As previously announced, actress Gu Hye-sun took a second stab at directing with a short (1-minute) trailer for the 7th Asiana International Short Film Festival, which was released on October 20. This follows her directorial debut, a short film about euthanasia called The Madonna [aka The Cheerful Caretaker, 유쾌한 도우미].
This AISFF trailer will be shown before each screening at the festival, which will take place from November 5 through 10. Watch the video below.
On October 6, actress-director Gu Hye-sun spoke at a press interview for the upcoming 7th Asiana International Short Film Festival about another of her film efforts. She was wearing her director’s hat at the event, although not for her recent short film, The Madonna (aka The Cheerful Caretaker). She filmed a 30-second short trailer that will show before each screening and therefore takes a tone that is representative of the overall festival.
Gu Hye-sun explained, “The theme is love, but I made this thinking of the relationship between the media and people as one of love and hate. I hope you will find it interesting. …The production budget was small, so I had some difficulty directing the scenes that I had in mind. I received a lot of help from the art director and crew members.”
Also in attendance at the press event were actor Ahn Sung-ki, director and executive committeeman Kim Ji-woon, and actress and jury member Sohn Ye-jin. The festival takes place from November 5 through 10.
Add Jung Woo-sung (The Good, The Bad, The Weird) to the list of actors who are seeking to branch out into directing (Yoo Ji-tae and Gu Hye-sun are two who have already put out directorial work). He explained in a recent interview that he had been intending to make his directorial debut for years, but kept pushing it back. To date, Jung has finished three screenplays in the action genre, and plans to take either a lead or a prominent supporting role as well as directing the feature. He is even considering casting close friends to keep the budget down, as he could rely on them to act without pay.
Who would agree to do that? “[Lee] Jung-jae in particular will have to act for free,” he said with a laugh. The two are good friends, and acted together in the 1999 film City of Rising Sun.
Jung is currently promoting his latest film, Rainy Season aka Season of Good Rain. He hopes to film his directorial debut project next year.
Boys Before Flowers actress Gu Hye-sun’s directorial debut is screening at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival, or PiFan, which opened last week and closes this weekend. The film, translated literally as The Cheerful Caretaker [유쾌한 도우미], also goes by the English title The Madonna.
The short clocks in at 14 minutes and also screened at the Busan Asian Short Film Festival in May, where it brought home the Audience Award. At PiFan, Gu Hye-sun spoke about making the film and her intentions behind writing a story that deals with the topics of death and euthanasia (mercy killing), as a man seeks relief in the church. She explained, “I didn’t want to make it a story about morality or euthanasia, but about a person’s choice.”
Here’s something a little different. Cine 21 has an eleven-part profile of the workspaces of various entertainers, artists, and creative-arts professionals, which caught my eye because I am obsessed with workspaces.
Well, maybe not obsessed, but very, very, very interested. I constantly fiddle with mine, think of ways to rearrange it, and dream of theoretical future workspaces in theoretical spacious homes with large areas dedicated solely to shelving units and wide tabletops and books and storage solutions. Lots of glorious storage solutions.
Show me someone’s designer wardrobe or tricked-out fancy crib, and I’m like, “Eh.” Show me someone’s well-designed workspace, and I am filled with a combination of admiration and horrible, gripping envy: OMG WANT. (It’s for that reason that I have to restrict my time on Apartment Therapy, for instance.)
SONG OF THE DAY
Jang Kiha and the Faces – “달이 차오른다, 가자” (The Moon is Waxing, Let’s Go). Folk-indie singer-songwriter Jang Kiha is one of the artists featured below, and this is one of his hits, which he performs with his hilariously oddball backup dancers, the Mimi Sisters. [ Download ]
