Baek-gu
Boram Kim
A poor old limping dog that lives in a shed. Seen by everybody but not really noticed by anybody … detours via animals lead to atmospheric observations of humans.
D
Film Archive
Baek-gu
Credits
Yuri Lee
Boram Kim
Boram Kim, Chohyun Na, Jeonghyn Mun Junho Kim Jaehong Koh, Jaehon Choi
Boram Kim
A limping old dog lives in a shed in a quiet district of Seoul. If it was human it would be called a hermit. One day the director notices the dog and becomes curious. She talks to neighbours, passers-by, playing children, who all crossed paths with this dog but never noticed it, or came to some banal conclusion and then forgot it again. Their statements are as diverse as witness statements after an accident: if an identikit picture or psychological profile were assembled from them it would be a magnificently grotesque creature – perhaps a hybrid of Quasimodo and the donkey from Bresson’s “Balthazar”.
In the course of the film, though, the statements respectively narratives respectively narrators themselves become more and more interesting. It seems as if every person there (only there?) lives in their own, separate world, rarely intersecting with the worlds of the others. A universe of melancholy. Who can tell what the director’s intention may have been at the start? She may simply, and rightly, have trusted that detours increase your local knowledge. Or followed the aphorism of the great Berlin pub-poet Jürgen K. Hultenreich: “Goals are in the way.”
Ralph Eue
Golden Dove Next Masters Competition
In the course of the film, though, the statements respectively narratives respectively narrators themselves become more and more interesting. It seems as if every person there (only there?) lives in their own, separate world, rarely intersecting with the worlds of the others. A universe of melancholy. Who can tell what the director’s intention may have been at the start? She may simply, and rightly, have trusted that detours increase your local knowledge. Or followed the aphorism of the great Berlin pub-poet Jürgen K. Hultenreich: “Goals are in the way.”
Ralph Eue
Golden Dove Next Masters Competition
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Time to Read Poems
Soojung Lee
Dropping out, the other way: instead of attending to self-optimisation and careers five Koreans take the time they need – to live, to read, to be. A film like a breath of relief.
Time to Read Poems
“Sometimes I think I’m only the tool and poetry is the real protagonist.” Each of the five persons in this film has a special relationship with poetry. To them, poems are the elixir of life, a cure, an escape from the rush of everyday life. None of them were made happy by the consumer society – their dreams were not about money, careers or recognition. They wanted a life without pressures and fears. Poetry has accompanied them on their way to a different kind of existence, gave them strength when their courage failed. The remarkable calm and serenity reflected in their faces says it all: their decisions were right.
In their conversations, Soojung Lee gives her protagonists enough space to get to the core of the subject. In pleasantly associative images the film outlines the intersections where their paths cross. Even if their problems aren’t the same, their irritations have similar roots. The conformist and well-adapted life in the rat race of a society geared towards performance and consumption has its victims. Especially among those who don’t want to fit their souls into pre-determined pigeon-holes. A quiet and delicate film that gives a stage to those who are resolved to follow a different kind of clock.
Luc-Carolin Ziemann
Nominated for Healthy Workplaces Film Award
In their conversations, Soojung Lee gives her protagonists enough space to get to the core of the subject. In pleasantly associative images the film outlines the intersections where their paths cross. Even if their problems aren’t the same, their irritations have similar roots. The conformist and well-adapted life in the rat race of a society geared towards performance and consumption has its victims. Especially among those who don’t want to fit their souls into pre-determined pigeon-holes. A quiet and delicate film that gives a stage to those who are resolved to follow a different kind of clock.
Luc-Carolin Ziemann
Nominated for Healthy Workplaces Film Award
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Yum
Solji Yu, Jiun Lee
What to do when there’s no one behind the food stall counter?
Yum
Animated Film
South Korea
2017
4 minutes
subtitles:
_without dialogue / subtitles
What to do when there’s no one behind the food stall counter? Grab the waffle dough and serve a long queue of hungry people.
Lina Dinkla
Lina Dinkla
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.