<Blue Bird (Parangsae)> (1986)

Production : Seoul Film Group
Director : Hong Gi-seon, Yi Hyo-in, Lee Jeong-ha
Year of Production : 1986
Format : 8mm/Color
Running Time : 40 minutes

Synopsis

A farmer and his wife are living, working hard farming, but their state of affairs does not improve and they are barely able to make ends meet - so much so that they are finding it hard to pay their son’s junior high school tuition. To make matters worse, their younger daughter, Byeong-suk is ill and isn’t even able to go to school, but their dire financial circumstance doesn’t allow them to take their daughter to the hospital. The father asks around to see if he can’t borrow the money to take his daughter to the hospital, but that doesn’t work out either.
The couple is barely able to acquire the money to take their daughter to the hospital and find out that Byeong-suk needs to have an operation for peritonitis because the disease was allowed to progress for so long without treatment. They take their daughter out of the hospital the day after the surgery for the lack of money and are relieved that they’ve taken care of the illness. Even with the income from selling a year’s worth of crops, they are barely able to pay off part of their debts and their debts increase daily. Byeong-suk’s illness returns and she must receive another large operation, and the couple acquires the money for the surgery by selling their cow. The movie Blue Bird, portrays the dark, hopeless reality of the farmers of Korea.

Reason for Selection

This is one of the most important works to be repressed by the government. (Kim Dong-won)
After Blue Bird was shown some 20 times to farmers, the government’s investigative bureau kept watch, thinking of the movie as being part of the People Democratic Reunification Movement which strived to incite farmers. On November 7th of the same year, after the movie The Resurrection of Subordinate Unions (Buhwal-dwen sanha) (Made by the General Student’s Association of Yonsei University) was shown, the student’s association president of Yonsei University was arrested for the “propagation of unwholesome views.” From the backlash of this incident, Blue Bird, made by the Seoul Film Group, was labeled as “propagating unwholesome views,” and those involved in its making were brought in for questioning. But because the investigators could not find any evidence which supported their charges, they indicted Hong Gi-seon and Yi Hyo-in with charges of showing the movie illegally without the movie being reviewed by censors.
In this way, Blue Bird is a representative example of the repression of an independent film by the society of the times.
(Compiled by the Seoul Visual Group, “From the Backwoods to the Forefront - A History of Korean Independent Cinema”(Language and the Visual, 1996)

Director Bio : Hong Gi-seon (1957- )

Born in 1957, in Seoul. He was active as a member of Yalrasyeong Film Group during his time at Seoul National University directing Living (Senghwal) (1983), Water Bill (1984), and Blue Bird (1986, Collaborative Director). He made his feature length directorial debut in 1992 with Cutting the Sorrow With a Knife Stuck in the Chest (Gaseum-e dodneun kallo seulpeum-eul jaleugo) and received positive reviews. Then, after a long hiatus, he made a comeback in 2003 with Choice (Seon-taek), which deals with the lives of political prisoners.

Director Bio : Yi Hyo-in (1960- )

Born in Busan. He became enchanted with the world of cinema at the Center Culturel Francais during his university days and joined the Seoul Film Group, actively participating in movie production. In 1987, he was charged with breaking film laws for his collaboration on Blue Bird along with Hong Gi-seon, which frankly portrayed the bleak reality of Korean farming communities. He was also a member of the People’s Film Research Center (Minjok Yeonghwa Yeonguso) along with film critics such as Lee Jeong-ha, Lee Soo-jung, Koo Sung-joo, Lee Sang-in, and Kim Eung-su. Afterward, he began to specialize in the history of Korean cinema, researching actively, and has acted as a leader of the Korean independent film community in the mid 1990s. Currently, he is the director of the Korean Federation of Film Archives.

Director Bio : Lee Jeong-ha

He was a core member of the Seoul Film Group and the People’s Film Research Center. He directed Blue Bird (1986, Collaborative Director), Be reborn as the flower of the nation (kudae buhwalhaera, minjokui koteulo) (1987, Collaborative Director), and We can’t ever be deprived of you (Woorinun kyulko neoreul bba-at-kilsueobda) (1987, Collaborative Director) during his time at the Seoul Film Group. Later, he worked as a film critic but currently, he is inactive.