Paju

Colour, 35 mm
South Korea, 2009, 111 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

In Paju, one of Korea’s most talented directors paints a portrait of characters who are far from average, far from being considered ordinary and "normal.” In this way she continues with the style and quality of her highly successful debut feature Jealousy Is My Middle Name (2002, Jiltuneun naui him). After spending several years in India in search of herself, a young woman named Eun-mo returns to Korea to her hometown of Paju. There she meets up again with Joong-shik, the husband of her older sister who died tragically. New circumstances connected to her sister’s death rise to the surface, as does a strong feeling which Eun-mo tried to suppress and bury forever. Will truth or passion win out? The director’s fascination with complicated characters and her skill in gradually uncovering secret after secret make the film a unique experience, and viewers will want to see this complicated story of human desire and seeking again and again. The film was screened with great success at the Pusan festival and opened this year’s festival in Rotterdam.

About the director

Park Chan-ok (b. 1968, South Korea) studied film at Hanyang University and Korea National University of Arts. She started out as a member of the Generation Blue Films group, which produced a number of her short independent films. Then she worked as assistant director to renowned Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo (KVIFF 2004 jury member) on Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (Oh! Soo-jung, screened at  KVIFF 2000). In 2002 she debuted in features with Jealousy Is My Middle Name (Jiltuneun naui him), which took the prestigious New Currents Award at Pusan and a Tiger Award at Rotterdam. The success of the movie and her ability adroitly to capture a complicated tangle of relations onscreen immediately catapulted her to the forefront of Korean filmmaking. She made good use of her talents in her new picture Paju.