Shaped by turmoil

Veteran South Korean filmmaker Im Kwon-taek reckons he is one of the few directors from his country to have started out in the early 1960s and still “have a job''.

Having witnessed various chapters in South Korea's history — the independence of Korea, the fight between the Right and the Left wing and the subsequent Korean War — Im has previously admitted to having carried a great deal of emotional and social baggage throughout his life.

One of the Lifetime Achievement awardees at this year's Dubai International Film Festival, Im spoke exclusively to Weekend Review, where he philosophised a little, remembered a little more and reminisced a lot.

Growing up during the changes in Korea's social and political history, how did those events shape your thoughts, philosophy and creative instincts? Was the inclusion of these experiences in your films a conscious attempt?

I was not able to avoid the difficulties and many twists and turns that the Korean people have gone through. My films show and portray these direct and indirect experiences. Whether conscious or not, the world and environment I grew up in, I couldn't run away from.

You could say the experiences I had in my lifetime influence my films. My experiences are everything my films are. What I tried to show is that humans are the foundation of everything — not the relationship between people and nature, but between people. When people don't respect each other, nothing works. In the Korean War, the difficulties endured led to the creation of my philosophy of mutual respect. I have made a lot of films with that theme.

You grew up in a small town, where it seems that going to the cinema was a grand event. How would you describe your personal journey from waiting to watch a film to creating them?

When I was young [Im was born in 1934], there was no venue to watch films. It is not like I decided to become a director the first time I watched a film. I was told that if you worked in films, you were fed and given a place to sleep.

So I joined and later realised that I had a talent for filmmaking.

My initiation into cinema was an accidental encounter but became a great fortune for me. I was 10 years old when I watched my first film.

It was a black-and-white film about the Japanese samurai and it was screened in the school courtyard. After that, it was a rare chance to go out to the bigger cities to watch a film.

You have often described your parents' political beliefs (Im's parents were socialists in a largely Right-wing region of Korea) as a heavy burden. How did their leanings affect you? Did making the films in your parents' honour help achieve closure?

The relationship between the two Koreas became one of enmity after the war. I had issues as my family was involved in Left-wing activities.

As a result, I was oppressed a lot. There was a lot of pressure on me and inevitably, the phase ended up becoming a very dark and difficult part of my life.

Even after the war, it was a constant struggle to prove myself apart from the politics. It was only in 1997 or 1998 that I made films related to my suffering, as before, it was politically impossible to do that. The film dedicated to my mother, Festival, is not about my misfortunes or the unhappiness I felt then. Those years I have cut up and put into different films. As for moving on, with time, socially and politically, things change and the oppression has become weaker. I have been able to become liberated.

Have you ever visited North Korea? The politics aside, what are your thoughts on the people and life there?

I was in North Korea for a week in 2000. They don't let civilians near visitors so I have no idea about the people or their lives.

Are they aware of your work as a filmmaker?

There are no public screenings for the masses, but North Korean filmmakers were shown my film Festival.

Many would be surprised by the fact that there are any North Korean filmmakers.

Oh yes, in fact in the 1970s, their filmmakers were much better than South Korea's.

As a filmmaker, how would you describe the Korean identity in today's world to an international audience?

There is no way to explain it logically, but through my films, people will be able to see [the] Korean [culture].

The people of the Middle East may encounter a new and alien culture for the first time. Maybe some aspects will be hard to digest, but my films show Korean lives, cultural idiosyncrasies and arts from our ancestors. I have tried to show this in a true way.

Vinita Bharadwaj is an independent writer based in Dubai.

Im Kwon-taek at DIFF

Two of Im Kwon-taek's films will be featured at the Dubai International Film Festival. “Beyond the Years'', his 100th film, is a follow-up to his touching 1993 film, “Sopyonge'', which was a beautiful narrative of unrequited love set against a larger exploration of the Pansori music tradition.

“‘Sopyonge' is based on a novel with three stories. I wanted to use all three for ‘Sopyonge', but the conditions for filming were not right, so I left the third story unfinished. Nowadays, technology is so advanced and also since everyone was so interested in my 100th film, I thought I'd revisit the abandoned project,'' he says.

“Chihwaseo'', is a dramatisation of the artist Jang Seoung-up's life, who has been described by many as Im's alter ego. On the experience of a real master filmmaker translating himself into a reel alter-ego, Im says:

"There was very little information on the life and experiences of Jang. So while the character is true, I used a lot of my own experiences, as he was a painter and I too am a creative artist of sorts, so I felt there were similarities I could use.''
– Im Kwon-taek's Chihwaseon will be screened on December 10 at 21:00 and Beyond the Years will be
screened on December 14 at 14:45. Both screenings will be at the Cinestar Mall of the Emirates.