<Oh! The World of Dreams (Ohkoomuinara)> (1989)

Director : Lee Eun, Jang Dong-hong, Chang Youn-hyeon
Year of Production : 1989
Genre : Drama/Fiction
Format : 16mm/Color
Running Time : 90 minutes

Crew :
Producer : Nam Hee-sub, Lee Jae-koo
Scenario : Kong Su-young, Hong Gi-seon
Cinematography : Kim Hyeon-chul, Park Dae-young, Oh Cheng-ok
Documentation : Jang Yoo-sik Music: Kang Heon, Cho Ik-hwan

Cast :
Hong Jeong-wuk, Park Chung-sun, Jeong Jin-wan, Lee Byeong-su, Lee Sun-kyeong, Oh Ji-hye, Kurt Reinken

Synopsis

After the Gwangju Uprising and Democratization Movements was subdued with force, Jong-su goes to Dongducheon in search for his childhood friend Tae-ho, in order to escape the investigation of the dictatorial regime. He is a student of Chonnam National University and a teacher at a night school, and he is wanted for participating in the Gwangju Uprising and Democratization Movements. Tae-ho works at a snack bar in a U.S. military base, but his main income is derived from selling American goods to Koreans. Jong-su finds it difficult to live with his friend whose life goal is to earn enough money to immigrate to the U.S., and the rough prostitutes who sell their bodies to American soldiers. He also struggles daily with the painful memories of the Gwangju Uprising. Jong-su remembers Gu-chil, a shoeshine boy he met at night school who contrasted so much with Tae-ho, who is willing to put American military goods on the black market to reach his goal of immigrating to the U.S., and the prostitutes around the military base who thought that if they could marry an American soldier and go to the U.S., it would be the beginning of a whole new life for them. Unlike Tae-ho and the prostitutes who wanted to escape to the U.S., Gu-chil joined the Democratization Movements with Jong-su and fought to the end, hoping for democratization to finally come true. Jong-su’s memories alienate him from reality and his agonies give pain to the people around him. Tae-ho, whose goal is to make money and immigrate to the U.S., is betrayed by Steve, a soldier with whom he was doing business and loses everything he has. Jenny, who cherishes the hope of living with Steve, is also betrayed and kills herself. Despite Tae-ho’s rage and Jong-su’s despair, they are unable to do anything but repress their emotions and return to their everyday lives.

Notes

About the Gwangju Uprising and Democratization Movements, it was a film of normal length that was attempted to be distributed independently and away from the mainstream. (Kang So-won)
Although the movie was a little clumsily done, it tried to reveal the relationship between the Gwangju Uprising and the U.S.(Kim Dong-won)

Director Bio : Jang Dong-hong

In 1988, he graduated from the Film Department at the Seoul Institute of the Arts and was one of the most active members of the late 80s independent film collective, Jangsangotmae. He directed Yellow Flag (Noran-gitbal) (1987), Oh! The world of Dreams (1988, Collaborative Director), and The Night Before Strike (1990, Collaborative Director). He made his commercial debut in 1998 with If it Snows on Christmas (Christmasue Nuninerimyeon).

Director Bio : Lee Eun (1961- )

He graduated from the Department of Theater and Film at Chung-ang University. In 1985, he began a workshop at his university, producing The fire light of the factory (Gongjangui-bulbit) and co-founded Jangsangotmae along with Chang Youn-hyun, producing Oh! The world of Dream (1989) and The Night Before Strike (1990). In 1995, He founded MK Pictures and began producing commercial films and The Contact (Jeobsog) (1997), Happy End (Happy end) (1999) and JSA - Joint Security Area (Gongdonggyeongbiguyeok) (2000) are the company’s most well known works. He made his commercial directorial debut in 1998 with the film, If the sun rises in the West (Haega seojjog-eseo tteundamyeon).

Director Bio : Chang Youn-hyun (1967- )

He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering in 1989 from Hanyang University and in 1992, studied at the Hungarian National Film School. He made For the talent (Injaereurwihayeo) during his university years and co-directed Oh! The world of Dream and The Night Before Strike during his time at Jangsangotmae acquiring directing experience outside the mainstream film industry. He made his debut with The Contact (1997), a film about the internet, which was a success on both critical and commercial levels. With his second film, Tell Me Something(Tell me something), he introduced hard gore movies to Korean cinema. In 2004, he directed the action thriller, Some (Sseom).