EIDF/EBS국제다큐영화제

I've spent the evening at the documentary festival hosted by the EBS, a national public television network featuring educational and cultural programs. All the films were being screened for free and most of them were scheduled with a director's after talk.

The film I've chosen was 'Father's E-mail', under the category of Korean Docs Panorama, directed and narrated by Hong Jae-hee. There were other popular choices under the competition category, but I was more tempted to know about the story of a family and a patriarch- reflected according to the each modern era of Korean history; Korean war and anti-communist activity, dispatch to Vietnam war, Summer olympic in 1998 Seoul, and the shadow of rapid economic development. The director led the timeline of her father's life based on 47 emails he sent before death. The story turned out to be more than just a historical reflection but a life of a father of that specific generation born in 30's and 40's. It was excellent 85 minutes of my life.

During the QnA session, someone asked the director about the motivation of making the film, instead of leaving it as a personal memory. Her answer was that it's in her nature to share the story to public, through the medium of documentary and that is an important part of the soul-searching(자아성찰) for her. She also noted that the best part of filming is not about getting an award or a good critique, but the pleasure of discovering through filming itself.

When she talked about what 'filming' meant for her, I immediately thought about what 'blogging' meant for me. No one expects me to write things and upload things here, and yet I'm doing it. I wonder if keeping this blog running is part of the soul-searching for myself.