Seoul Women's Film Fest Marks 10 Years

The International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul (IWFFIS) celebrates a decade of upholding the female spirit and creativity by offering 141 films from 30 countries, April 10-18.

The world’s largest and most successful film event for women, IWFFIS has been a playground for women cineastes. But over the years, it grew to become a form of ``cultural movement’’ that explores feminine questions in larger context, as an important fiber of the social fabric.

Festival director Lee Hyae-kyoung (right/Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul) met with The Korea Times last week to discuss what it means to ``see the world through women’s eyes.’’

``Film theorist Laura Mulvey said the camera services male viewpoints and caters to their desires by objectifying females as an object of desire,’’ she said. ``The women’s film festival is not unrelated with the feminist movement. We aim to answer questions about how it would be to view the world driven by female desires and perspectives

``It also goes beyond women’s issues and fathoms what the female perspective means within the context of human and even non-human concerns, and what role it plays in creating new social systems and cultures,’’ she said.

Launched in 1997 as a humble biannual event, the film festival grew steadily. Unlike most festivals, IWFFIS is not state-funded, though it now receives generous support from the government. But whether it was small or big, the festival was always very popular, garnering an average of over 90 percent viewership for screenings _ rare for any given film event in the world. This is phenomenal considering that it caters to a largely female audience.

``Our aim is to instill in women confidence, nurturing the soul for a year until the next festival. It’s true we began as a separatist festival for women, with the female audience and filmmakers at the core. But we remained open and aimed to influence society as a simultaneous separatist and mainstreaming efforts,’’ she said.

Today, the female-male audience ratio is about 6:4. The festival is making efforts to expand to a wider audience in terms of age range. For moms, a day care center is prepared.

And in the spirit of opening up, the 10th edition of the festival features ``Open Cinema,’’ a lineup of works by male directors. ``Biological differences aren’t so important, male directors can treat women’s issues with a keen eye, while female directors can make action movies,’’ she said.

``Open Cinema is something we’ve been thinking of since our 4th edition of the festival. By opening up to males, we’re not losing our focus on women. It’s a sign of our openness and toleration, confidence and desire to communicate with a larger audience,’’ said Lee.

``While the festival retains a focus on women and social minorities, it also functions to a source of creativity and new, alternative values. If our efforts have thus far been geared to making things plausible and collective, we want our festival to help feminist values and philosophies to become a principal part of society,’’ she said.

``As society and values evolve, a women’s film festival does not have to disappear. It will continue to offer a unique perspective, not only in the context of Korean society but within Asia and in the world,’’ she said.

IWFFIS created the Berlin Asian Women’s Film Festival, which was launched last fall, and also collaborates with the festival in Chennai, India. While there are about 20 women’s cinema events in Europe, including the 30-year-old Creteil in France, and others in Asia, the Seoul festival is leading the pack.

What does it mean to ``see the world through women’s eyes’’? ``It’s hard to say in words,’’ said Lee, suggesting movies say more than a thousand words. She says one should watch at least five films to truly savor a festival.

``The themes vary, from dealing with sexual violence to postnatal depression, or it can have no theme at all. It can be very delicate or very violent. But in all, our festival allows women to express suppressed feelings and experiences in modern society. Most of all, it’s about creating alternative values in a post-modern society,’’ she said.

`Fate,’ When Pretty Boys Go Bad

"Fate" ("Sukmyeong 숙명," S. Korea)

Directed by Kim Hae-gon. Starring Song Seun-heon, Kwon Sang-woo.

In the star-studded gangster film ``The Fate,'' friends become foes and ``pretty'' actors get rough. Actor-turned-director Kim Hae-gon casts hallyu TV stars Kwon Sang-woo (``Stairway to Heaven'') and Song Seung-heon (``Autumn Fairytale'') and other familiar faces to play unfamiliar roles.

`The Fate'' is a quintessential commercial flick that feeds on star power, provocative action and melodrama. While weak storytelling and exhausting running time wane the fun, engaging performances by the supporting actors fill in the missing links.

[...] It's larger than life movie, where ``beautiful'' gangsters sporting sleek suits and an occasional scar win fights with odds of 30:1. The director tries to make a film a la Kwak Gyeong-taek, breaking down handsome actors' chiseled, Greek god image by having them swear and do some high kicks. Song and Kwon try to prove they can do more than just smile and cause ladies to swoon, following in the footsteps of heartthrobs Jang Dong-kun (``Friend'') and Joo Jin-mo (``A Love''). They tried, at least. >>More

Chin Unsuk's "Rocana" Premieres in Montreal

Composer Chin Unsuk, 46, celebrated the world premiere of her new orchestral piece ``Rocana'' Monday in Montreal. She will also receive its U.S. premiere Saturday at New York's Carnegie Hall before its debut in other parts of the world.

Under the baton of conductor Kent Nagano, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal (Montreal Symphony Orchestra) performed ``Rocana'' as part of its ``Grand Concerto'' series alongside masterworks by Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky. The same group will give the New York premiere, and Nagano will helm ``Rocana's'' Chicago debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, April 24-29. The Asia premiere will take place in the near future with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, where Chin is composer-in-residence.

Meaning ``room of light'' in Sanskrit, ``Rocana'' reflects Chin's observation of ``the behavior of beams of light _ their distortion, reflections, and undulations.'' ``The overall picture and the overall structure are one entity, one `tonal sculpture.' However, one can look at it from various angles, since the inner structures are constantly changing. Even if the music at times gives the impression of stasis, subtle impulses, interactions and reactions are continually present,'' the composer wrote about her piece in a statement

``Rocana'' was jointly commissioned by the Seoul Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony, Bavarian State Opera and Beijing Music Festival Arts Foundation. This is the Seoul Philharmonic's first project with foreign partners and is expected to be a turning point for the domestic music scene, according to the orchestra.

This is Chin's latest premiere since her critically acclaimed opera ``Alice in Wonderland,'' which debuted last year at Munich's Bayerische Staatspoer (Bavarian State Opera). The modern opera was ranked in the ``Best of 2007'' list in the Los Angeles Times and was named ``World Premiere of the Year'' by European critics for Opernwelt magazine.

Born in Seoul, Chin is a trained pianist. She learned musical composition at Seoul National University before a German state scholarship took her to Hamburg, where she studied with the great Gyorgy Ligeti.

Chin has been praised for her ``formidable ear for sonority and for mining the expressive potential of the slightest nuances of pitch and pulse'' (The Guardian, United Kingdom). In 2004, her devilishly challenging Violin Concerto won her the prestigious Grawemeyer Award, the world's richest prize for composers. Proclaimed ``the first truly great work of this millennium'' by the Los Angeles Weekly, the concerto has been performed in more than 10 countries across Europe, Asia and North America.

Last fall, the composer led a series of creative premiere concerts with the Seoul Philharmonic titled ``Ars Nova.'' She also received the Composition Prize at the 2007 Daewon Music Awards, one of Korea's prime music events.

Chin currently lives in Berlin with her husband, pianist Maris Gothoni, and their young son.

Violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill’s Art of Giving

Violist Richard Yonjae O’Neill said the viola is a beautiful instrument with a wide range of colors and expression in a Korea Times interview in Seoul. In his new book “Enjoy the Classic, Ditto,” he writes how of the violin, viola and cello, the viola most closely resembles the human voice, particularly that of a loving mother. / Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Violist Richard Yongjae O'Neill reminds you of the Energizer Bunny. He keeps going and going. For the 29-year-old violist, it would be typical to go on a cross-country tour with Schubert across Korea, and then fly to Los Angeles to teach for eight hours before heading to New York.

After a few days of playing chamber music at the Lincoln Center and fiddling contemporary pieces at the Guggenheim, he's on the move again. Following a quick stop to lecture at UCLA, he's in Milan with John Zorn, making modern music history. This is how 2007 zipped past for the musician.

One of the few violists to ever receive the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant as well as a Grammy Award nomination (Best Soloist with Orchestra), Richard Yongjae O'Neill is rising to prominence as one of the leading artists of his generation. But it seems to be more than a deep passion for music that keeps him going. It is the power of sharing through music.

``An artist should give of oneself. It's important to give, to share, to reflect on the human condition, our finite existence, life, pain, death, all of these things,'' O'Neill told The Korea Times in January when he visited Seoul. He was celebrating New Year's with his New York-based chamber group Sejong Soloists at one of their sellout performances.

It was 7 p.m., and he looked like he was ready to drop after a full day of rehearsing, but he kept a smile on his face. For the photo shoot, I thought he'd just strike a pose with the viola, but he actually played segments of three pieces!

O'Neill is someone who, both on and offstage, is very willing to open up and reach out to others. He cannot walk past a homeless person without lending a helping hand ― though such eagerness has gotten him into trouble, like when one person attacked him in New York.

``It's sort of the same way when you're onstage. Of course you don't know everyone in the auditorium, but you have to have that same feeling of selflessness. You're on the stage for them; you have to open yourself up. Although they don't need help like the homeless, it's about sharing.

``We share the same conditions. Art is our way of being together in a society that is becoming increasingly fragmented and selfish. Music is a great way to relate with each other and it's just there to share,'' he said.

Perhaps this is what earns him rave reviews from the international press, who call him a ``ravishing,'' (London Times) and ``technically immaculate'' (Los Angeles Times) performer whose ``electric performance (holds) the audience in rapt attention'' (New York Times).

``Art is the best of humanity, our essence. It doesn't have anything to do with politics or money, and captures the best of the human condition, or more than the human condition. It transcends it because it doesn't die, it lives on,'' he said.

``A creative profession is an honor and a privilege. Adding something to the universe that's creating beauty is an amazing thing. I get the luxury of spending my days discussing details about phrase shapes, tempos, ideas and colors.

``It's funny how people see color when they hear music… If I were to describe myself in terms of a color, it'd be something dark. Maybe a darker, faded red… I gravitate toward that type of music, something darker, but live with energy,'' he said.

O'Neill said he couldn't imagine life without music. But "I could imagine going into social work helping people; I respect people that make it their life to help people. It's not only very noble but we need that. So much about our society is about money and making personal gain. We need people to be helping people," he said. >>More

`Enjoy the Classic, Ditto'

Richard Yongjae O'Neill, Compiled in Korean by Jo Jeong-hyeon

Joongang Books: 237 pp., 12,000 won

One of the most promising ― and explosively popular ― young artists of today, violist Richard Yongjae O'Neill has three hit albums and a string of acclaimed performances on the world stage under his belt. Now the 29-year-old brings a collection of essays, ``Ditto'' (also the name of a chamber ensemble of which he is a member).

The book is in essence a guide to appreciating classical music, which is often regarded as being limited to the elite intelligentsia. ``Enjoy the classic, you don't necessarily have to understand everything!'' writes the author. He compares the music genre to food, how one does not necessarily have to be a great chef to enjoy delicacies.

But this is no ``Dummy'' guidebook. The author presents thoroughly subjective viewpoints and experiences with classical music as both an individual and artist. While strongly autobiographical, however, the book's core focus is not O'Neill (readers probably know about his life from the hit 2005 KBS documentary, "Human Theater.")

Rather, it is a passionate love letter to music. Through his personal anecdotes and philosophies about music, O'Neill establishes a basis of mutual understanding, heart to heart, with readers -- ditto.

Just as celebrated director Park Chan-wook, one of O'Neill's fans and sponsors, writes in the foreword, you feel like you know the author, both as an artist and individual, after reading it, and some might feel inspired to tackle centuries-old music.

The book also includes a list of concert etiquette and recommended music pieces.

Read about my interview with Mr. O'Neill

Tenor Im Tae-kyung’s Crossover Life, Music

Standing at a three-way crossroads between a Ph. D in engineering, a lucrative job offer at a big company and an inner calling for music, crossover tenor Im Tae-kyung decided to walk the path of a musician. ``My heart said, sing,'' the 34-year-old told The Korea Times in a recent interview in Seoul. /Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul

This is the third in a series of interviews with the next generation of classical musicians. ― ED

With his own radio show and hit album, and appearing onstage with artists like Sumi Jo and leading major musicals, Im Tae-kyung seems like any other successful musician. But for the 34-year-old, it took a masters degree in engineering and overcoming leukemia to pursue his passion for music, and life.

Born in Korea, Im studied music at the elite Yewon School and Institute le Rosey in Switzerland. But his childhood dream was to become an engineer, so he majored in engineering at Worcestor Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts while staying in tune with a minor in music. There were numerous offers from producers to make his singing debut, but he insisted on completing his undergraduate studies.

After graduating, Im decided it was time to sing, and received lessons from renowned Metropolitan Opera tenor Richard Casily for about a year. But this was no easy feat, as he had to ``beg him for three months'' to prove he was serious about music, Im said in a recent Korea Times interview.

Just when things started to go smoothly, including a chance to take part of a summer music program in Italy, Casily died from a heart attack. It was just before Im was to enter the master's program at Boston University in the fall.

The shock hit hard. ``I was devastated. It was the first time I felt discouraged from doing music,'' he said. Taking it as a sign that he should not sing, he went back to engineering.

Toward the end of his graduate studies, however, he learned something new about himself: What he had suffered from back in junior high school was not chronic anemia but leukemia. At the time, he was in treatment for more than a year. Although he should have continued treatment, which for his particular form of leukemia may have lasted at least 10 years, Im insisted on going back to school. His mother never told him what the diagnosis was.

Not only was he perfectly healthy, Im actively took part of team sports throughout his academic career. ``I'm an engineer; I like doing research. So I studied about terminal diseases, and found that your body produces the most hormones for fortifying the immune system when you are moved,'' he said. He believes being part of the sports drama and always being inspired by the arts helped him persevere.

``I started thinking about the meaning of life, why I was able to live on. I prayed everyday, and developed a dream: to pursue my desire, music, and to inspire those who are terminally ill that they, too, can overcome it,'' he said. ``I also became interested in social welfare _ not just giving through charity, but becoming involved with something more systematic,'' he said.

By then, pursuing a Ph. D in engineering was a sure path, but he was also recruited to work for a big automobile company. After about a month of deep deliberation, his pastor's words struck him: ``follow your heart.'' And so, he decided to answer the calling.

Crossover Life, Crossover Music

``Crossover music is straddling different genres of music, it's different from simple fusion. I love all types of genres. My mother is an amateur gugak (traditional Korean music) artist, so I grew up with that, and I also enjoy pop, jazz, Latin and Fado. And I've always done classical music. So it was natural that I do crossover music,'' said the engineer-turned-singer.

``I believe that a piece of music embodies the composer's thoughts, feelings and messages, and the role of the musician is to deliver them to the listener with our own expression.

``Crossover enables you to approach music for the sake of music by diminishing barriers between genres. For example, it's difficult to explain the concept of `han' or deep sorrow inherent to Korean culture to a non-Korean. But by incorporating gugak into jazz, you may not know what it is but feel heart-shattering grief.

``It may seem like mixing up different music genres. But I must have solid reasons for crossing one music type with another to produce a certain color, image or thought. Even if someone dismisses it as being too light, I've achieved my ultimate goal. I've worked hard to do something that can be easily accepted,'' he said.

Often, aspects of a musician's life define his/her music and the music defines parts of them, but it's quite rare that an artist's music and life coincide so entirely.

``In a way, I have no choice but to do crossover music. It's how I lived my life. I grew up in Korea but spent my teens in Europe and then moved to America. European, American and Korean societies all have a different air about them. Instead of trying to define it, I like to sense it. In terms of studies, I loved the sciences but I loved music and the arts. There's so much beauty in everything, and wouldn't it be a waste to just focus on one thing and try to communicate within it?

``In Europe, the word `sorrow' may be better understood than jazz music. It's understanding these distinctions and translating it through music,'' he said.

It's been six years since Im made the crossover to music, and he is indulging in ``the pure pleasure, pure excitement '' of being onstage. ``The eyes of an appreciative listener are so beautiful, almost like those of someone falling in love,'' he said.

The singer also mixed in a bit of acting, playing principal parts in musicals like ``Jesus Christ Superstar.'' During a performance of ``Winter Sonata'' in Japan a few years ago, a fall scene went bad, leaving him with two broken ribs. This was at the end of the first act. But somehow he managed to finish the show.

``I believe there are hardships but not impossibilities. We are given only as much pain as we can handle,'' he said. As for leukemia, he gets check-ups every now and then but said he is ``totally fine, better than fine, actually.''

Last year Im finally took a step toward making his dreams come true by launching a series of ``Concerts of Sharing'' (he doesn't like the word `charity') titled ``Sunaebo.''

``They're a cornerstone to my longtime social welfare project,'' said Im, who plans to expand by forming a team to discern who needs help where, and studying about welfare systems a bit more.

He also wishes to design a germ-free performance space for patients, where he can apply his engineering knowledge for his artistic goals and welfare concerns.

Offstage, he will release a project album as early as the end of March. This is great news for fans who have been waiting anxiously since his 2004 recording ``Sentimental Journey,'' which had instantly topped music charts.

For now, fans can meet Im at his upcoming solo concert, ``The First,'' Saturday at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. Although it's not technically his first concert, the singer says it is his ``true first'' in that he will showcase his musicality in full. He will visit various genres ranging from classical and jazz to pop and musical scores. Call (02) 522-9933.

An artist with his own color, Im possesses a vibrant musical spectrum. But he said his music is ``colorless.''

``I hope my music would be a ray of light that gives true color to the object it touches,'' said Im. As if it were a touch of fate, a blinding shaft of sunlight pierced in from behind him, waking up the lazy afternoon.