WEBVTT

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Hello.

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When I hear the word "Italy,"

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images fill my head.

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I see the domed cathedral in Florence,

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or the canals of Venice.

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However, when I hear the word "Slovenia,"

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When I hear the word "Slovenia,"

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I see no such images.

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There are some things
that I know about Slovenia.

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I know that it was the first of the former
Yugoslav republics to join the EU.

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I'm told it's a great place to vacation,

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but I don't see Slovenia in my head.

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You might say that for most people,
there are two kinds of countries:

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those that you can see in your head,
and those that you can't.

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Before I came to Seoul in 1997
to live and to teach,

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Korea was for me
a country of the second type.

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Again, there were things
that I knew about Korea.

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I knew about the political situation
facing North and South Korea.

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I knew about the Korean War.

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More than anything else, I knew
about Korea through Korean friends

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I'd made in the university
and graduate school.

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They'd told me many stories,
but still, I was missing the images.

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There was one country in Asia
for which I had fresh, vibrant images,

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and this was Hong Kong.

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Mostly this was because I was a fan
of Hong Kong movies,

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such as Wong Kar-Wai's
"Chungking Express."

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These were highly-stylized images,

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and I realized they may have
very little relation

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to the actual Hong Kong,

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but they aroused my curiosity.

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I was curious to know
how great was the gap

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between these images
and the real Hong Kong.

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Partly, it was this curiosity
that led me to choose Hong Kong

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as my first destination
after arriving in Asia.

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I believe in the power
and influence of images.

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Not that images alone can lead
to greater understanding,

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but they can ignite one's curiosity
and charge one's imagination.

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Images can make you feel closer to a place

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even if you've never actually been there.

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And not to slide photography,

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but films provide

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some of the most immediate
and memorable images of a place.

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Let me step back for a moment,

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and tell you a bit
about my own experience.

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I came to Korea in 1997
to teach English,

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intending to spend two years
before moving on to Eastern Europe.

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As you can see, I'm still here.

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(Laughter)

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As a film fan, the first thing
that impressed me

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about Korea's films culture

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was a trip to the second
Busan International Film Festival.

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I was thrilled by the packed theaters
and the enthusiasm of the crowds.

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On screen, it was the movie
"Christmas in August"

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that first captured my imagination.

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This film was not stylized
like "Chungking Express,"

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but the images in this film
were unforgettable.

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Set in an ordinary town,

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about two ordinary people
who almost fall in love

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this film brings out the beauty
in everyday life:

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driving a scooter, developing
photos, eating watermelon,

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or teaching your father
how to use the remote control.

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All of these ordinary scenes
were given added poignancy

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by the elegance of the film making,

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and our knowledge

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that one of the two leads is sick
and may not live much longer.

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Let's take a look
at one scene from this film.

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It's one of the most
ordinary scenes in the film,

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they're simply eating ice cream,

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but for me, it's remained
one of the most memorable.

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(Video starts) (Music)

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(Korean) Da-rim: Sir!
Jung-won: Oh!

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DR: Where are you going?

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JW: I have to take some pictures.

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DR: Oh my, so what can I do?
This is terribly urgent!

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What can I do?

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(Video ends)

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Darcy Paquet: Watching movies like
"Christmas in August" in the late 1990s

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made me want to learn more
about Korean cinema.

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However, when I went online
to search for more information,

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there is almost no information in English.

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This inspired me to start
my own website on Korean cinema,

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even though I'd never
studied film formally,

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and I didn't really have
the qualifications to do so.

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Koreanfilm.org was launched in April 1999.

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Although I didn't expect
immediate success with the site,

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soon I began to hear from people
all around the world

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who were discovering Korean cinema.

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A virtual community started
to build up around my website.

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For me, personally,
the site also led to a new career.

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First, working as a journalist at
film trade magazine Screen International,

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and later working as a festival
consultant, columnist, and teacher.

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In 2003, I did an experiment.

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On my discussion board,
I asked the question,

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"Which Korean films have given you

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the most vivid
and enduring images of Korea?"

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At this point, most of the people who
visited my site had never been to Korea.

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They watched Korean films
through DVDs or at foreign film festivals,

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so I was curious what kind of film
would leave them

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with the strongest impression.

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The films that they chose were not
idealized or exotic portrayals of Korea.

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They were films like Park Heung-sik's
"I Wish I Had a Wife,"

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Hur Jin-ho's "One Fine Spring Day,"

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or Bong Joon-ho's "Memories of Murder."

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The film that they chose, above all else,

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was "Take Care of My Cat"
by Jeong Jae-eun.

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I'd also been deeply
impressed by this film.

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The film is
a thoughtful, realistic portrait

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of five young women from Incheon,

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whose friendship comes under strain

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in the year after
they graduate from high school.

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The characters are vivid and engaging,

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and the director makes us feel
their experiences.

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The setting, too, is also memorable.

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One of the visitors to my site,
who lived in Boston,

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wrote on my discussion board,

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"I'd never thought I should go to Korea
before watching 'Take Care of My Cat, '

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but now I want to go.

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Pretty scenery is just
not as powerful for me

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as Jeong Jae-eun's urban landscapes."

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Let's take a look at
how the director presents

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the urban landscapes of Incheon and Seoul.

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(Video starts) (Korean) Bi-ryu: Taehee
must be making a move on them.

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Hae-joo: Huh, with that face?

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(Music)

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(Video ends)

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DP: Over the last 15 years,
Korean cinema has provided a wide spectrum

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of indelible images
to viewers around the world.

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We've seen sassy girls,

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"Oldboy,"

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monsters,

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ghosts,

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soldiers,

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clowns,

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vagrants,

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and artists.

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Many people around the world
know Korea through these images.

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While maintaining my website,

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I received a lot of e-mails
from people around the world

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who have just started
to discover Korean cinema.

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I've heard from adoptees
living in other countries

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who have grown up in towns
where they're the only ethnic Koreans.

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For them, these images from a faraway land

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end up becoming
an important part of their identity.

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I've heard from people
who knew nothing about Korea

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before watching their first Korean film,

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but who were eventually inspired
to move here and to start a new life.

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And I've received many less serious
comments and questions as well.

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Such as the reader who asked,

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"What are all of these green bottles
I always see on the table in Korean films?

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(Laughter)

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My talk today is a mixture
of optimism and pessimism.

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My optimism springs from the belief

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that films and the images that they convey
can be more influential than we realize.

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In particular, I believe that when films
cross cultures, good things can happen.

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However, I become more pessimistic
when confronted with the practical problem

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of how to bring Korean films into contact
with more people around the world.

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Let me quote one of my favorite
directors from Hollywood,

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"A lot of people in the film
industry are fatalists

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who think a worthwhile film
will always achieve its destiny,

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and the films
that aren't worthwhile won't,

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that it's all sort of predetermined, etc.

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And I don't think that's true at all."

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There are some beliefs that we hold
as a result of reflection,

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and other beliefs that we hold casually,

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without ever really seriously considering
the reasoning behind them.

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The idea that a good film
will find a wide audience,

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and that an undeserving film will not,

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is an example of the second category.

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Some people might think

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that there is a sort
of survival-of-the-fittest going on,

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whereby good films overpower
bad films and reach more viewers.

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But it doesn't take much thought
to realize that in this case,

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the "fittest" are not the best films,

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but the films with the most marketing
and distribution power behind them.

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Cinephiles are more likely to understand

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that large distributors have a tight grip
on the commercial film sector.

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But they might be likely
to subscribe to another myth

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that the three major film festivals,
Cannes, Venice, and Berlin

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form a sort of alternate fair system
to counteract the unfair, commercial one.

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Personally, I can't believe this either.

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Years of working in the film industry
have convinced me

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that the programers for these festivals
can be just as close-minded

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as the Hollywood studios.

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It's just that they're focused on
a different kind of film.

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What was the most important Korean film
of the past ten years?

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You can make an argument for
Bong Joon-ho's "Memories of Murder,"

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but this film was casually passed over
by the major film festivals

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because at that time,
the director was not famous enough.

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The average person
does not really understand

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how the global film
distribution system works,

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but he or she usually assumes
that it works in a beneficial way.

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The danger of believing in the system
is that you may sit back and simply wait

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for the good films
to come across your path,

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and you will not go out
and actively search for them.

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To me, this is a tragedy.

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My concern is that a broken system
is preventing people

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from encountering films
that might really impact them.

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How do you work outside the system?

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Go on the Internet

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and search for information
about films from other countries.

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Go to a film festival and watch
a small film that you know nothing about.

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Ask your foreign friends
to recommend films.

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And while you're at it,
recommend some Korean films for them.

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My closing wish today is quite simple,
and it will not change the world,

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but it might change your experience:

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I hope that more people throw away
their faith in the system

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and begin to actively search out
films from around the world.

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Thank you for listening.

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(Applause)