lee and writer Tony Young, [which was]
asically a farce about hijacks at a massage parlor involving
geeky male virgins, gangsters and immigrants. |
| |
| So the story evolved away from the "Pretty
Woman/Cinderella" story and into one that plays on
the audience's expectations of Asian stereotypes. Maya
turns out not to be an immigrant, though everyone in the
beginning believes that she is. None of the massage girls
are naive, innocent lambs with hearts of gold; [they]
are simply trying to survive. |
| |
| The main theme of the story [is] Maya's evolution
from an abused girlfriend to an empowered, more mature
woman, in control of her love life and her destiny. The
lesson of how people can grow and change is keenly brought
to life by actress Kerry Liu. |
| |
| If there is a lesson here I believe it is
that an Asian girl can actually be a protagonist in her
own life and that she can have adventures that inspire
other people to become survivors as well. |
| |
| iR:
Soap Girl" is essentially a love story. What kind of
a love story are you trying to tell? What does the idea
of "love" mean to you as a filmmaker? |
| |
| Love and intimacy can heal the scars that
accumulate in people's lives. Maya is scarred by her former
boyfriend. Why does she end up working at a massage parlor?
Revenge? Jealousy? A desire to become another person?
That question is left to the viewer. Why does she fall
in love with Harry? Perhaps for many reasons, [and] perhaps
[for] none at all. Love knows no logic or rationale. |
| |
| iR:
Can you talk about the process of making "Soap Girl"?
Can you also talk about self-distributing the film, and
why you have chosen to self-distribute it? |
| |
| Our total shooting time was twelve days.
I shot with a Sony DSR 500, [later] blowing the images
up to 35mm. Gilbert Yablon, the technician at Filmout
Express, did wonderful job. So far our total budget including
self-marketing is about $500,000. |
| |
| Most distribution companies are afraid to
release independent films theatrically because they believe
that [the] lack of product identification will make them
lose money at the box office. But they have to release
independents theatrically in order to create interest
for the rental. In this strange environment we decided
to create interest in our own movie by taking the bold
step of promoting our movie theatrically by ourselves.
|
| |
| iR:
"Mist" is your next project. What is it about? |
| |
| "Mist" is about a Far Eastern female
Vixen, a supernatural being from Korean legend battling
serial killers to find the modern incarnation of her lover
and become human against backdrop of a corrupted modern
day city. It's a co-production between the U.S. and South
Korea. |
| |
| iR:
What is your dream project? If you can make any movie
in the world, what would it be? |
| |
| While I like a film to be composed of stunning
sounds and pictures, I am still basically a humanist.
I like to see characters put to test. In the genre of
war films a wide variety of interesting people can be
hurled together in a way that tests their spirit. Now
the film becomes not just a story but an experience to
be lived on a variety of levels. |
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|
At this time in film history, we have a huge archive
of films relating to the Vietnam War. But the Korean
War, almost a massive section of Asian American history,
has not been told. I feel that the script "Memory
of War" that Jesse Pate and I have created will
tell the story of the Korean War as it happened and
is experienced by the survivors to this day. .jpg)
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