<Promenade in the Rain (Ujungsanchak)> (1994)

Director : Lim Soon-rye
Year of Production : 1994
Genre : Drama/Fiction
Format : 35mm/Color
Running Time : 13 minutes and 30 seconds

Crew :
Producer/Screenplay/Director : Lim Soon-rye
Planning/Assistant Director : Park Kyoung-hee
Cinematography : Kim Jung-gu
Lighting : Park Jong-hwan, Choi Sung-won
Simultaneous Sound Recording : O Se-jin
Editor : Park Gok-ji
Music : Moon Seung-keol

Cast :
Seo Ji-hyun, Seo Young-wook, Lee Jung-tae, Han Jong-nam, Kim Kyeong-ryul, Kim Kyoung-bin, Myung Kye-nam (Special Appearance)

Synopsis

Jeong-ja isn’t especially pretty or talented. She’s just an old maid in her thirties who works at the ticket booth of a theater on the outskirts of town. She has an inadequate sense of reality and spends most of her day daydreaming. It’s a hot summer’s day, and because Jeong-ja cannot take time off from her job, she waits for her blind date at the theater ticket booth all day long. But the date does not show up and after a short nap, Jeong-ja follows a handsome stranger who comes out of the theater as he goes out for a walk. At that moment, there’s a thunderstorm. The man disappears and Jeong-ja returns to the theater, drenched and there, she finds her blind date waiting for her.

Notes

An archetypical example of a Korean independent film of the 1990s. (Kang So-won)
Deals with the psychology of the characters in a faithful and objective manner. (Kim Dong-won)

Purpose of Production

This film deals with the story of an old maid. All people live with many hopes and dreams which reality will never measure up to. The movie shows the disappointing reality of our lives through the setting of an underground theater. Most of the actors and actresses in this movie are inexperienced amateurs and all artificial elements are left out of the camera work and lighting. This is in order to create a rough, simple visual ambience which is natural and without ornamentation.

Awards and Showings at Film Festivals

The Press Award and Grand Prize at the 1st Seoul International Short Film Festival
Shown at the 1995 Fribourg International Short Film Festival
Shown at the Hong Kong International Film Festival
Shown at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival
Shown at the 1995 Montecatini International Short Film Festival of Italy

Director Bio : Lim Soon-rye (1960- )

After graduating from Hanyang University, she graduated with a master’s degree from the Universite Paris 8. She gained her first experience in films working as an assistant to director Yeo Kyun-dong on his film, Out to the world (Sesangbakk-eulo). In 1994, she received nationwide attention when her film, Promenade in the Rain which won the grand prize at the first Seoul International Short Film Festival. In 1996, she made her feature debut with Three Friends (Sechingu) and received critical praise for her 2001 film, Waikiki Brothers (Waikiki Buradeoseu). She also directed an episode of If You Were Me (Yeoseotgae-ui Siseon ) in 2003 which was a project commissioned by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea.