<Dowsing (Daujing)> (1996)

Director : Kim Yoon-tae
Year of Production : 1994 - 1996
Genre : Experimental Film
Format : 16mm/Color
Running Time : 15 minutes

Crew :
Screenplay/Director : Kim Yoon-tae
Cinematography : Ham Sun-ho
Cameras : Lim Chang-jae, Lee Dong-hoon
Lighting : Min Kyoung-chul, Im Kyoung-kyu
Art Director : Cho Yoon-seok, Lee Joon-young
Makeup : Kim Joo-yeon
Stills : Kim Jeong-seon
Production Planning : Jung Sung-ho, Lee Ji-yeun
Sound : Hwang Seon-ok
Distribution : Indie Story

Cast :
Yoon Mi-yeon, Kim Mi-young, Um Chun-bae, Oh Jae-won

Synopsis

“Dowsing” is a method by which underground water or minerals are found through the use of branches or a metal pendulum. This movie follows the tracks of a child through a disquieting day he experiences. The child loses his sense of reality as his distinction between reality and fantasy becomes blurred. The child returns home from a physical examination at a school where they are preparing for a funeral. And he discovers that he feels a strange longing for the deceased person’s belongings. The child impulsively steals curtains from a movie theater. And on the day of the funeral, he starts out from his home to repeat his first experience.

Notes

Clear images with ambiguous meanings. A significant experimental film. (Kang So-won)
An experimental film which gives an intense impression of vivid colors. (Kim Dong-won)

Purpose of Production

Life is rough, ambiguous and disjunctive. As I was working on the film, instead of obsessing about its reality, I followed the flights of fancy that came to me accidentally. Because continuity in the film was replaced by the ideas that came to me during our shoots, the flow of the movie is disjointed and awkward. As a matter of fact, this movie is unfinished. Because of our limited resources, many of the scenes from the screenplay were left unfilmed, and this is the primary reason for all of the difficulties we experienced during the editing of the film. Such a situation is very instructive to the filmmaker. It is my wish that the showing of this movie, which is a work in process, shows the possibilities of continued work on short, low budget films after they have been shown.

Awards and Showings at Film Festivals

Shown at the 5th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, 1999, Canada
Shown as part of the 1st Pusan International Film Festival Wide Angle Category
Grand Prize at the 13th Busan Asian Short Film Festival, 1996
Officially Shown at Indie Forum 96

Director Bio : Kim Yoon-tae (1962- )

Born in Incheon, Gyeonggi-do, in 1962. He mainly made independent films with a strong experimental inclination such as Good Bye Babbitt (Goodbye sokmul) (1984), The Lost city (Ileobeorindoshi) (1987), Improvisation (Impravijaeisseon) (1990), Wet Dream (1992), Story of a City: a short section (Han dosiui iyagi danpyun bumoon) (1994), Dowsing (1995), Video Ritual (Bideo Rityueol) (1997), and Digital Three People Three Colors: Moon Segno (Digital saminsamsek : dal senyo) (2000).