A Film Loved More Than Oneself... Leaving for the Heavenly Stage Too Soon

Kang Soo-yeon 1966~2022 Original World Star Who Introduced Korean Cinema to the World
Despite Feeling Burdened by Acting, Served as Busan Film Festival Executive Chair
"As Long as There Are Films and Audiences, the Film Festival Never Ends"

Actress Kang Soo-yeon, who passed away on the 7th, was a 'world star' who loved cinema more than herself. She won the Best Actress award at the 1987 Venice International Film Festival for director Im Kwon-taek's film Seemabari (The Surrogate Woman). The film community in the audience was astonished. It was the first time an East Asian actress had won the trophy, not only in Korea but also in the East. Kang Soo-yeon was not present. She did not attend the screening of the invited competition films. The Korean Film Promotion Corporation, which did not expect her to win, did not suggest her attendance. The award was an unforeseen major event.

In Seemabari, Kang Soo-yeon portrayed Ok-nyeo, a victim of a feudal patriarchal society. The story unfolds tragically under customs that force chastity and childbirth of a son. Ok-nyeo cannot overcome the sorrow of losing her son. She hangs herself from a tree, ending her own life. Director Im does not show her head. Only her stiffened body below the neck is shown. The upper frame is arranged like a guillotine blade, depicting it as a murder by society. It left a strong impression, coinciding with the surrogate mother issue that was controversial in Europe at the time.

At the core was Kang Soo-yeon's original acting. She vividly expressed the process of a tomboyish girl awakening to sexuality. Especially, her bright smile when falling in love appeared as a cruel beauty, crushed by the solemn architecture of a noble family. She achieved this at only twenty years old. She debuted in 1971 at the age of five with TBC (Tongyang Broadcasting Company) TV's Adventures of Ddolddoli. She appeared in so many films and TV programs that she spent more time on film sets and studios than at school.

Kang Soo-yeon showcased her early blossoming acting in films such as Cheolsu and Mimi's Youth Sketch, Prince Yeonsan, Potato, and We Are Going to Geneva Now (all 1987), which she participated in around the age of twenty. She also filmed Seemabari around that time. Having no experience giving birth, she repeatedly watched dozens of films containing childbirth scenes beforehand. She even sought advice from obstetricians to add realism.

In 1989, Kang Soo-yeon won the Best Actress award at the Moscow International Film Festival for director Im's Aje Aje Bara Aje, earning the title of 'world star.' The award led to global attention on director Im. Even the Cannes International Film Festival in France, which prides itself as the home of art films, began to take notice belatedly. At that time, director Im was making commercially focused films such as General's Son (1990). After a period without ties to Cannes, he entered the competition section in 2000 with Chunhyang and won the Best Director award in 2002 with Chihwaseon. Since then, Korean cinema has established itself as a mainstream in the global market, with director Bong Joon-ho sweeping the Cannes Palme d'Or and the American Academy Awards for Parasite (2019).

However, Kang Soo-yeon herself could not ride the wave of this remarkable change. She appeared in various films with different colors such as The Road to Racetrack (1991), Go Alone Like a Rhinoceros Horn (1995), Severe Love (1996), Virgin's Dinner (1998), and Trout (1999), but did not receive as much praise or acclaim as before. She distanced herself from acting for a while. She was relatively free from the obsession that she must do works. She once confessed, "It is not easy and burdensome to choose works compared to when I was young. Expectations for me are high, and given my age, the sense of responsibility feels heavy."

But her love for cinema remained unchanged. In 2015, she took on the role of executive committee chairperson to resolve the conflicts and disruptions surrounding the screening of the documentary Diving Bell at the Busan International Film Festival. Having been involved as an executive committee member since the festival's inception, she could not bear to see the festival vanish in vain. In an interview the following year, she admitted, "I have never met people I dislike and have acted according to my own principles, but after joining the film festival, I realized that it is not all about that. Honestly, it was very difficult."

Kang Soo-yeon was forced to resign in disgrace in 2017 due to backlash from the film industry. She did not blame anyone. Instead, she left with words that inspired pride in filmmakers and audiences. She was an eternal bright star of Korean cinema. "The owners of a film festival are only the films and the audiences who love and seek them. As long as they exist, the film festival will never end."