The Fool Doesn’t Catch a Cold
KOREA / 2008 / Korean / Color, B&W / Video / 19 min
Director, Photography, Editing, Sound, Producer: Kim Kyung-man
Sound Mixing: Kim Nal
Cast: Lee Kang-hyun, Her Sung-ho
Source: Independent Film Chung-Nyun
As live results of the presidential election stream over the airwaves, two young men sit in a Seoul apartment drinking beer. Archival footage of past presidents ceremoniously casting their votes triggers a sense of déjà vu that soon leads back to the era of military dictatorship. Memories of television, reality, and politics overlap to deliver a playful jab at the character of the chosen fool, who, like a Tetris game addict, can’t stop himself.
[Director’s Statement] Unfamiliar clips from the past remind us of current events.
The 17th Korean presidential election took place on December 19, 2007. Elections are one of the basic decision-making processes of democracy. In most cases, however, we find elections misused to justify undemocratic regimes. In this respect, democracy is a sly deception. Selecting the wrong candidates in elections can bear a heavy price and this is exactly what Korea is going through. Promises full of political trickery and so-called election campaigns lead people to make the wrong decision. And this wrong decision comes from wrong understanding. I believe the purpose of a political system is to misguide people and to control them eventually.
Kim Kyung-man
Born in Seoul in 1972, Kim belongs to the filmmakers’ group Independent Film Chung-Nyun. His films include We Serve in the National Security (2000), shown at Indieforum in Korea; Long Live His Majesty (2002), screened at Indieforum, the Seoul Independent Documentary Festival (SIDOF), and Media City 10 (Canada); and The Things That We Shouldn’t Do (2003), shown at SIDOF, Indieforum, the Brisbane International Film Festival, and YIDFF 2005. |
Interview