Korean Film Archive Special Exhibition 'Neoui Eolgul'
Introducing Works Developed and Expanded in Their Own Ways
'Shining Gonggong Jutaek', 'One and Zero', and More
Tsai Ming-liang is a master who has made a significant mark in the history of world cinema. He opened a new path for the Taiwanese New Wave by winning the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival with Vive L'Amour (1994).
He distanced himself from the insights into history, analyses of cities, and depictions of economic development explored by directors like Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien. Instead, he focused on the personal culture of the city, capturing a sensory and artistic tendency. Recognized worldwide, almost all of his feature films have been invited to the three major international film festivals. These include The River (1997, Jury Grand Prix at the Berlin International Film Festival), Stray Dogs (2013, Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival), and Days (2020, Teddy Award Special Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival).
An exhibition illuminating Tsai Ming-liang’s artistic world from various angles is being held for the first time in Korea. The Korean Film Archive is hosting Your Face at the Korean Film Museum starting from the 19th. It showcases seven video works Tsai has created since 2012. Among them are Shining Public Housing (2024) and One and Zero (2016), which have never been introduced in Korea, as well as Your Face (2018), Autumn Day (2015), Tree (2021), and Days (2020).
Each work is developed and expanded through Tsai Ming-liang’s unique artistic practice. They break away from the conventions of media and genre, demonstrating a high level of creativity in various forms such as film, theater, performance, virtual reality (VR), painting, installation work, and exhibitions.
The works are like moving portraits that observe people and the world through video. The subjects are strangers encountered while walking the streets or colleagues whom Tsai has long respected as a filmmaker. The daily life of a tree that has held many years like an elderly person or a public housing building about to be demolished is also quietly captured.
The methods of observation vary. Sometimes it is a dramatic close-up shot filmed under set lighting, and other times a wide shot that seems to look on indifferently from afar. The Film Archive introduced the works by saying, “They capture not only the image of the subject but also the collisions and newly derived images that occur in the gaps between images, conveying the intimate emotions of the subject through video.”
Tsai Ming-liang will visit Korea on the 19th to clearly convey his intentions. Together with film critic Jeong Seong-il, he will explain the background and approach of the works in front of the audience. To aid understanding, the Film Archive will also hold a special film screening at Cinematheque KOFA. From the 19th to the 25th, three films?Days, Stray Dogs, and Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)?will be screened. Especially on the 20th, when Days is shown, Tsai Ming-liang will attend and engage in conversation with the audience.
The Film Archive stated, “We aim to introduce Tsai Ming-liang richly beyond the framework of ‘film director’ and will continue to highlight works that exist at the boundaries and intersections of film and video to embrace changes of the times and expand their scope.”
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