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Around the World in 33 Films: The Jeonju Digital Project; Feb 17-27Post an Event »

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

February 17 - February 28, 2011

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701 Mission Street San Francisco, CA 94103
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Around the World in 33 Films: The Jeonju Digital Project; Feb 17-27
Every year since 2000, the Jeonju International Film Festival in South Korea has awarded 50 million won ($44,700) to three international filmmakers to make a 30-minute digital film. For this series, we present all 33 commissioned works by some of the most highly regarded directors in the world. Just a few of the artists represented include Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pedro Costa, Naomi Kawase, Bong Joon-Ho, James Benning, Tsai Ming-liang, and 27 more! Please visit www.YBCA.org for complete descriptions of all films. 2010 Pig Iron by James Benning James Benning is a leading artist of the American avant-garde, known for his hypnotic portraits of landscapes. In Pig Iron, he documents the unique poetry of the blast furnace and the process of making steel. Les lignes enemies by Denis Côté An abstract story of group loneliness and intimacy; a fake war film with endearing toy soldiers wandering and wondering what the next adventure is made or unmade of. Hold on, Rosalind by Matías Piñeiro Shakespeare's As You Like It is adapted to the frolicking of young Argentine lovers in rivers and jungles in this mysterious, poetic short. 2000 www.whitelover.com by Park Kwang-su A porn actress stars in her first “serious” film –a long-time dream of hers- only to find she’ll be shooting a lot of sex scenes in this one too. Dal Segno by Kim Yun-tae One morning, a taxi driver wakes up to find he has lost his taxi and his memory of last night. Retracing his route from the night before, he eventually recovers his memory and discovers another self. Jin Xing Files by Zhang Yuan Jin Xing, a famous modern dancer in China, was born as a male but now lives a woman's life after an operation. Director Zhang Yuan contemplates loneliness and isolation in this digital short. 2001 In Public by Jia ZhangKe In a little train station, the inside of a bus has been transformed into a restaurant. We see a lonely soldier in his heavy coat, a tired old man, a bubbly young lady, a punk and a woman… the exhaustion of everyday life. A Conversation with God by Tsai Ming-liang Rushing through the streets on his motorcycle, filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang attempts to ask God’s permission to be filmed. On the way, he encounters people gathered at a banquet celebrating another God’s birthday. His camera did not capture any God, but instead discovers A Conversation with God. Digitopia by John Akomfrah Digitopia is a film in search of the emotional undercurrents of the digital, a film about a man living between analog and digital worlds, a man who works in the former but seeks his pleasures in the latter. 2002 Survival Game by Moon Seung-wook A tale of a businessman who has the tables turned on him during a game of paint-ball. The New Year by Wang Xiaoshuai A portrait of a dying man whose daughter finally arrives to be with him after a troubling experience in America. A Letter From Hiroshima by Suwa Nobuhiro A documentary in which the director abandons a woman in a hotel room. 2003 Like a Desperado Under the Eaves by Shinji Aoyama “A destitute young man struggles to finish a manuscript while coping with an oddball assortment of neighbors and a teetering relationship with a mysterious woman.” –Jon Pais, Twitchfilm.com Daf by Bahman Ghobadi The film shows the pattern of life of a poor family whose survival depends upon the ceremony and creation of the daf, the most famous Iranian musical instrument. Digital Search by Park Ki-yong Agonizing over what to make with a digital camera and how to make it, Park Ki-yong takes to the streets to snoop around, hoping to catch aspects of life he hadn’t noticed before. 2004 Dance with me to the End of Love by Yu Lik-wai Kirin is the doorkeeper of a hostel. He is an orphan and nobody knows exactly where he is from. People name him Kirin simply because he earns his life by collecting emptied beer cans. This enigmatic young man lives in his own solitude until one day he meets a beautiful nomad. Influenza by Bong Joon-ho “A disturbing work acted out entirely in front of real CCTV cameras stationed throughout Seoul. The film charts a desperate man's turn to violent crime over the space of five years.” – Darcy Paquet, koreanfilm.org Mirrored Mind by Ishii Sogo A portrait of a young woman's post-modern reaction to the disconnect between Tokyo and nature. 2005 Haze by Shinya Tsukamoto A man wakes up to find himself confined in a small room. He doesn’t know where he is and has no memory of what happened to him. What terrifies him more is that he is bleeding, accompanied by acute pain. The clearer his consciousness becomes, the tighter the room seems to get. Magician(s) by Song Il-gon “A single-take digital psychodrama about ex–bandmates gathered in a bar somewhere in the snowy woods, drinking, reminiscing, having flashbacks and being obliviously haunted by the ghost of their ex–junkie guitar goddess.” –Village Voice Worldly Desires by Apichatpong Weerasethakul “A musical companion piece to Tropical Malady, the film begins as a behind-the-scenes look at the jungle productions of a Thai soap opera and a music video, but soon falls under the verdant spell of the rainforest.” -SAIC 2006 About Love by Darezhan Omirvaev Kairat, a lonely mathematics teacher runs into an old college mate, Askar. Askar invites him to his home where Kairat becomes acquainted with Togzhan, Askar’s wife. The two fall in love. And though this love was mutual, it’s thwarted by the choices already made in their lives No Day Off by Eric Khoo No Day Off charts four years in the life of Siti, a young woman who leaves her husband and baby boy in a remote village in Sulawesi to work as a maid in Singapore. The narrative unfolds through her perspective and captures her trials and tribulations as she works for three different families. Twelve Twenty by Pen-ek Ratanaruang A young man falls in love with a woman he sees on the other side of an airport terminal, and then fantasizes about her for his entire 12-hour flight. Beautiful cinematography by Chris Doyle. 2007 Respite by Harun Farocki Set in Westerbork, a transit camp for deportees to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz. An inmate, the German-born Jew Rudolph filmed scenes of work, leisure and a train leaving for the death camps with a 16mm camera. The Rabbit Hunters by Pedro Costa Fontain is a lost community, a shanty-town on the outskirts of Lisbon. This film shows the day-by-day stories of the residents eager for the new, better life announced with its promises of comfort and economic growth. Correspondences by Eugène Green Seventeen-year-olds Virgile and Blanche exchange e-mails in their rooms. Virgile likes Blanche, but Blanche likes a boy named Eustache, but they don’t know this about each other… 2008 The Birthday by Idrissa Ouedraogo Awa is a beautiful but poor young lady. She decides to marry Karim, a wealthy old man, but can’t shake her feelings for Bouba, her lower-class boyfriend. When Karim discovers the affair between Awa and Bouba, he plans on taking his horrific revenge on Awa’s birthday. Expectations by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Having left on a long journey across the desert, Moussa suddenly shows up in his village again one day. He clearly never reached his destination. Completely transformed by his ordeal, he is now apathetic, locked in silence, and indifferent to everything around him. But his creditors, who loaned him the money for his journey, are growing impatient. The Alphabet of My Mother by Nacer Khemir An old woman is sitting motionless with both eyes closed. Suddenly, a visitor shows up in the courtyard of the house, flooding her mind with memories of longing for her forgotten son. 2009 Lost in the Mountains by Hong Sang-soo With his trademark wry humor towards human relationships, Hong follows the writer Misook as she travels to Jeonju to visit her friend Jin-young and her former lover Sangoak, with predictably disastrous results. Koma by Naomi Kawase 70 years ago, a man visits a quiet village named Koma. He accidentally saves a boy's life and by way of thanks the boy's father gives him a hanging scroll. Now that man’s grandchild visits Koma in order to re-enact the passing of the hanging scroll. Butterflies Have No Memories by Lav Diaz In a remote island in the Philippines, the inhabitants of a once-prosperous town have been struggling since the closure of a local Canadian gold mining company. In these desperate times, Ferding, Santos and Willy drown their frustrations with endless drinking. But a visit from a young woman who was born in the mining village soon changes everything.