Downloaded from YTS.MX
[gentle classical music playing]
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
[woman] That film,
Looking for Paradise, is a short.
A five-minute film that was made by a student.
Back then, Director Bong was not the Director Bong he is now.
[man] When did you watch that film?
I'd say it was either in the beginning or middle of Yellow Door's lifespan.
It wasn't during the latter years.
One day, Director Bong, who, back then, everyone just called Joon Ho,
said he got some money by working as a tutor.
I think he had done that for a month or two.
Anyway, he bought a camera with that money
and made a film using his living room as the background.
It was about a caterpillar looking for paradise.
He made this tiny, little caterpillar.
It was stop-motion animation,
so he said he had to move it little by little.
[gentle orchestral music continues]
[woman] In the ending, the caterpillar fights a stuffed monkey
in the living room.
And then it heads to paradise.
It was incredible. I was in shock. I was so amazed by it.
He didn't seem like the Joon Ho I knew.
I think the film was five minutes long.
I think.
[man] Twenty-three minutes.
And you got the protagonist and villain mixed up.
I did? I thought the caterpillar was the main character?
[man] That was the gorilla!
PROTAGONIST
I thought it was the caterpillar, but it was the gorilla.
I see.
I found this box which I haven't seen for about 20 years.
I used to keep a lot of things in here back then.
And there's something important in here.
[man] 8 mm?
This is footage from the 8 mm film workshop we had at Yellow Door.
[woman] Oh! Wow!
-I have everything here. All these. -[woman] Oh yeah!
I got all kinds of stuff here.
I don't even remember what we did back then.
We filmed all kinds of nonsense.
I hope this footage helps sort out our collective Rashomon effect.
I've got everything here.
-[man] Do you still have the gorilla? -[woman] Yeah, that gorilla.
I have it, but…
[man laughs]
But let's just say that it's gone.
It's embarrassing. Where is that thing?
[slow jazz music playing]
[gorilla hooting]
YELLOW DOOR: '90S LO-FI FILM CLUB
[pensive music playing]
[man 2] "I thought of my secret first film which I've never mentioned anywhere else."
"Before I made my self-proclaimed first short film, White Collar,
I once made a short animated film called Looking for Paradise."
JU SUNG-CHUL, AUTHOR OF THE DEBUT INTERVIEWS WITH RENOWNED KOREAN DIRECTORS
[man 2] I had an interview with Director Bong Joon Ho in The Debut.
He was acting like a spy sharing a secret
when he said, "Actually, I once made this other film."
He kept looking around as he shared it with me.
I thought, "I should leave it out. I probably can't use this for my book."
But that story turned out to be really interesting.
"There were about 20 or so audience members
at Yellow Door's Christmas party."
"My face was completely flushed as I had my very first movie premiere."
"In any case, the only ones who watched that film on this earth
were those who were there that day."
[pensive classical music playing]
[music stops, device beeps]
Can you hear me, Jong-tae?
-Hey. Hi! [laughs] -Can you see me?
I can see you.
[man 3] You been busy?
I guess.
[man 3] Your film's releasing in a few days, right?
Yes. I've been busier because the production was small. [laughs]
I had to make some things happen.
[man 3] It looks like Se-bum dyed his hair.
[both laughing]
[man 3] It's been so long, Se-bum.
Se-bum, did you dye your hair? Your hair is totally--
I have to. My hair is completely gray unless I dye it.
He looks like a minister of something now.
He looks like he could be the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation.
-[man 4] Oh. -Hi, Byung-hoon.
-Hey. -Hey!
[Jong-tae laughs]
[Se-bum] Is that Byung-hoon? Wow!
[man 3] My gosh, Byung-hoon. Can you see me?
-[Jong-tae] Can Byung-hoon see us? -[Se-bum] He can.
[playful music]
-[man 3] Can you hear us? -Yes, I can.
[Se-bum] Okay.
Is it after twelve o'clock there, Byung-hoon?
[Byung-hoon] It's around 11:00 now.
[Se-bum] 11:00 p.m.?
-Yes. -[man 3] Oh my gosh.
[Se-bum] Wow.
Your Korean is kind of awkward now.
[all laughing]
[Byung-hoon] Come on!
[man 3] Should we speak in English, then, Byung-hoon?
-Gosh. Sure. -Can you speak English?
-Hi! Oh my! -Min Hyang!
-[woman] Eun-sim! -[Min Hyang] Eun-sim! Eun-sim!
Eun-sim!
[shutter clicking]
-[woman 2] Who is this? -[Min Hyang] When was this?
[woman 2] Look who this is.
-[man 5] Why… -[man 3] The focus.
[man 5] I couldn't accept this now, but I used to!
-[man 1] I mean, this was a film club! -[group laughing]
-[man 3] They're all out of focus. -[woman laughs]
[Eun-sim] This is hilarious! Who took these?
-[woman 2] Let's find the culprit. -[man 3] It wasn't me. I'm in the picture.
[man 1] Me too.
-[man 5] Wait. I'm not in it. -[group laughing]
[shutter clicking]
[man 3] Is that me?
Why'd we take so many pictures of gum?
[man 5] It was a focus test.
[shutter clicking]
[man 3] We didn't know the basic mechanisms of a camera,
so we got together for that workshop to familiarize ourselves with the basics…
[man 5] That's right.
[man 3] …like exposure, aperture, shutter speed, focus, and other concepts.
It's probably just a bunch of random, boring pictures
that lack any artistic value.
[Jong-tae] Is that Ms. Kim Hye-ja's house?
[man 3] Yes, that would be Ms. Kim's house.
When we looked through our office's front window,
we could see Ms. Kim's garden.
[Jong-tae] With the gates and everything.
[man 3] We took so many pictures in front of that stone wall
because it was so pretty.
[man] Hmm.
[man 3] Dae-yup is doing a very sexy pose.
[playful jazz music playing]
If I'd known there was a club over there, I would've looked that way a little more.
KIM HYE-JA, LEAD ACTRESS OF MOTHER
I thought, "They could probably see my entire house from upstairs!"
[laughs]
You never know what life will bring you, right?
This is the most heartwarming memory I have of Joon Ho.
After Memories of Murder premiered, it must've been around 9:00 p.m.
After 9:00, actually.
-He called me around 10:00. -Yes.
You called me and said, "Hey, Jong-tae. Guess where I am?"
-"I'm in front of the Gyeongseo Building." -Right.
[Jong-tae] You must've been feeling great about the film's success
and started to reminisce about your more difficult times.
[Joon Ho] The Gyeongseo Building.
Right here. It used to be a regular house but was turned into this.
It's been 30 years.
This was the route. The way to Yellow Door.
[man 5] Yes!
It didn't feel like we came to Yellow Door to do anything in particular.
It felt more like coming for a picnic or something, right?
But why was it the Gyeongseo Building?
Did Jong-tae already have an office there?
He took a leave of absence
from his graduate program at Dongguk University.
He got the office to start a business with his friends.
It was supposed to be a modeling agency or something.
[playful music]
After the first day of my graduate program,
I was disappointed. I thought, "This is graduate school?"
CHOI JONG-TAE ESTABLISHED YELLOW DOOR
WHILE ON BREAK FROM THEATER AND FILM STUDIES
We didn't learn much.
I remember that we had a 16 mm camera at school.
It would've been great if we were taught how to use it.
But we only ever got to look at it.
-[man 1] That's it? -[Jong-tae] Yes.
Around that time,
I met Lee Dong-hoon.
LEE DONG-HOON, JOINED YELLOW DOOR AS A SOCIOLOGY MAJOR
I worked a part-time job at a bookstore at Yonsei University called Today's Books.
Back then, we didn't have cell phones or pagers.
Today's Books had a bulletin board with all kinds of flyers.
"We're here. Join us here."
I wanted to meet someone in the film industry,
and I was introduced to Director Choi Jong-tae,
who was on leave from his film studies at Dongguk University.
They said, "Help him with his studies." So I said, "Okay, sure. Send him my way."
So that's how we met.
It was great, but if it happened today,
I would say, "Why would I teach a stranger about film?"
But back then, the culture of having university clubs hadn't been lost yet.
So it actually felt quite natural.
If nobody had approached me back then to study film
and asked me for my help,
I think my life would've been very different.
Well, it might've changed for the better.
Actually, it might've been much better! [laughs]
I wasn't looking to make anything in particular.
I started to poke around a little bit.
[Jong-tae] Dong-hoon asked me if he could bring along an upperclassman he knew.
I told him that was fine.
[Dong-hoon] I thought, "I can't suffer alone."
That's why I dragged Director Bong into this.
I've loved movies ever since my elementary and middle school days,
and I've always wanted to be a director.
I don't know why.
BONG JOON HO, JOINED YELLOW DOOR AS A SOCIOLOGY MAJOR
Maybe because all my family did was watch TV.
We didn't travel. We didn't play sports. All we ever did was watch TV.
Some films were shocking because I didn't have any context.
One of them was The Wages of Fear.
THE WAGES OF FEAR HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT
And The Bicycle Thieves too. I lost my bike when I was a kid…
THE BICYCLE THIEVES VITTORIO DE SICA, 1948
…so I was completely immersed.
I didn't know anything about Vittorio De Sica or neorealism back then,
so it came as a strong, primitive shock.
For the first time,
I had a place where I could discuss films as much as I wanted.
I could study them and watch them on repeat.
I didn't major in theater and film studies,
and I never worked on a film set.
But for the first time, I got to do something involving film.
I sat Bong Joon Ho and Lee Dong-hoon down.
I first had them read Understanding Movies.
That was when books about film first started coming out.
[Dong-hoon] Right.
Today, we have whole sections of books about film at bookstores.
[Dong-hoon] We didn't have those.
[Joon Ho] But back then, the idea of publishing books about film
was so unfamiliar.
There were theoretical books like Understanding Movies.
And A History of Film, but only those two. There were no other books about film.
This was around when convenience stores started?
-Yes. -[Dong-hoon] So back then I…
Can you cut out what he said about convenience stores?
-[Dong-hoon] Yes. -[laughs]
[Joon Ho] It sounds like…
We didn't have those back then?
No.
Right. We used to
have coffee at cafés like Doutor.
[Dong-hoon] Yes. It's not around anymore.
I had to do something for them, but there was nothing I could do.
Back then, Joon Ho was working as a part-time manager at a study room.
That meant he had a lot of time on his hands.
I told him to transcribe A History of Film in his free time
instead of sitting around.
But I never transcribed A History of Film.
I think Director Bong probably transcribed A History of Film.
I didn't do it, but I think he probably did.
This is what I meant by the Rashomon effect.
How could I have transcribed that big of a book?
RASHOMON AKIRA KUROSAWA, 1950
[man in Japanese] I don't know. I have no idea.
I've lost my faith in mankind.
You don't remember?
I read it. You told me to read it, so I read it diligently,
but I never transcribed it.
I remember you showing me your notebook.
Really?
I know you did it.
-I remember that notebook. -[Joon Ho] One sec.
[Jong-tae] How else could I know?
[intriguing music playing]
This is it, right?
-[Jong-tae] Yes. -A History of Film by Jack C. Ellis.
You did do it. I remember that notebook.
-You probably quit after a few pages. -Yes. [laughs]
Like the to-infinitive part of Sungmoon Comprehensive English.
[Jong-tae] Yes, like the to-infinitive.
Sounds about right.
All Koreans know all about the to-infinitive. [laughs]
That was the beginning of it.
Director Bong Joon Ho, Director Choi Jong-tae, and me. And then…
[light string music playing]
[woman 1] I was lying around at home one day
when suddenly I just had this overwhelming urge to study film.
LIM HOON-A, JOINED YELLOW DOOR AS A YONSEI HISTORY GRADUATE
I couldn't sleep from that day on.
-Hoon-a joined early on. -[Dong-hoon] You're right.
I had a friend in the psychology department
who loved music like I did.
She said there was a guy named Bong Joon Ho in sociology who liked film,
so I should give him a call.
I thought, "Bong Joon Ho? What a unique name."
"I should memorize it as 'bonjour.'" [chuckles]
I called him, and he told me to come to this place
in front of Hongik University.
Jong-tae, you, me, and Hoon-a held the first film seminar together.
Remember?
-We each brought a film of our choice. -[Dong-hoon] Right.
Jong-tae brought Landscape in the Mist by Theodōros Angelopoulos.
I brought François Truffaut.
[Dong-hoon] That one.
It starred Truffaut himself as a director. It was called Day for Night.
-You? -I didn't study films back then. [laughs]
-So we watched four different films. -[Dong-hoon] I don't remember. Right. Yes.
We took turns watching the films we brought.
-Then we just talked about them. -[Dong-hoon] A discussion. Right.
[gentle guitar music playing]
[Min Hyang] One day, I was walking down Baekyang-ro,
and I ran into this friend of mine.
She'd been walking on the opposite side of the street.
We began talking about films. Back then, I was obsessed. I told her…
KIM MIN HYANG, JOINED YELLOW DOOR AS A YONSEI ENGLISH GRADUATE
…I had some interest in film. She said, "Really? I'm in this film group,
and we're going to watch a Turkish film called The Way. Do you want to come?"
[Min Hyang on tape] So I said, "Sure, let's do it."
That's how I got involved in Yellow Door. Her name was Lim Hoon-a.
Hmm. Yes.
Well, now,
I'm remembering.
I actually knew her before then.
The College of Liberal Arts put on a play.
It was called Jesus of Gold Crown,
and this cool student played the role of Jesus.
It was very impressive,
and the actor who played that role was Min Hyang.
Back then, there wasn't any type of organization.
CHANG EUN-SIM, JOINED YELLOW DOOR AS A YONSEI ASTROMETEOROLOGY GRADUATE
We joined the club because we loved films and wanted to study them.
That's what I remember.
I remember this story about Eun-sim.
One day, she brought in a male bust.
It's usually used by art students. And she told us all to start sketching it.
It was so random that she suddenly wanted us to draw.
I had no idea why she brought it.
But a few people began drawing, so the club had
many quirky people.
It was a tiny, little space we were in.
We had a table in the middle which fit around seven people.
We just chatted. We'd watch a film and talk about what we thought.
We'd share and discuss things we'd heard elsewhere.
That was the level we were at.
[Dong-hoon] Jong-tae didn't have any plans,
which we loved because that meant there were no constraints.
How can I put this?
Everyone was an outcast.
[Joon Ho on film] Yes. The band. Jong-tae and five children.
[Dong-hoon] People who were like liquid came together and had dreams like gas.
Why, in the early '90s,
did we get together like madmen to study film?
During that time, everyone was very active in social movements,
reaching their limits.
Perestroika and glasnost happened. The Soviet Union collapsed.
You're making such a macroscopic analysis of this.
-[Dong-hoon] But then-- -But there were a lot of people like us.
A lot of clubs got together to study film, but I don't know why.
I'm not sure.
But for me, I started studying film so I could find myself.
-Find yourself? -[Dong-hoon] Yes.
I wanted to find something that I liked.
When we were students, we supported bringing down the dictatorship
and opposed the revision of the Constitution.
I think everybody, including myself, felt empty once that was over,
even though I didn't do anything notable.
So we didn't know what to do next.
We had no idea what to do with all of this energy we had.
Our movement was already over,
so we came together like a cluster of dust.
Or, to put it nicely, we came together like a ripening grape.
In the early to mid-2000s,
I'd be asked at overseas film festivals how Korean films suddenly--
[Dong-hoon] Broke through?
We had films suddenly becoming popular, which drew attention of film festivals.
They didn't know where these directors were coming from.
"What on earth happened?"
-So I'd bring up Yellow Door. -[Dong-hoon laughs]
[Joon Ho] Take me, for example.
I'm a first-generation cinephile.
Our generation was probably the first generation of cinephiles
who began to carefully study films and eventually
became directors in the industry.
When I said that stuff, it made it easier for them to write their articles.
[both laugh]
So I said, "Oh, there was this generation, and…"
Today, the committee opposing the state ban
of the screening of The Night Before Strike, a 16 mm film…
[Joon Ho] Jangsangot Hawks was a superstar back then.
They had a lot of fans who anticipated their films every year.
Film Studio Youth was also good.
After Cinematheque 1895 changed its name to SA/sé,
it became renowned as the longest running private cinematheque.
It was like all these cinephiles who'd been hiding
suddenly starting spilling out into the streets for some reason.
THE NIGHT BEFORE STRIKE JANGSANGOT HAWKS, 1990
HOMO VIDEOCUS BYUN HYUK, E J-YONG, 1990
I think it had something to do with the craziness of the '90s.
[dramatic music playing]
Here's what I think.
The government must've put something in the water supply.
It felt like a project that turned everyone into cinephiles.
[intriguing music playing]
JANGSANGOT HAWKS
CINEMATHEQUE 1895
INDEPENDENT FILM ASSOCIATION
[Joon Ho] Compared to these groups…
YELLOW DOOR, BARITEAU, FILM STUDIO REALITY, PURN PRODUCTION
…Yellow Door was mysterious.
-Jangsangot Hawks was the Premier League. -[man 1] Yes.
Film Studio Youth, Jung Ji-woo's Youth, was like the Bundesliga.
-[man 1] We were amateurs. -[Joon Ho] And we were an amateur club.
I had to pay tuition for my fourth semester.
It felt like a waste.
I realized that I could buy a lot of great materials
with the money that I would've spent on that tuition.
I decided to get myself in some serious trouble, so…
HONGDAE
So I founded the film institute.
[Jong-tae] My family had no idea.
"YELLOW DOOR" FILM INSTITUTE, UNIT 202 SECOND FLOOR, GYEONGSEO BUILDING
Back then, the Yellow Door Institute
was on the second floor of a building in Seogyo-dong.
KIM DAE-YUP, YELLOW DOOR MEMBER
It was…
a rectangular building like this.
A hallway in the middle,
and the Yellow Door Institute was right here. This was the door.
[mellow music playing]
[Min Hyang] When you opened the door,
you'd see a round table to your left.
That's where Joon Ho usually studied.
Near the front…
LATEST-MODEL JOG SHUTTLE VTR
…there was a tiny TV we'd often use to watch music videos.
A HUGE 25-INCH TV
[Joon Ho] We painted all the furniture yellow.
Didn't Dae-yup paint with us?
I remember you and Jong-tae brought the paint.
The furniture wasn't that color at first, but you two said, "Let's go all yellow."
That's what you did, right?
Back then, I really liked yellow for some reason.
Specifically bright yellow.
I thought it was a beautiful color.
From what I recall, I just had some yellow paint.
I'd done some construction work elsewhere and had some paint left over.
The paint just happened to be yellow.
There was no point of buying other paint, so we ended up painting the place yellow.
It didn't mean anything, actually.
-It wasn't originally called Yellow Door. -[Dong-hoon] No.
-It was The Film Institute. -[Dong-hoon] The Film Institute.
Then we started studying semiology and stuff.
-Then it ended up as Yellow Door, right? -Yes.
We started talking about things like signified and signifier.
[laughs] This is really embarrassing.
We put meaning into things.
[laughs]
-We packaged it that way. -Yes. Yes.
[Joon Ho] Our knowledge was limited about film, but we eagerly talked.
Like, the signified and signifier don't match.
There's an actual yellow door.
-[all laugh] -[Dong-hoon] Yes.
KIM YOON-A, YELLOW DOOR MEMBER
Maybe that's why the critiquing department was called S-S.
-Signifiant, signifié. -[Joon Ho] I think that's right.
SA/SÉ
[man 1] The same goes for SA/sé.
-[Joon Ho] Yes. -[Yoon-a] Signifiant, signifié.
There was a famous cinematheque in Daehak-ro, and they used that name too.
We brought up signifiant and signifié with everything.
Right. [chuckles]
I mean, the words signifiant and signifié were so unfamiliar to us at the time.
I guess we were just proud of ourselves for learning that concept.
Why were we so obsessed with semiology?
Semiology, postmodernism…
-[Dong-hoon] Postmodernism. -Post-structuralism.
-Roland Barthes. -[Yoon-a] Right.
Those were kind of fads back then.
We barely understood anything, but we still held seminars.
That's how we worked.
I'm not sure if people still do this these days,
but at our university, these photocopy places
had a lot of renowned, original book copies on display.
A lot of them were collections too.
Jong-tae would say, "We have to get these."
-We'd go, and-- -No, it wasn't like that.
I just took everything. I don't know what they said. [laughs]
I bought entire collections.
We picked out a few of them and did some things. Like…
We studied Dudley Andrew's book together.
So…
-Dudley Andrew. -[Se-bum] Dudley Andrew.
He was a tough one.
Translating that book gave me a headache. [chuckles]
Min Hyang was good at English. She studied English.
I had no idea though. [laughs]
[Dong-hoon] Other members were just so-so at English.
BAN SE-BUM JOINED YELLOW DOOR
[Jong-tae] How many years had you been in a doctoral program
when you were with us?
I started right before my program.
It was right before?
-[Se-bum] Yes, it was. -But we always called you Dr. Ban.
Yes, Dr. Ban.
You thought I'd be a doctor before I even started. [laughs]
We gave you a weird nickname. Philology.
EXEGETICS: A STUDY OF DIFFICULT WORDS AND PHRASES IN CONFUCIAN TEXTS
We did that.
I remember when we'd have seminars,
we'd each have a few pages we translated.
If anything was wrong,
you'd point it out and say, "Hey, this isn't the right translation."
I was called that
because I looked at the meaning behind every word
and suggested how to translate them.
[chuckles]
Theoretical seminars seem great in the moment,
but you never remember anything when they're done.
You were already working in the industry
for Director Kim Sung-su's team by then, right?
KIM SEOK-WOO, JOINED YELLOW DOOR AS AN EASTERN PHILOSOPHY MAJOR
A lot of us were working on short films which were being shot on 16 mm.
Dae-yup, do you remember Beat? Jung Woo-sung's Beat?
[Yoon-a] I do.
Seok-woo was the assistant director on that.
Ah, I see.
[Joon Ho] Back then, Director Kim Sung-su's team
was already renowned.
That team was really tough.
The people who lived through being on that team became very… [chuckles]
Among our group, Seok-woo was the first to get real-world experience.
It must've been interesting for you.
It'd be mean to say it must've been funny.
But you came to Yellow Door after working on actual sets.
We were all excited to have seminars about books in their original languages.
We were very academic.
But this must've looked ridiculous to you, right?
We had weird seminars with English books,
underlining them with Se-bum.
What was that like?
At first, it seemed like you were all
a bunch of amateurs.
Amateurs.
I felt pretty arrogant.
[laughs]
I'm sorry I was like that.
No, I didn't mean that.
I was dying to make a short film,
but I didn't know anything, and I hadn't ever done anything.
So I thought, "If I get on Seok-woo's good side and learn from him,
I might be able to start something."
Yoon-a, were you already in graduate school at that point?
I started in the second semester of my graduate program.
Weren't you about to study abroad?
I was married at that point.
Really?
[both laugh]
I actually had just gotten married,
so I couldn't participate in Yellow Door as much.
I was still a good member but couldn't do any more.
-So you-- -[Yoon-a] My life was too hectic.
You were like Dae-yup.
-You were in the grown-up group. -[Yoon-a] Yes, afterwards.
If you put us in groups,
we had the grown-up group, and the kids, the student group.
Whenever I talked with Yoon-a, I never spoke to her informally.
It wasn't just about getting closer as friends.
I knew she was a married woman, so I thought I'd treat her as a grown-up.
Come on!
[all laugh]
-[Seok-woo] What is that? -[man 1] Please speak.
Before we continue, can I ask a question?
Does anyone else remember us ordering food a lot?
[all] Hmm.
Yes, and we started calling the place Yellow Door whenever we'd order Chinese.
Whenever we'd order something, we'd say,
"Come to the unit with the yellow door on the second floor."
That's how we became Yellow Door.
[Joon Ho laughing]
That's why we were Yellow Door.
Yes. When someone wanted to visit us, we'd say,
"You'll see a yellow door. That's our door."
Then Jong-tae said, "Hey, we should just be the Yellow Door,"
and that's what the name means.
[Jong-tae] When we talked about films, people would give examples,
but I'd never seen these films.
I didn't know what they were talking about.
Take The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an example of a German expressionist film.
We only had a screenshot of the film in a book because we couldn't watch it.
We imagined the film while studying it.
When we wanted to watch The Arrival of a Train,
we had to make copies onto videotapes.
But these days with YouTube, you can find everything.
THE ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN THE LUMIÉRE BROTHERS, 1895
[Jong-tae] So what now? Our priority was watching films,
so our mission was to obtain films in order to watch them.
Whenever we heard that someone had a film, we'd go get it and copy it.
We'd borrow it and copy it.
That was the institute's biggest job,
and Director Bong… was put in charge of that.
Back in the day, there weren't many places
that you could go to borrow these films from.
But Director Bong had a knack
for finding these so-called art films for Yellow Door.
Copies couldn't be made digitally back then,
so we had to watch the film from the start until the videotape was completely copied.
We had no other choice.
If we made two copies, we had to watch it twice.
Then the video would be copied a third and fourth time.
If you made copies of the original repeatedly,
you'd start seeing static everywhere.
And when you copied one from the US,
you'd always see the FBI warning at the start.
WHOLESOME VIDEOS ARE LIKE GREAT ENVIRONMENTS
[Yoon-a] Korean videos would show tigers and smallpox
to discourage us from making illegal copies.
[man in Korean] A single video may change a person's future.
But the only way to watch them
was to make copies.
THIS FILM IS DEDICATED TO MONOGRAM PICTURES
We'd write the title on the back of the tape,
usually on a sticker.
But it didn't seem cool to see it in Korean.
BREATHLESS JEAN-LUC GODARD, 1960
[Joon Ho] So I'd write the titles of Godard's films in French.
I could've just written the Korean title, Do As You Like. That would've been fine.
But I wrote it in French. I knew the spelling.
A, B-O-U-T, D-E, S-O-U-F-F-L-E.
Is it pronounced À bout de souffle? I still don't know.
People who speak French would.
When you print something out, you can see where everything is.
I'd put the printed titles on something bright
and put stickers on them.
I put those in the printer so the titles would be perfectly placed.
These went on the tapes.
I put such petty skills to use.
If you looked at the videotapes from Yellow Door,
there'd be a few handwritten titles.
But eventually,
they all had printed-out labels.
Later on, I think we were more obsessed with copying all of these films
and adding more to our collection.
Obsession motivates enthusiasts.
VIDEO LIBRARY LIST MANAGED BY BONG (SINCE 1992)
[Joon Ho] The behaviors look odd on the outside.
But for the enthusiast, it's natural to become very passionate.
I became obsessed with getting more films.
[Hoon-a] Today, we use spreadsheets,
but back then, we had to write everything down by hand.
Actually,
I think I learned how to use a mouse from Joon Ho.
He'd tell me, "This looks like a mouse, so it's called a mouse."
-[Joon Ho] 1992. -[Dong-hoon] 1992.
[Joon Ho] "Video Library List."
-"Managed by Bong." -[both laugh]
-[Dong-hoon] We had this. -[Joon Ho] What are these stars for?
-[Dong-hoon] I wonder. -[Joon Ho] Ones we couldn't lose?
-[Joon Ho laughs] -Maybe. Something like that.
[Joon Ho] Battleship Potemkin. Before the Revolution. We got them all.
Maybe the starred ones are the ones…
-We wouldn't rent out? [laughs] -Yeah, something like that.
The Conversation by Coppola. Remember watching this together?
Yes, I do.
We bought a few tapes too.
Like in Hwanghak-dong.
At wholesale stores.
Yes, there were people in the street selling cheap videos from carts.
-The tapes there were 2,500 won each. -[Dong-hoon] 2,500 won.
-It was like a treasure hunt. -[Dong-hoon] Yes.
Because amongst piles of weird, lousy films,
I'd find films by directors like Kim Ki-young, or Dušan Makavejev,
or something by Abel Ferrara.
-Andrzej Wajda. -King of New York. Andrzej Wajda.
These films were hidden, and they had oddly translated titles.
-[Dong-hoon] Exactly. -It took a sixth sense to find them.
Director Kim Hong-joon
was often the person who I'd get a list of new films, info, or tips from.
-[Dong-hoon] I see. -[Joon Ho] A first-generation cinephile.
Now the director of the Korean Film Archive.
KIM HONG-JOON, FILM DIRECTOR DIRECTOR OF KOREAN FILM ARCHIVE
[Joon Ho] And he published a book with a long title.
[Dong-hoon] Two or Three Things I Know About Film.
[Joon Ho] It did pretty well in the early '90s.
A lot of people like us bought that book.
[Hong-joon] If it was the '60s or '70s,
when it was impossible to watch any films mentioned in the book,
the book would've been useless.
And if films were as easily accessible as they are now,
the information wouldn't have been as useful.
Back then, a limited number of films played in theaters.
When the videotape market began to rise, countless films became widely available,
but there was no way to tell which were good and which were bad.
[moving classical music playing]
[Joon Ho] He'd say things like,
"You might not know that this director's work was published under this title,
but the title is very absurd."
It's called "Love and Something."
So when you'd use that information from the book,
you could find it when you were in Hwanghak-dong.
Director Kim Hong-joon used a pseudonym
because the author listed on the book wasn't named Kim Hong-joon.
-[man 1] Gu Hoe-yeong. -[Dong-hoon] Yes.
[man 1] An acronym for "a cinephile who looks back on the '90s."
It was the first time my article about films
was going to be widely distributed.
I got a little scared and didn't want to use my real name,
so I made up a pseudonym, Gu Hoe-yeong.
Later, people analyzed it
and said it was an acronym for "a cinephile who looks back on the '90s."
That sounded cool, but it's not true.
I was just trying to come up with a pseudonym,
so I looked through the newspaper I had next to me.
In the obituaries, I saw the name Gu Yeong-hoe,
so I just switched the two and went with Gu Hoe-yeong.
Don't even get me started
on the cultural status of films in our society back then.
Having any kind of job in the film industry
was seen as a disgrace to one's family.
How'd we have all these?
Let's count them.
[Dong-hoon] Right.
[Joon Ho] You're good with numbers.
-[Dong-hoon] Yes, it looks like… -[laughs]
Three or four hundred?
-About 427 films. -Not as many as I thought.
-How many lines per page? -There's about 30.
There's 26 letters in the alphabet.
I'm the type of person who needs to count these.
-Four, five… -[Dong-hoon] So about 20.
[Joon Ho] Eight.
Nine, ten, eleven. Half.
-[Dong-hoon] I think-- -Seventeen. So 17 times three…
-That's a total of 510. -[Joon Ho] 510.
-We had about 500 tapes. -[Dong-hoon] 500.
Only those recorded.
-I'm sure we stopped after a while. -[Dong-hoon] We did.
[man 1] When I first visited Yellow Door,
you were drawing this table on a huge piece of paper.
Table?
[man 1] Yes, on a big piece of paper. You were good at those things.
Was it a list of people with late fees?
I have an obsessive-compulsive personality,
so I was the perfect man for the job.
I was like the kid in class in charge of all the little details.
-Like the hall monitor all year long. -[man 1] Something like that.
Instead of monitoring who was misbehaving,
I was tracking who didn't return tapes.
Someone told me, "It can take a year to build the collection
and less than a month for it to disappear if it's mismanaged."
I began having stricter regulations for missing videos.
I'd go up to people with a scary face and ask,
"Why won't you return the Godard film you borrowed?"
[Joon Ho laughs]
[disaster music playing on film]
[Joon Ho] "You need to return it. It's been two weeks."
[man in French] You really are despicable.
[Joon Ho] I was just trying to protect the collection.
[in French] What do you mean by "despicable"?
[piano playing on film]
[Eun-sim] What's that?
DIRECTING DEPT. "SHOCK" THE 1ST TEXT ANALYSIS SEMINAR
[Eun-sim] Oh my gosh. [laughs]
This is from when each of us would watch a film and analyze it.
"Scene analysis for different situations."
"Apply the analysis framework below
according to genre, scriptwriter, and movement."
As if we could actually do any of this. [laughs]
We didn't know what we were talking about, but we still did this.
It says, "Analyze the film by scene."
[tape whirring]
[high-pitched voice] "Analyze the film by scene."
[tape whirring]
[man in Korean] Jog shuttle VTR.
[referee] Safe! Out!
-Safe! -[woman] It's out!
[man] Let's check with the jog shuttle.
The jog shuttle catches every action.
-[in English] The jog shuttle came out. -[Dong-hoon] Yes, yes.
These days,
we're able to use an app on an iPhone to edit videos.
[Dong-hoon] Yes.
You can even add visual effects, so this might sound primitive.
But when the jog shuttle came out, we were thrilled.
[Dong-hoon] Right.
We'd make the film go forwards and backwards
and analyze scenes frame by frame.
We'd study the editing to see how double actions were made.
The cinephiles just before us, like Mr. Jung Sung-il,
Director Kim Hong-joon and others,
they went to the Goethe-Institut and Institut Français
just to watch the films. They couldn't rewind them.
[Dong-hoon] Right.
But we analyzed films for the first time using the jog shuttle.
It went like this. We decided to do our first text analysis.
I was in charge of Raging Bull and Citizen Kane.
I watched all these films, like City Lights and Sacrifice.
I probably did analyze them.
-Do you have mine? -[man 1] Yes, we do.
-Really? -[man 1] Yes.
And we published this.
YELLOW DOOR, 1ST ISSUE SPRING 1993
I didn't put this together by myself.
We worked as group, and each department played a part.
It wasn't much, but we published it.
The first issue was very important, but we didn't manage to keep it going.
BONG JOON HO, YELLOW DOOR MEMBER DIRECTING DEPARTMENT
I tried so hard to find this.
-Where'd you get it? -[man 1] From Kim Yoon-a.
-Yoon-a had it. I knew it. -[man 1] Yes.
There's an analysis of Coppola's The Godfather.
-[man 1] Yes. -I drew these.
"The Godfather was a textbook film created with a rigid format."
I said all this nonsense as if I knew anything.
-This was a part of our seminar, right? -[man 1] Yes.
[Joon Ho] I worked very hard on this one.
[clicking]
THE GODFATHER FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, 1972
[man 1] Right.
[man 2 yells]
[whirring]
[audio distorts]
[Joon Ho] The suspense.
[Joon Ho] This is what you just mentioned, Director Lee.
-The control of information. -[Lee] Yes.
[Joon Ho] The information here is only available to the audience.
-That's how suspense is created. -[Lee] Suspense is created.
VIEW, SUSPENSE, CONTROL OF INFORMATION
[man 2 yells]
[audio distorts]
I should've shown this to Director Coppola when we met,
but I only told him about it.
[Joon Ho] There's a film festival held in Lyon.
Every year, the main event is
inviting big names in the film industry and paying tribute to them.
And that year, Director Coppola was the main guest.
[applause]
[Joon Ho] They were giving him an achievement award,
and I was chosen as the presenter.
I talked about this on stage. "Back in my university days,
I studied your films."
"I analyzed this scene in The Godfather in such and such way."
Something like that.
"Why was the camera there?"
"Why did the shot change here?"
Why did this scene follow that one?
[woman translating into French]
Why does this actor look that way at this moment?
[translating into French]
I asked myself these questions
and drew every scene from The Godfather in my analysis.
[woman translating into French]
And I still feel restless and anxious.
It hit me differently when I met him in person on stage
and shared those stories with him.
It felt marvelous and surreal.
Even to this day,
I still watch films and keep track of the number of cuts and shots.
Within those shots, I look at the lighting, mise-en-scéne,
and all the little details.
At first it was great, but eventually I began wondering,
"Do I have to study this language and analyze everything for every film?"
"This is so boring."
That's what happened to me.
I realized I couldn't analyze every aspect of a film
because a film's power comes from its ability to capture you
before you even know it.
When we watched those films together,
it was nice knowing that I had friends who also wanted to watch them.
Yellow Door was that place.
The more we chatted, the more we learned about things we didn't know.
I just remembered this.
There's an actor who lights a candle and then covers it as he walks,
making sure it doesn't go out.
NOSTALGHIA ANDREI TARKOVSKY, 1983
[water splashes]
[Yoon-a] It was a Tarkovsky film. Probably too boring for me now.
I don't know why I was so into it.
When I saw it, I thought,
"Films are art. I can dedicate my life to this."
[man breathing heavily]
[groans softly]
[Dae-yup] That scene was over five minutes long.
"Man, is this the world of film?"
Back then, that's what I thought.
[sentimental orchestral music playing]
RAGING BULL MARTIN SCORSESE, 1980
[Hoon-a] Joon Ho really adored Martin Scorsese's films.
[Joon Ho] The original title was Raging Bull,
but the VHS company called it Fist of Fury.
There were lots of problems with the Korean subtitles in that film,
but despite that, the boxing sequence and everything was just…
it was overwhelming.
I remember everyone went crazy for it.
Director Lee, you talked a lot about… the editing and the camerawork.
[Lee] I was in my early days of studying films.
I thought scenes with complicated cuts
and complicated camerawork were good scenes.
But that scene is very simple.
[both laugh]
You fuck my wife?
-You "beep" my wife. -[both laugh]
You fuck my wife?
-What? -You fuck my wife?
[Joon Ho] It's simple, chilling, and funny,
yet you feel very sad after that scene.
How could you ask me? I'm your brother.
You ask me that?
You see Joe Pesci's face, and then a few more cuts,
then the camera pans.
De Niro seems very scary as he walks up the stairs.
And then after he goes up, you see this crazy, wild violence.
-It's frightening. -[Lee] Something else you'd mentioned…
-That scene begins with a broken TV. -[Joon Ho] De Niro is fixing it, yes.
[Lee] I remember you said that sets the tone of the scene,
and I thought, "Oh, that was another element of it."
-We said that? -[Lee] You said that.
[laughs]
I don't remember a thing, not even what happened yesterday.
THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES FRÉDÉRIC BACK, 1987
There was an animated film called The Man Who Planted Trees.
I guess I must've seemed completely out of it one day because
Hoon-a said,
"Jong-tae, when life is hard and you feel devastated,
you should watch films like these."
"It'll help you."
It was wonderful.
LIM HOON-A, YELLOW DOOR MEMBER DIRECTING DEPARTMENT
I guess I was being impolite.
But I remember it as Jong-tae telling me to watch that movie.
[gentle classical music playing]
[Hoon-a] I thought he introduced me to a great film.
And that film is wonderful. I watched it many times since.
It's my favorite film.
My eyes are getting teary because I'm getting old!
[Lee] You two have different memories.
The Rashomon effect.
[rhythmic jazz music playing]
-[Dong-hoon] There's the yellow door. -[Joon Ho] That's cute.
[Dong-hoon] You're right.
-[Joon Ho] I'm directing. -[Dong-hoon] We're doing something.
[Joon Ho] She's repeating her wooden performance.
[Dong-hoon] Yes!
These are 8 mm.
These were in my box that's been sitting at home
for the last 30 years. You can see everything.
Back then, it wasn't easy to find a good camera.
[Dong-hoon] Right.
[Joon Ho] Especially for videos.
-And film was expensive. -[Dong-hoon] Yes.
-[Joon Ho] We shot with shaky hands. -[Dong-hoon] That's right.
[Joon Ho] It was frightening to see 24 frames rolling per second.
[ethereal music playing]
[Joon Ho] It was around
1992.
I saved money for it.
He used the money from his job at the study room.
LEE DONG-HOON MEMBER, YELLOW DOOR - DIRECTING DEPARTMENT
I think he was paid 300,000 won per month.
[Se-bum] He asked, "Se-bum,
do you think I can get a decent camera with this money?"
BAN SE-BUM MEMBER, YELLOW DOOR - CRITIQUE DEPARTMENT
We could find lots of electronics in Sewoon Arcade and Cheonggyecheon.
[Joon Ho] The Hitachi 8200 Super VHS was expensive at the time.
I bought it,
and the next day, I brought it to Yellow Door.
[uplifting music playing]
I held it like this during the seminar.
It was a huge camera.
I'd flip the page with the camera in my arms for no reason.
I'd pat the camera.
[Jong-tae] How can I put this?
There was a kind of tension after he got his first camera.
[uplifting music continues]
[classical music playing]
[Joon Ho] I did all kinds of part-time jobs with that camera,
like shooting weddings.
I got all kinds of jobs.
I shot 60th birthdays,
first birthdays, weddings, and more.
[soft jazz music playing]
[Joon Ho] Everyone's here, yes.
[Jong-tae] We look great in this. It's nice.
[Joon Ho] Byung-hoon and Seok-woo are next to each other.
[laughs]
There's a rumor Byung-hoon left the industry because of me.
LEE BYUNG-HOON, JOINED YELLOW DOOR AS A SOCIOLOGY MAJOR
[Joon Ho] Seok-woo feels sorry.
Because he got mad at you so much on the set of his short film.
[all laugh]
-[Seok-woo] Joon Ho is hiding back there. -[Eun-sim] What's that?
[Joon Ho] Yes.
[Seok-woo] I have no idea when this was taken.
[Jong-tae] I don't know either. How did we end up taking this?
Was it just the spur-of-the-moment?
[Seok-woo] We're all dressed up too.
[all exclaim]
[Eun-sim] Hoon-a. [laughs]
[Hoon-a] It's the same day.
-[Jong-tae] Am I bowing to someone here? -[Eun-sim] Maybe for a ceremony?
[Jong-tae] That's right.
[Joon Ho] I see the top of the 8200 over there. [laughs]
-[Dong-hoon] The opening ceremony! -[Jong-tae] Yes, that's what this was.
Our opening ceremony.
I remember that pig's head.
[Eun-sim] Hmm.
We didn't have money for an actual pig's head,
so I drew that on paper.
-Yes, that's my drawing style. -Yeah, Joon Ho drew that.
I wrote the ceremony's order of events on that poster.
-[Jong-tae] Really? -That's his handwriting.
-[Jong-tae] That handwriting? -Yes.
[Joon Ho] That's not mine.
"Gorilla" something is written there.
-Two, yes. -[Jong-tae] Gorilla 2.
-That was Gorilla 2? -[Seok-woo] Yes.
-So Gorilla 2 is Looking for Paradise? -[Joon Ho] Yes, for Paradise.
I called it Gorilla 2 as if it was a series. How embarrassing!
[lively jazz music playing]
[man] There was a club Director Choi Jong-tae made
with some younger people who were passionate about film.
They were having a screening at the end of the year.
[Joon Ho] Choi Jong-tae, Woo Hyun, and Ahn Nae-sang.
Those two are both very popular actors now.
But they were the three musketeers.
Hyun and Nae-sang often visited Yellow Door.
We had lots of drinks together too.
[man] Yes.
AHN NAE-SANG - WOO HYUN
It was a screening, so I thought it would be grandiose,
but it was held in a tiny office.
I remember going to see it.
It was kind of boring and tedious. I thought, "This is it?"
I almost lost interest completely.
[dramatic music playing]
[Nae-sang] But as soon as Joon Ho's work started playing, I was enthralled.
I thought, "What is this?"
"I want to watch it."
[Hyun] I really want to see it again. I mean it.
[Joon Ho] What did you do on the animated film?
For Gorilla?
-Yes. Were you controlling the dolls? -[Dong-hoon] We would swap.
Were you at the camera when I was with the dolls?
No, the person who was less fit was in charge of the camera.
-Then the person who had more energy-- -[Joon Ho] You were fit, right?
I kept moving the dolls. We had to hang them up high too.
-We had to use ladders. -[Joon Ho] The dangerous things.
I mostly did those.
[both laugh]
Like hanging them off a pipe?
Yes, I thought it'd be fun.
-At first. -[Dong-hoon] Yes, at first!
For about two days, we shot in the basement of the Daerim apartments,
the place that had the pipes in Barking Dogs Never Bite.
[Joon Ho] We moved the stuffed gorilla little by little while shooting there.
It was really tough.
[moving classical music playing]
[choral voices singing]
[Joon Ho] The Hitachi 8200 had a lot of complex features.
I shot and edited with it.
It also had a feature to insert subtitles.
But not in Korean.
I had to put in English subtitles.
I don't think I had any choice
but to make it into a silent film with English subtitles.
[Lee] The main character, the Gorilla, goes up on a stone and poops.
-[Joon Ho] Yes, we had a stone. -[Lee] It pooped on top of the stone.
[gorilla grunting]
[Dong-hoon] The grunting the Gorilla makes as it poops was Director Bong.
[grunting]
[Lee] That turns into a poop caterpillar and attacks the Gorilla. [laughs]
And then it--
[Joon Ho] It's embarrassing to hear someone explain the story.
When you think about it, it was kind of a monster film.
A mysterious creature appears.
The caterpillar was made of white clay.
I thought it would be too gross if it was made of red clay.
Too disgusting.
And they begin to fight as the gorilla defends itself.
The story was about the Gorilla trying to find someplace without these monsters.
[somber guitar music playing]
[Joon Ho] The gorilla that lived in a dark, dirty basement
escaped to find a place like paradise.
That's why it has its cheesy title, Looking for Paradise.
[Min Hyang] There was a tree in the middle of the field,
and the gorilla began dreaming about picking fresh bananas off the tree.
A gorilla is supposed to climb trees,
but the gorilla in this film climbed up gray pipes in a basement,
dreaming about its escape.
[Jong-tae] When the gorilla began to move
and started taking actions to achieve its goal, I began to think…
"Strangely, the connection of this simple plot and story
combined with cinematic imagination has created something wonderful."
Maybe it was because I wasn't a part of the film's production.
I had no idea it was that difficult to shoot that film.
I didn't want to tell anyone I didn't think the film was very good.
All of my friends who studied film were giving him good reviews,
so I wasn't going to say otherwise.
I didn't tell them what I really thought, and just said, "Oh, it was nicely done."
I was a bit…
cheeky.
And I didn't think much of it.
WALLACE AND GROMIT: A GRAND DAY OUT NICK PARK, 1989
It's called stop-motion animation. It's also called the stop-frame.
So I said,
"If the camera has that function, then anybody can shoot it."
I was really flustered.
When I played it for our end-of-the-year party,
my face went red all the way up to my ears.
I think it was the first time I created something with a story.
And there were about 15 to 20 people there, right? They were the audience.
But it was the end-of-the-year party, so everyone was like,
"Let's just get it over with and start drinking."
But I was so nervous
that I remember turning completely red all the way up to my ears.
That's why I turned to live-action film.
My animated film was why I gave up on animation.
I see.
I could only move the doll a little bit at a time
because it was stop-motion.
And eventually, I started feeling angry at the main character.
[both laugh]
[Joon Ho] I began to think, "Can't you move an inch by yourself?"
So I turned to live-action films because the actors move on their own.
[Dong-hoon] Right
But don't you think you were kind of crazy in those days,
if you think back on it?
We did stay up all night to film them.
[Dong-hoon] We got there at 8:00 to set up.
Was it hot or cold outside?
I don't remember because I was so immersed on set.
[both laugh]
-[Joon Ho] I think it was cold. -It was chilly.
I think we had coats on.
-And then your mother-- -She came downstairs.
It was late at night, and she looked at us with pity, like, "Goodness, you idiots."
-Asked if we were done yet. -[Dong-hoon] "Are you done yet?"
At that time, I was already discharged from the army.
And her grown-up son was in the basement
playing with a stuffed gorilla in the middle of the night.
[Dong-hoon] Right.
She must've been boiling inside.
She must've been really frustrated.
I believe that the essence of Director Bong's films
was already established in
Looking for Paradise.
[somber string music playing]
INCOHERENCE BONG JOON HO, 1994
[Jong-tae] His films have a lot of scenes in basements.
[man 1 in Korean] Oh, you can go down to the basement and do your business.
The restroom in the maintenance office is too far from here.
BARKING DOG NEVER BITES BONG JOON HO, 2000
[man 2] This is the story from when this apartment was built.
Back in 1988, when apartment construction was booming…
MEMORIES OF MURDER BONG JOON HO, 2003
[man 3] Since you got discharged from the army
and came to the factory in this town, there have been a series of incidents.
[man 4] I don't think this is forgery or crime.
PARASITE BONG JOON HO, 2019
[man 4] I'm going to this university next year.
[man 5] Oh, you had everything planned out!
-[in English] I knew he'd make it. -Yes.
That I knew,
but not this big!
[laughs]
He would say that he's very quick with numbers
and that he never wastes money on anything.
Woo Hyun sponsored
Director Bong's first short film,
White Collar.
I thought you gave him about three million won.
-No. -How much?
-No. I can't even remember. -You don't?
-It was partial. -Partial?
A partial sponsorship. He recorded the amount.
-500,000. -You sure?
-Yes. -You told me it was three million.
-Really? -You lied to me.
Hyun was there at the end-of-the-year party,
and he watched my animated film.
Because of that, he made a partial investment
in my film White Collar.
WHITE COLLAR BONG JOON HO, 1994
[Joon Ho] He gave me money when I shot that short film.
PRODUCTION FUNDING: WOO HYUN-HUI
[Hyun] "Woo Hyun-hui"?
Joon Ho didn't even know my name.
-Come on! -Man!
He probably knows your name by now, right?
This might sound a bit awkward,
but this is really the first time I've ever regretted helping someone out.
Not from back then.
But a few years later when he filmed…
Memories of Murder.
MEMORIES OF MURDER BY BONG JOON HO
[Hyun] After I saw it…
my heart felt heavy and stunned.
I was consumed by so many emotions.
I thought,
"I should've paid for it all."
[laughs]
"For the entire film."
"Why was I so stingy and only gave him that much?"
I actually had these thoughts.
[pensive music playing]
[Hoon-a] At the end of the film, we see a tree. A single tree.
The film was called Looking for Paradise.
Now that I think about it,
I guess everyone is looking for something.
That's been on my mind.
[Min Hyang] During the ending, the gorilla reaches the tree
and stands in front of it.
We're looking at the back of the gorilla.
And as the camera slowly zooms out, you can see…
that the banana tree was a tree inside of a television.
I probably cried a bit at the ending.
It was put together so well that you could relate to the gorilla.
Back then, we couldn't leave the area or neighborhood around campus.
I was unemployed and unable to make money.
I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, nor did I know what I was supposed to do.
But I knew what I didn't want to do.
So, in that way,
I was like the gorilla.
Yes.
[woman] When you consider the current video culture,
this new theater that's opening tomorrow will become a magnificent revolution.
I actually already visited.
THE FIRST ART FILM THEATER DONGSUNG CINEMATHEQUE
[Joon Ho] Everything explodes around 1995, the 100th year of cinema.
[reporter] The very first art film theater will open tomorrow.
[Joon Ho] Outside of Russia, Tarkovsky's Nostalghia
probably had the most success at the Korean box office.
And 60,000 people saw Sacrifice.
Everyone went and watched these kinds of films.
Then we all had headaches together.
Magazines like Cine 21 and Kino published their first issues.
We would all read Jung Sung-il's magazine articles.
Everyone was in a frenzy.
[newsreader] Jurassic Park, an American film
that premiered a few years ago,
made more profit than the total annual exports of all Korean cars.
KIM HYUNG-OAK, MEMBER, YELLOW DOOR - CRITIQUE DEPARTMENT
In my opinion, the film industry began to form after the mid to late '90s.
Someone would suddenly rise to fame or become the chief editor of a magazine.
[in Korean] Conglomerates have joined the film industry…
[Hyung-oak in English] I think we were also motivated
as we watched everything unfold.
CONGLOMERATES ACTIVELY ENTERING THE NEW INDUSTRY
Back in the '70s and '80s,
young film lovers would get together and complain.
"Why doesn't Korea have a film festival or film school?
KOREA NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ARTS SCHOOL OF FILM OPENS, MAY 1995
THE 1ST SEOUL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL NOVEMBER 1994
"Why doesn't Korea sponsor short film productions?"
"I'm sure that outside of this country, there's great places for film."
"I hope to visit them one day."
[newsreader] The Pusan International Film Festival,
Korea's first international film festival, kicks off its eight-day run tonight.
[inspirational music playing]
[Hoon-a] One day,
I was going here and there,
writing my dissertation for my graduate program.
I actually wrote something on films.
I ran into Joon Ho at Gangnam Station. I said, "What brings you here?"
It was odd, since we usually met near Hongik University.
He said he was trying to get into a film academy.
And he said
that he had to take an English test to get in.
So he'd been taking time to study English at IKE English.
I was surprised at the time.
I was young, too, so I thought,
"Oh, Joon Ho really thinks film can become his life."
"Films were just romance to me, but he wants to make a career of it."
I realized something only after thinking back on that time.
At the Yellow Door Film Institute,
I thought it was enough to watch films
and discuss them together.
I didn't know what the members wanted.
Their biggest desire was to make films.
They wanted to shoot films.
There were differences of opinions among the members.
There were disagreements about the curriculum
and the direction they wanted to take the group.
Because of these disagreements,
there came a time when we started to feel a bit uncomfortable with one another.
No matter what it is,
it's heartbreaking to watch something that has passed its prime.
It's not like Yellow Door was a life form,
but its decline made it feel like it was actually dying,
and I had to watch this all unfold.
Everyone had different preferences and tastes.
We may have all been a part of Yellow Door,
but we all had different dreams.
There was definitely something
that prevented us from working together as one.
And so we eventually decided to stop.
After that,
I felt a bit lonely.
We had cultivated our dreams together and achieved a lot of things together.
But it only took a moment for the team to fall apart.
And when it fell apart,
all the members left like a tide going out.
I suggested a trip.
I said, "We should take a trip."
We went somewhere by the East Sea.
Those who wanted to come met at Cheongnyangni Station.
Everyone got together. That trip was great.
[somber piano music playing]
I still remember it like it was yesterday.
Just as we were passing Jeongdongjin, dawn broke,
and the train began to play "Moonlight Sonata."
It was wonderful.
There was an announcement that we were approaching the last stop.
"Moonlight Sonata" continued to play as the train passed by the beach.
["Moonlight Sonata" playing]
[Jong-tae] I think that time at Yellow Door
was like an act of a play,
and the act needed to end for the play to continue.
To continue on to the second, third, and fourth acts.
And as we all lived our lives for the next 30 years…
we continued to progress to the next acts
by learning from our mistakes.
And we used all of the things that we learned from the first act.
The same applied to my life.
[Hoon-a] Can you remember the feeling of being close to someone?
You always had a great time with them.
Always together, hand in hand.
But there comes a time when you need to let that hand go.
That strange feeling of letting go.
I had this feeling.
[Dong-hoon] Personally,
I actually think it was good
that such genuine people came together naturally and then disbanded.
If we'd stayed together for a financial reason or some goal,
we would've constantly changed what we were doing.
[music fades]
After Yellow Door, I stopped watching films.
The films I watched with Yellow Door
were completely different from those I watched outside of it.
Films had more meaning when I watched them with Yellow Door.
Because when I'd watch them later,
I'd think to myself, "I actually liked these?"
When I returned to my normal life and watched films in the theater,
they no longer had that extra layer of meaning.
Back then, when Yellow Door ended, I was really disappointed
because I wanted our studies to continue.
But now, they're just old, great memories.
When I turned 40 and 50,
I became very disheartened.
Yes.
Because of those times.
Times that disappeared just like that.
[Min Hyang] The film industry
had a special place in my heart for a long time.
Even after those days. Even now.
[Nae-sang] The journey of searching is meaningful.
Even if it's for a banana.
The act of watching that and taking meaning from it is a journey.
But those who have never begun their journey would continue to believe
in the basement,
there are bananas up there.
So, in a way, there comes a time
when you think the tree in that screen is up ahead.
KIM MIN HYANG (2014)
[Min Hyang] I'm not sure how much time I have left,
but I feel like I can go to that tree and touch it now.
I think I can do that.
This is embarrassing,
but when I painted,
I found myself
painting the last scene of Looking for Paradise
without even realizing it.
It was a scene of a young girl looking for something.
I wasn't thinking of Yellow Door when I painted it.
But when I think back on it today,
I must have painted my desire to find something.
Just the fact that we had that once-upon-a-time experience 30 years ago.
That we didn't worry about the future.
That we spent all our time just hanging out and having fun.
It feels like a puzzle piece to me.
Everything I've shared so far
are stories from 30 years ago,
and I just can't believe that number.
[laughs]
I can't believe
that's it already been 30 years.
[laughs]
We all burned out like a flame in 1992 and 1993.
But I'm sure everyone remembers that time differently.
Some were there briefly,
and some stayed for a long time.
Others were in the midst of crazy life changes, like Jong-tae.
I'm sure everyone remembers it differently.
When I look back on it…
I don't think
I have ever been as passionately crazy about films as I was then.
That period was a beginning for me.
I want to remember that time.
And although I had already left,
that place showed me where my journey would continue.
My beginning.
Yellow Door.
[gentle classical music playing]
Would we be able to do this well now?
[laughs]
[Se-bum] "About the Yellow Door Film Institute."
"The Yellow Door Film Institute
is a group of people who gather to study films."
"Studying films isn't something one can do all by themselves."
"People gathered and exchanged information and materials."
"The group grew to over 30 people."
"We've decided to clumsily call ourselves a film institute."
"There's different departments for your cinematic path of choice."
"Critique, directing, and screenwriting."
"Each department works on various activities."
"We have a variety of members,
from those who were just introduced to film studies,
to graduate students of film."
"There are also graduate and doctoral students of the humanities."
"But we have one thing in common."
"We hope to discover our life's journey through this medium called film."
"The institute provides suitable programs
to meet the many needs among members at different levels."
"We believe this is a good place
for those who wish to begin their film studies
with a theoretical approach."
"Of course, each department also provides essential, hands-on creative programs."
"The Yellow Door Film Institute awaits passionate, talented,
young, prospective film students."
"Knock on the institute's yellow door,
and you will start your journey into film studies
and the Korean film industry."
Wow. [laughs]
Gosh, that's fancy.
That was fancy!
It's nicely written. [laughs]
How wonderful.
[sentimental classical music playing]
Kim Dae-yup runs an interior design business.
Kim Min Hyang secretly writes, draws, and take photographs.
Kim Seok-woo loves mountains and canoeing, and runs an environmental business.
Kim Yoon-a teaches film and storytelling at university.
Kim Hyung-oak works as a filmmaker.
Ban Se-bum teaches psychology at university
and takes photographs in his spare time.
Bong Joon Ho just finished shooting his eighth feature film.
Lee Dong-hoon runs a chess-teaching business.
Lee Byung-hoon runs a medical appliances business in the US.
Lim Hoon-a works as a speech therapist for children and adolescents.
Chang Eun-sim teaches math to students.
Choi Jong-tae released five feature films and is working on his fourth novel.
Kim Hye-ja, Kim Hong-joon Ahn Nae-sang, Woo Hyun, Ju Sung-chul
[jazz music playing]