<White Man (Baeksekin)> (1994)

Director : Bong Joon-ho
Year of Production : 1994
Genre : Drama/Fiction
Format :16mm/Color
Running Time : 18 minutes

Crew :
Producer : Jegal Yong
Production Planning : Lee Byung-hoon
Cinematography : Yu Seung-ho
Screenplay : Lee Byung-hoon
Lighting : Hwang Kwang-sub

Cast :
Kim Roi-ha, Ahn Nae-sang, Kim Dae-yub, Kim Sang-won, Lee Sang-yub

Synopsis

One day, W, a very run-of-the-mill, average middleclass man finds a severed index finger on his way to work. He is not curious about whom the finger belongs to or what accident caused it to be severed. To him, the finger is merely an interesting plaything. A little while later, a television news broadcast reports that a man has assaulted his boss after losing his finger in an industrial accident. The next day, W throws the finger to a dog on his way to work.

Purpose of Production

As its title indicates, the film explores the white-collar worker and his intellectual selfishness as well as apathy towards social problems which give rise to a new form of ignorance.

Director Bio : Bong Joon-ho (1969- )

He graduated with a degree in sociology from Yonsei University and studied film directing at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. He received attention for his graduation film, Incoherence. He made his directorial debut in 2000 with Barking Dogs Never Bite (Peullandaseu-ui gae), showing a unique brand of humor. In 2003, he directed Memories of Murder (Salin-ui Chueok) about the serial murders in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do, achieving both critical and commercial success.