Festival (1996

1996 in film

Major releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...

) is an award-winning South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

n film directed by Im Kwon-taek

Im Kwon-taek

Im Kwon-taek is one of South Korea's most renowned film directors. In an active and prolific career, his films have won many domestic and international film festival awards as well as considerable box-office success, and helped bring international attention to the Korean film industry.- Early life...

.

Synopsis

A famous writer, Lee Jun-seop, returns to his hometown to attend his mother's funeral. Lee's illegitimate niece, who has been ostracized from the family, has also returned home for the funeral. While the funeral ceremonies take place, various old family conflicts reassert themselves. During the action of the story, a parallel children's story written by Lee is read by the illegitimate niece. The story describes a grandmother who gives her life force to her growing granddaughter, resulting in the grandmother becoming gradually younger until she reverts back into an infant and finally leaves for the next world.

Director's statement

"In a sense, the life we enjoy now is the result of how our ancestors have lived. The [preceding] generations are bound to leave their legacy to the following generations-parents to their children, teachers to their students, and seniors to their juniors. Even a person who seems to lead an independent life by and of himself is strongly influenced by his ancestors. I see the entire process as tremendously beautiful and sincerely dream to show the viewers of my movie the true sense of this ongoing phenomenon.
A funeral serves as the starting point for this movie. The funeral is for a warm-hearted eighty seven year-old lady who had strived to help those in need throughout her life.
Through the motif of the funeral, the most extensively scaled ceremony in life, I have tried to explore the meaning of death and its effects shadowing the bereaved. I have also tried to bring to light the sentiments of the survivors: their sorrow, egoism, solemnity and even frivolity. I want to give the viewers who see this film a moment to think about what is truly valuable and precious in our quickly changing world. At this moment, I consider this goal my duty as a director.."
-- Im Kwon-taek

Im Kwon-taek

Im Kwon-taek is one of South Korea's most renowned film directors. In an active and prolific career, his films have won many domestic and international film festival awards as well as considerable box-office success, and helped bring international attention to the Korean film industry.- Early life...

Reception

During the 2000 Inter-Korean Summit

Inter-Korean Summit

Inter-Korean Summits are meetings between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea. There have been two major meetings in the last decade, the first in 2000 and the second in 2007. The importance of these summits lies in the lack of formal communication between North and South Korea, which...

, North Korea

North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

n leader, Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim born 16 February 1941 or 16 February 1942 , is the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...

 specifically mentioned Festival along with Im Kwon-taek

Im Kwon-taek

Im Kwon-taek is one of South Korea's most renowned film directors. In an active and prolific career, his films have won many domestic and international film festival awards as well as considerable box-office success, and helped bring international attention to the Korean film industry.- Early life...

's earlier Chunhyang

Chunhyang

-Pansori:* Chunhyangga, one of the five surviving stories of the Korean pansori storytelling tradition-Book:* Chunhyangjeon, one of the best known ancient novels of Korea...

(2000

2000 in film

The year 2000 in film involved some significant events.The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible II. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor ....

) as models of the type of cinematic works on which the two Koreas could work together.

Availability

Festival was released on Region 3

DVD region code

DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...

 DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 in South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 with English subtitles, but as of October 2007 is currently out of print.

Sources

• Kim, Ji-seok. "On screen", Cinemaya #33, July 1996, p.40-41.