Park Hee-kwon
Dust and Ashes, Park Hee-kwon (2019)
Park Hee-kwon is a South Korean screenwriter and film director. He graduated from the Department of Newspaper Broadcasting at Woosuk University in Jeonju in 1997, then made the short film Neighbors, which premiered at Mise-en-scéne Film Festival in Korea. Dust and Ashes, his feature film debut, premiered at Tallinn Black Nights.
In an exclusive interview with Filmatique, Park Hee-kwon discusses filming on location in Seoul's redevelopment zone, representating the precarious, cinematic imitation, and his next project.
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FILMATIQUE: Dust and Ashes follows a mysterious young woman through Seoul in the aftermath of her mother's passing. It is a tense and evocative thriller, and a very impressive debut film. When did you first have the idea to make this film, and how did the idea evolve over time?
PARK HEE-KWON: Before I made the film, I thought of people outside the social protection system. The idea was to first start this film two years ago. It developed into a story of a family, seen through the gaze of a woman who is a relatively weak person in Korean society.
FLMTQ: The film is anchored in a mesmerizing performance by An So-yo. Can you discuss your casting process? How did you discover An So-yo, and how did you work together to bring her character to life?
PHK: We learned of the actor Ahn So-yo through her work In Her Place. Her performance is very understated and she is a great actor with the ability to stay calm at any moment. But in the film Dust and Ashes, she didn't need any emotional acting direction—we put her in a single camera role, like a Go-pro camera, so the audience just wanted to walk along with her and worry at the end of the road. I think it was Ahn So-yo's story.
Dust and Ashes , Park Hee-kwon (2019)
FILMATIQUE: An aesthetic of minimalism governs your narrative universe, from the limited dialogue to the elegantly simple mise-en-scène, fluid camerawork and immersive soundscape. What were your references or influences in assembling your aesthetic approach for Dust and Ashes?
PHK: Koreans are ashamed to receive too much praise. Like now. Thank you, though. All the technical parts, such as mise-en-scènes, camerawork, and soundscapes, had to be done realistically and intuitively. So I filmed in the redevelopment area of Seoul where construction was underway, and decided the camera should not stop until the scene was over. The sound was rough and rugged, but I tried to stick to the space. The aesthetic approach of the film Dust and Ashes was influenced by other films—it seems to be a frank expression that they tried to imitate the films. These films are 4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days and Rosetta.
FLMTQ: Like your short film Neighbors, Dust and Ashes examines the underbelly of contemporary South Korean society and attendant topics of wealth disparity and mental health issues. To what extent did you set out to make a political film with Dust and Ashes?
PHK: In 2011, suicide was a social issue in Korean society, and in 2018, gender discrimination and social welfare blind spots became a big problem. It wasn't intentional, but I was interested in social issues. I didn't want to send political messages, but to deliver emotional empathy, even if it seemed radical. And I think that the film's limited budget has had a lot of impact.
Dust and Ashes , Park Hee-kwon (2019)