<Flame in the Valley>

Director : Kim Su-Yong
Starring : Shin Young-kyun, Do Keum-bong, Joo Jeung-nyeo, Hwang Jeong-sun
Location Sites : Ssangtae-ri, Yong-myeong, Damyang-gun, Jeollanam Province

Synopsis

A communist terrorist breaks away from his ranks and sneaks into a village at the footstep of Jiri Mountain. He hides in the bamboo field with the help of Jeomrye and makes love with her. Sawol, widow in the neighborhood, becomes aware of this and has her own liaison with him in the bamboo field as well. Knowing that she is pregnant, Sawol commits suicide. Jeomrye also dies with her terrorist lover, running into the bamboo fields to save him when the police set fire to the field to capture him.

Location of Shooting

According to director Kim Suyong, 90 percent of the movie <Flame in the Valley> (Sanbul) was shot in Ssangtae-ri. The other 10 percent was filmed inside the cave where Gyubok was hiding. The entrance of the cave was created in the mountain behind Ssangtae-ri and the interior scenes were shot on a set. All the scenes except the set scenes were shot in Ssangtae-ri. There's a story associated with the decision to use this as the filming location. A peddler was selling bamboo products in the director's neighborhood. The director asked him his home and he answered that he lived in Damyang-gun, Yong-myeon. After learning from the peddler how to get there, he left to scout the location in person. The contour of Ssangtae-ri didn't match the background of the screenplay at all, so he changed the script according to the topography while shooting the movie. The dialect of Jeolla Province is also reflected in the script.

General Information

Damyang is originally famous for bamboo. Until the 1970s, it had prospered and was able to afford to educate its younger generations not by farming, but solely by its bamboo products. Every market fair day, all the women in the village went to market with handmade bamboo products on their heads, creating a spectacular parade (we can see the scene in this movie). But these days, the bamboo craft has declined due to cheap Chinese imports and as a result, it's not easy to even find a bamboo forest anymore. Famous attractions are Mountain Chuwol, where Yongso of Gamagol, the origin of Yeongsan River, is situated, and Lake Damyang, famous for pond smelt fishing and bamboo camps.




Directions

Olympic expressway Damyang I.C.- No. 29 National Highway to Sunchang-Damyang-eup - Ssangtae-ri