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| ▲This photo shows direcor Hong Sang-soo and actress Kim Min-hee at Berlin International Film Festival. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo shows crowded screening event of director Hong Sang-soo's 'In Water.' (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo shows cast members, director Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee at the scene of the screening event. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo shows, director Hong Sang-soo and actress Kim Min-hee engaging in a conversation. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo shows, director Hong Sang-soo answering questions. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo shows one of the audiences at the event, Pedro. (Yonhap) |
SEOUL February 23 (Yonhap) -- “There’s are lot of Whelks around here.” The movie kicks off with two male figures talking to one another, however if one looks close, the shot of the scene is out of focus.
Starting off with the out focus director Hong Sang-soo’s experimental movie “In Water” was showcased at the 73rd Berlin international film festival under the segment of “Encounters.”
Segment Encounters is for the movies with new and unique vision. Suitable for the category of Encounters, director Hong Sang-soo’s 29th commercial movie “In Water” possesses various experimental features such as out focus technique, considerably short movie with the duration of 61 minutes and more.
On the first day of its premiere, the movie successfully attracted the audience by selling out all 500 of the seating, and majority of the audiences were students who studies film. Audiences were thrilled to whiteness the director Hong Sang-soo’s experimental approach throughout the movie.
Throughout the first screening of the movie, director Hong’s affectionate girl friends and co director of the film “In Water” Kim Min-hee and actor Shin Seok-ho, Ha Seong-guk, and more of the cast members participated at the event. Director Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee who appeared on to the stage before the premiere of the movie, addressed that the entire movie took only six takes to create.
Three of the cast members of the movie “In Water” are director Hong Sang-soo’s students during his days as professor in Konkuk University. Director Hong addressed that he has resigned from teaching students on December of 2022.
As the movie continued, audiences chuckled when humorous dialogs, and interesting aspects were shown. As the movie came to an end, audiences gave warm round of applause for over two minutes until cast members and director Hong got on to the stage to answer questions.
Throughout the conversation with the audience, director Hong Sang-soo stated his intentions behind using the out-focus technique throughout the movie as “When I thought experimenting with out-focusing technique was wild, however when I was behind the camera and shooting the scenes, I could not stop thinking about out-focusing.”
When the actor Kim Seung-yoon was asked with the question of whether the out-focusing technique had effect on his acting ability, Kim Seung-yoon addressed “I was honored to have been part of creating something new,” adding “Moreover, as an audience I received a very unique feeling watching the movie, when using the out-focusing technique I think I was able to focus more on the plot of the movie instead of the looks of the scene, also it felt like I was watching the movie under water.”
“In Water” depicts a story of a male student wants to be an actor with female and male protagonists who dreams of directing a film, heading into an island to produce the film. While searching for shots to take male protagonist encounters a female who was picking up the trash voluntarily and starts the production.
One of the audiences, Pedro who studies film, addressed “I have watched every single movie directed by Hong Sang-soo and ‘In Water’ as expected was amazing,” adding “It successfully captured the purity of those who dive into the subject of film and how things play out throughout the movie brought me nostalgia.”
Moreover, Pedro stated “I already knew how all the actors looked like from their previous works, therefore usage of out-focus did not bother me, instead it provided me with an opportunity to truly focus on the plot of the movie,” adding “I am glad to see director Hong will continuing on with his experiments as a prominent independent film director.”
One of the audiences who visited the Berlin International Film Festival from Hamburg stated “I am familiar with director Hong’s films, and as expected his way of placing dialogs were on point,” adding “Also I really enjoyed the idea of using out-focus in a movie.”
Director Hong Sang-soo’s movie “In Water” still has three more screenings throughout the Berlin International Film Festival.
Total of 16 various and unique movies were nominated under the segment of Encounters including “In Water.” If director Hong Sang-soo manages to receive an award with “In Water” this will be director Hong’s 5th trophy with winning strike of four consecutive years.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Joonha Yoo)
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