Share this article Share
In perhaps Hong Sangsoo’s most poetic and visually striking film, disillusioned young actor Seongmo leaves acting to self-finance a short film. With a cameraman and an actress, he travels to Jeju’s windswept shores. Drifting without a clear idea, they wait for inspiration — until an unexpected event sets the project in motion.
With unusual out-of-focus imagery, Hong creates an impressionistic world as if being immersed in water. Taking almost all matters of production in his own hands, Seongmo’s struggle in the film resembles much of Hong’s own pursuit of the often all-consuming search for artistic meaning.
For two weeks, Bozar offers an extensive programme consisting of nine films featuring some of Hong Sangsoo’s earliest works and a selection of the films he made in his most recent years. Hong Sangsoo first gained attention in 1996 with The Day a Pig Fell into the Well. Over the years, he has earned numerous international awards. Besides being a professor of screenwriting and directing in Seoul, he remains one of the most inventive and prolific filmmakers in contemporary cinema.