So a Japanese, a Korean and a Thai make a movie...
So one of the attractions of the Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) is that a film is specially made for the event by three separate international directors. The project is titled, "Short Digital Films by Three Filmmakers". While the title of the project doesn't exactly scream creativity, needless to say, the three directors chosen this year have raised my eyebrows exceptionally high this morning. Pictured left to right, Shinya Tsukamoto, Song Il-gon and Apichatpong Weerasthakul.
First, you might as well start with Korean local boy, Song Il-gon, director of SpiderForest and Feathers in the Wind [Git].
Then you have Thai director, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, whose resume includes Tropical Malady and The Adventures of Iron Pussy. Todd recently review Tropical Malady here.
The third director may be the most impressive of the lot, especially for us twitchers. Japanese director, Shinya Tsukamoto will create a thrid film for this project. Tsukamoto's works include Vital, Bullet Ballet and Tetsuo The Ironman.
"We find these three directors right for the project," said Jung Soo-wan, programmer at JIFF, "given their international reputation and potential to present a quality movie."
The organizing committee has tried to provide them with as much freedom as possible, and there is no regulation about topics, genres and styles, Jung said.
Song's film Magician(s) [working title] will be about a music band who decide to break up. Apichatpong's Worldly Desires is a story about a group of people who encounter a series of mysterious phenomenon in a jungle while Tsukamoto's film is about a man trying to escape a room in a concrete building which given the work of his that I have seen seems totally suitable.
"There are many ideas for my movies going around in my head," Tsukamoto said. "So I find this a good opportunity to express one of them without worrying much about such issues as financial support".
Although he has never made a digital film before, he believes that his first trial in the new medium will lead him to create a new style.
