'Seoul Urban Legends' - 'Seoul Villages' adapted into movies

In case you missed the VIP Presentation of 'SEOUL URBAN LEGENDS' ('서울 도시 전설들') in CGV Apgujeong on October 31, here's what you need to know about the first adaptation of my short stories into movies.

(Answering the question 'Some films are very close to your original stories, others build upon them. Any remarks?': 'Books are triggers. Authors and readers create their own images in their own heads. It's very stimulating to see each and every one of these very diverse and gifted creators add their own creative layers of fiction and reality'. With CHE Heesuk, YOU On, and KIM Yong-ho during the VIP presentation in CGV Apgujeong (photos Pulse9)

ABOUT 'SEOUL URBAN LEGENDS':

• 'Get out of your comfort zone, and dive into a fictional Seoul '
  
• an omnibus movie featuring 4 short films by 6 Korean filmmakers:
• 'Sweat Dream' (directed by CHE Heesuk)
• 'Black Snow' (directed by YOU On)
• 'Guisin-dong' (directed by CHOI Jong Wook, KIM Ye Jin, WON Chang Sung)
• 'de Vermis Seoulis' (directed by KIM Yong-ho)
  
• adapted from Stephane MOT's 'Seoul Villages', a collection of short stories about a fictional Seoul
• produced by Pulse9, sponsored by Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA)
• independent cinema with a touch of A.I.
  

ABOUT THE SHORT FILMS AND THEIR DIRECTORS:

• 'SWEAT DREAM'
  (DIRECTED BY CHE HEESUK):
  
  
• 'Yes, this heat is inhumane, but is there even any humanity left in a world controlled by A.I.?'
• From experimental film to music videos, CHE keeps exploring humanity and technology
  

• 'BLACK SNOW'
  (DIRECTED BY YOU ON):
  
  
• Mi-hyun finds a boy lying on the street; her city and her life itself start feeling more intense.
• An expert in short format contents, 'On Oppa' is also a TikTok phenomenon with over 21M followers.

• 'GUISIN-DONG'
  (DIRECTED BY CHOI JONG WOOK, KIM YE JIN, WON CHANG SUNG):
  
  
• If Seoul's most mysterious neighborhood claims you, don't even think about escaping it'
• Glamour or underground? CHOI, KIM,, and WON track all vibes across Seoul and beyond.

• 'DE VERMIS SEOULIS'
  (DIRECTED BY KIM YONG-HO):
  
  
• Life is a masquerade, worms roam Seoul, and acclaimed photographer KIM Yong-ho invites you to a surreal experience.
• Iconic fashion photographer turned artist, KIM Yong-ho brings a new light to the fabric of reality. 
  

• FOUR VERY DIFFERENT CREATIVE APPROACHES:
• They're all visual creators expert in their field, they're all making their first movie
• Four radically different creations (around 20 mn each):
  
• CHE Heesuk added new dimensions to the protagonist's struggles by transposing the original short story, set in early 90s Seoul, into a dystopian future.
  
• YOU On opted for a vertical format to focus on the characters. 
• CHOI, KIM, and WON built a ghost story on top of the original one, with a resolutely indie / underground touch.
• KIM Yong-ho created a highly artistic experimental film based on still pictures and quotes from the book
• Like the book combines multiple fictions about a shapeshifting city, the film combines multiple approaches of these fictions. 'This might be the very definition of a city: a work of fiction, utterly real, but always eluding its authors'.

 

(Answering the question 'Your fiction is timeless, but your background also includes startups. What did you think when you learned that A.I. virtual characters would appear in the adaptations?') 'These virtual characters belong to what's known as the 'uncanny valley', and 'Uncanny Valley could be the name of one of my fictional Seoul villages. This particular technology opens new possibilities for all kind of visual creators, actors, and performers, and it's significant to see Korea's independent cinema explore it."

We'll keep you posted about the distribution of the movie and the next steps. 

The happy few (well actually enough to fill twice the theater) who attended the VIP presentation of Seoul Urban Legends could watch the teasers and the filmmakers' interviews before a Q and A session. KIM Yong-ho's 'de Vermis Seoulis' was then screened twice so that everyone who came could watch. The whole team thanks those who could make it that day as well as everyone who supported this project that only started a few months ago.

'Seoul Urban Legends' in Tokyo for TIFFCOM 2023 (with YOU On, CHOI Jong Wook, CHE Heesuk)

ABOUT THE BOOK:

If you haven't read 'Seoul Villages' yet, download the free ebook:

• 'Seoul Villages' (EN)
• '서울 마을들' (KR)
• '서울 마을들' (EN/KR)
• 'Séoul Villages' (FR)

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*  'SEOUL URBAN LEGENDS' AND 'DE VERMIS SEOULIS' IN THE MEDIA:

"[영화] 31일 사진작가 김용호의 실험영화 <데 베르미스 서울리스> 시사회" (Monthly Chosun 202311)

"소설 '서울 도시 전설' 옴니버스 영화로…"깊고 놀라운 표현"(종합) [N현장]" (News1 20231031)

"영화·AI의 접목…예술 분야 신인 감독이 AI와 만났을 때[SS현장]" (Sports Seoul 20231031)

"영화로 재탄생한 소설 ‘서울 도시 전설’…AI 기술로 더한 새로운 가능성 [종합] " (Ilgan Sports 20231031)

"“가상 인간과 영화가 만났다”펄스나인, ‘AI 페이스 스왑 기술’ 적용한 영화 ‘서울 도시 전설’ 제작보고회" (The Herald Business 20231101)
"펄스나인, AI 기술 적용한 영화 '서울 도시 전설' 제작 보고회" (AI Times 20231101)
"가상 아이돌, 영화에도 출연…눈앞에 다가온 AI 영화" (The Hankyoreh 20231102)
"'서울 도시 전설' 영화 시사회 (AI 페이스 스왑 기술적용)" (Naver Blog 20231102)

"보이는 것 너머를 보는 '광고사진의 대부' 김용호, 4585컷 영화 데뷔 " (Korea Economic Daily 20231107)

"보이는 것 너머를 보는 '광고사진의 대부' 김용호, 4585컷 영화 데뷔" (Arte 20231107)
"그의 광고사진은 '예술'이 된다…보이는 것 너머를 찍기에 " (Korea Economic Daily 20231109)

"이젠 영화 출연까지…가상 인간, 연예계 침투 현실로 [D:이슈]" (Dailian 20231114)

"[아라아트] '디지털 노벰버(11월) 2023' - Digital Sense, Human Mind " (Tistory Art Blog 20231120)

"de Vermis Seoulis" / "데 베르미스 서울리스" (Digital November 2023 - BIFAN Beyond Reality)

"Novembre Numerique au Ara Art Center" (Digital November 2023 - Ambassade de France a Seoul)

"부천국제판타스틱영화제,"신비롭고 감동적" "몰입감 최고!" ‘디지털 노벰버 2023: Digital Sense, Human Mind’ 2일 폐막" (Gyeonggi Daily 20231204)

" 부천국제판타스틱영화제, ‘디지털 노벰버 2023: Digital Sense, Human Mind’ 폐막" (IBS News 20231204)

"[1DAY 1KOREA: K-PEOPLE] Ep.61 Photographer KIM Yong-ho" (Arirang TV 20231205)

"김용호 '데 베르미스 서울리스' 영화 감독" (Arts & Culture 20240101)

"사진가 김용호, 음악과 함께 찍고 담다 - 월간객석" (Auditorium 20240122)

"사진가 김용호, 음악과 함께 찍고, 담다" (Naver Post 20240122)

"소설이 눈앞에…가상 인간이 되살리는 '서울 도시 전설' [Geeks' Briefing]" (Korea Economic Daily 20230706)

"A MidSummer Night's Dream 한여름 밤의 꿈" (8th Busan International Photo Festival 202408)

" 매력적인 부산의 한여름 밤을 만나보실래요? " (Busan Ilbo 20240820)

"사실 너머의 진실…사진으로 담은 ‘한 여름 밤의 꿈’" (Kookje Daily 20240820)

"부산죽재사진제" (Photo Art 20240827)

"[현장] 사진으로 만나는 '한여름 밤의 꿈'...2024 부산국제사진제 르포" (News2day 20240828)

"그린 듯한 초현실적 세계…이거 사진 맞아?" (JoongAng Sunday 20240907)

"상상의 여행_부산국제사진제 주제전 '한여름밤의 꿈'" (Culture Lamp 20240910)

"근현대사의 산증인 부산항, 그곳에 꿈결 같은 사진들이 떠돈다" (The Hankyoreh 20240914)

"[인터뷰] 현상으로의 사진, 예술가의 초상, <두 개의 이야기: 한국 문화를 빛낸 거장들을 조명하며> 전시 마친 사진가 김용호" (Cine21 20241115)

"Workspace as a Gallery: City as an inspiration - Virtual Artist Talk" (The Drivery 20241127)

"김용호의 시선으로 포착한 한국 예술의 거장들" (The Neighbor 20241209)

"브랜드를 연구하는 사진가, 김용호" (Fortune Korea 20241213)

 

 

 

KOTE Potluck Art Festival 2023

Between March 1 and 5,  Insadong’s cultural complex KOTE proposes an art festival rich in exhibitions, events, and performances featuring major as well as emerging artists.


About KOTE

Over the past few years, KOTE has become a vibrant symbol of Seoul’s creativity, resilience, and inclusiveness. At the crossroads of Insadong, Pimatgol, and contemporary art, a retro yet modern space to explore, connect, and inspire; a salon where, every day, cultures and citizens dialog and meet, where thinkers and creators from all horizons share and challenge each other; a unique ecosystem where visionary companies and embassies host meaningful events; a village where, in all seasons, new ideas and friendships bloom across generations, around its charming courtyard and iconic paulownia (the very name KOTE rings like both ‘court’ and ‘flower’). 


About KOTE POTLUCK ART FESTIVAL:

For five days (March 1st to 5th), the KOTE Potluck Art Festival will fill the whole complex from its courtyard to its rooftop with a rich program featuring over 150 artists from 12 countries: contemporary art, new media, installations, photography, films, music or dance performances…  a wide diversity to stimulate all senses.

Kote Potluck Art Festival 2023 (March 1-5)
Opening Ceremony: March 1st, 5 pm
Kote: Insadong-gil 7, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Tel: 02) 737-7977
email: artspacekote@gmail.com
website: kote.kr
Instagram: @kote.kr

 

 

---

ADDENDUM 20230226

A few shots from my series 'The People of Seoul' will be exhibited at KOTE's Joseon Salon during the festival:

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The People of Seoul

They're kids, moms, dads, halmoni, or old men. They're shopkeepers, policemen, Yakult ajumma, students, or farmers. They're having fun or feeling lonely. They're the great people of Seoul.

My Week-End Special, these pictures taken between 2004 and 2009 all over the capital:




Also on YouTube and on Vimeo.
 
 


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Gangwon-do Battlefield - 강원도 전쟁터 (무): Mu, The Lost Continent?

Gangwon-do, Autumn 2009. A field in the middle of nowhere, antropomorphous freak radishes left behind by the farmer. A surreal battlefield.

For a sunday special, a short video* of this limb limbo:



No radishes were harmed in the making of this video.

See other videos on Seoul Village's YouTube channel.

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* "Gangwon-do Battlefield - 강원도 전쟁터 (무)"

10 Shades of Black and White

In this short video, 10 shots taken between 2002 and 2009 in backstage Nowon-gu, Gwangjin-gu, Seongbuk-gu, Jongno-gu...:





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The Seoul Future Heritage Is In Our Hands

I recently* formulated the wish that Seoul opened a new dynamic museum to photography or video with "permanent collections of great Korean photographers, temporary exhibitions, and as tribute to the people of Seoul KIM Ki-chan revealed for generations to see in their daily lives, a large space devoted to photos taken by anonym citizens. At a time when human relations grow virtual, at a time when the whole city is captured thousands of time a day by its citizens and visitors for the whole world to see on social networks, Seoul has a duty to get real and to make something of all its fantastic cultural assets."

Of course I forgot to mention existing online initiatives, from Seoul Metropolitan Government towards its citizens (see for instance "Seoul from above : 40 years of archives soon available"), or the other way round, like on Wow Soul, where Seoulites can share pictures and videos from all over the city:

"Wow Seoul 2.0" - wow.seoul.go.kr

The focus is now on vanishing parts of the city, and the Seoul Future heritage campaign aims at collecting memories we don't want to be lost for good, asking the questions what is the future heritage in Seoul, which tangible and intangible memories will we pass to future generations?

 

The Seoul Future heritage campaign is on campaign.agora.media.daum.net/seoulfuture

Among the most outstanding tangible memories are the kind of landmarks we've mentioned in "Hoehyeon Apt, Chungjeong Apt, Dongdaemun Apt, Ogin Apt...", around "Seosomun Level Crossing" and Seosomun Apt, or "Sungwoo Barbershop, Malli-dong Market" - places like this Seochon's Blue House:

But each citizen has its own memories of places, people or moments to share about countless endangered or already extinct Seoul villages...

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* see "SeMA Nowon: better than Gauguin", which echoed "A thousand villages, a thousand memories - Seoul Photo Festival 2012"

SeMA Nowon: better than Gauguin

Never say never again: one year ago, the Seoul Museum of Art announced that it would distance itself from big shows with big international names (see "SeMA to block blockbusters"), but 2012 ended with the Tim Burton extravaganza (talk about big fish), and yesterday*, The  Korea JoongAng Daily detailed SeMA's plans for the year to come, starring a major Paul Gauguin exhibition to be held June-September 2013 in Seosomun branch (talk about a summer blockbuster).

It's great, particularly for a large public who never had the occasion to see really significant works from an artist I love, but I was much more interested in updates regarding the future SeMA North Branch in Nowon-gu.

I always wondered what would come out of this site, still hidden by tall fences last time I passed by, last month. That's a very good location, between Junggye and Hagye stations, surrounded by massive apartment blocks and just in front of a key commercial hotspot: Outlet 2001 +, HomePlus (formerly HomEver, formerly Carrefour Junggye), the second one after Nowon Station, on the other side of Danghyeoncheon. Perfect to reach for new visitors, and to boost Northeast Seoul's cultural life. 

SeMA North Branch (SeMA Nowon? SeMA Junggye?) will be inaugurated in July 2013, and officials quoted in the article mentioned "crafts, design, and architecture" and "public art" as the main "verticals" for the new venue. We also received the confirmation that the Main Branch (SeMA Seosomun) would propose more international magnets. It is very important to couple each event with a more local one: I sincerely hope many visitors to the Tim Burton show stopped by the wonderful exhition of Seoul pictures on the ground floor (see "A thousand villages, a thousand memories - Seoul Photo Festival 2012"). Bonus: that expo was free. But of course, that's not the reason why I visited the Seoul photo festival expo three times, sharing twice very emotional moments with fellow visitors I'd never met before, but who had personal stories with certain pictures or photographers.

The potential repositioning of SeMA Nam Seoul (South Branch, near Sadang) is not very clear, but I guess the editorial line will remain focused on more intimate exhibitions.

What about SeMA Gyeonghuigung, that big space in the most prestigious of all locations, but an empty shell most of the time?

My dream would be a SeMA KIM Ki-chan, a living museum devoted to photography, built around the collection of Seoul's - and probably Korea's - all time greatest photographer, the man who captured the soul of the city, of its people, of its alleyways. Furthermore, Kim Ki-chan grew up just hectometers away from the site, in Sajik-dong.

That would be great: permanent collections of great Korean photographers, temporary exhibitions, and as tribute to the people of Seoul KIM Ki-chan revealed for generations to see in their daily lives, a large space devoted to photos taken by anonym citizens.

At a time when human relations grow virtual, at a time when the whole city is captured thousands of time a day by its citizens and visitors for the whole world to see on social networks, Seoul has a duty to get real and to make something of all its fantastic cultural assets.

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* "Gauguin exhibition set for Seoul museum" (KJD 2013/01/23)

A thousand villages, a thousand memories - Seoul Photo Festival 2012

 

The theme of this year's SFF couldn't be more Seoulvillagey: "A thousand villages, a thousand memories", with a focus on the city and its inhabitants, and works by amateurs as well as well know classics from such great masters as my all time fave KIM Gi-chan*. The opportunity to see again Reverend Motoyuki Nomura's 1973 Cheonggyecheon, if you missed the expo at Seoul Museum of History.

Above, a 1950 picture of Namdaemun-ro by KIM Han-yong. Below, a 1972 shot by a certain Hanjeong Sik (in this order, his name means Korean food!), taken in Gyeonji-dong, Jongno-gu - that's the neighborhood around Ujeongguk-ro, Jogyesa's street:

Exhibitions also feature simple souvenir snapshots, and memories as fresh as 2012.

While you're roaming between City Hall, SeMA, the Seoul Museum of History and Gyeonghuigung, don't miss the Jeongdong in 1900 expo (expats in Jeongdong / the Korean pavillion at the Universal Exposition of Paris 1900), and see how the museum of history renewed its permanent collections, leveraging on past exhibitions.

 

Seoul Photo Festival 2012
천 개의 마을, 천 개의 기억 (A thousand villages, a thousand memories - exhibitions and conferences)
Date: 20121121-1230
Venues: Seoul Museum of Art - SeMA, Seoul City Hall, Seoul Museum of History
Tel: Dasan 120 (SFF: 070.8240.9902)
Website: SeoulPhotoFestival.com

Jeongdong in 1900
A Strange coexistence in Jeongdong / The Universal Exposition of Paris 1900
Date: 20121109-20130120
Seoul Museum of History
Tel: Dasan 120
Website: museum.seoul.kr

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* BTW Noonbit recently reedited series of pictures from their archives in a handy format. I already got the complete work of KIM Gi-chan, and a very interesting collection about Korean markets (mainly from the 80s-90s). You can find these white cinderblocks in most libraries and art galleries across Seoul.

CHOI Min-shik's Children

Born a poor kid in rural Southeast Korea, the Master of Busan never forgot where he came from: when CHOI Min-shik* talks about himself, he often uses the words "this peasant".

Now 84, CHOI has spent decades learning from humans he met and photographed, recording a universal message of love and peace, exposing life in its blooming beauty as well as in its cruel sadness.

In the vein of his series "Humans" or "Women", "소년시대" echoes his days as a kid, through pictures of children who face a tough world, but sometimes manage to smile and to meet fellow humans who care.

CHOI Min-shik photo exhibition "Children" / 최민식 사진전 "소년시대"
20120613-0708
Lotte Gallery (12F, Lotte Dept Store Main Branch in Jung-gu)
Tel +82.2.726.4428

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* not to be confused with CHOI Min-sik, the actor born in Seoul 50 years ago.

Seoul is... a village

Summing up Seoul in one picture and one word? No can do. Here's my take at the "Seoul is..." series:

You may recognize a few pictures taken here and there over the past 10 years.

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