| 2014-02-21 | | | Message from Directors of Tour of Duty |
We would like to share this warm and thoughtful New Year’s message with you all, delivered from filmmakers Kim Dong-ryung and Park Kyoung-tae (Tour of Duty, YIDFF 2013 International Competition Special Prize winner). Tour of Duty tells of the hard lives of former sex workers at a US military camp town in Korea. The film was made in collaboration with the women themselves, and one of the protagonists, Ms. Park Insoon, attended YIDFF 2013 with the directors. In spite of co-director Park Kyoung-tae’s sudden illness during their stay, it seems the experience of watching the film together with the international audience left a distinct impression:
We just wanted to say hello and thank you again for all what happened in 2013 Yamagata, and your support and belief in Tour of Duty.
After our return, our protagonist Ms. Park Insoon told us about her experience in Yamagata. She said it was surprising to see many Japanese audience quietly but keenly watching the story, as if they understood the agony expelled through the film.
She could also feel some audience engraved this agony to their bones and suddenly she realized that “understanding each other” comes from this share of agony.
I guess maybe this is the spell of cinema, in which at least, we imagine we have understood each other directly, without words.We wish you a happy new year and hope to see you soon at Yamagata again.
YIDFF Yamagata office will keep the screening material of Tour of Duty with English and Japanese subtitles for future loan requests for non-theatrical screenings in Japan. We await for your interest!