House of Hummingbird is the first work by the young filmmaker Bora Kim, an extremely delicate piece that places us in its native country, Corea, and in a very specific time, the year 1994. Eun-hee is a teenager who lives subjugated by a family that does not pay much attention to her.. His father and mother are almost always arguing, his older sister behaves erratically and rebelliously, and her brother does not stop bothering her, imposing his will in the house through beatings and violence that he directs against her.. Eun-hee has problems, even, with her best friends, a bond forged in a difficult game of unrequited love, betrayals and selfishness typical of this moment in life. In this context, trying to find your own path and identity, Eun-hee conoce a Yong-ji, your Chinese teacher, with whom he will soon establish a strong relationship. About that relationship, Eun-hee will build a world to direct all the shortcomings and needs of her life. House of Hummingbird will be screened next Saturday 29/6 at The Film Library.
Your film is partly autobiographical. Why did you choose this topic as the center of your story??
Bueno, It's not exactly autobiographical.. I would have to say no because cinema is fiction, in the end. Just because it is inspired by real events does not mean it is a true story.. Yeah, It starts with my deepest thoughts and emotions., but that's all. I guess artists always try to find their themes in their inner lives..
Was working with such young people very difficult for you??
not really, because they [the actresses who take part in the film] They are not little girls, They are teenagers who go to high school and don't get into trouble.. I tried to treat them as if they were my friends., like any other adult or any other human being. If you treat them like girls, it can be difficult, but if you see them like any other human being, I don't think it's much different from treating other people.. I tried to talk to them as if they were professional actors and actresses., and I think they accepted that he treated them like that. People behave the same way you treat them. If someone treats you well, there will be good mutual communication. And how I treated Ji-hu Park like another human being, she behaved that way on the set, like another little human being.
Your film addresses very complex feelings, with many layers or faces. How did you work with her to extract those emotions?
Bueno, we talked a lot about the script, but above all we talk a lot about our lives. Before starting to shoot, we had a long conversation for six months. I auditioned for the film in the winter of the year 2016, but we filmed in the summer of 2017. So, before rolling, there were six months of preparation. at that time, She and I went out together a lot.. I asked him many questions, not about the script, but about his life, and told him, just be yourself. Ji-hu had many similarities with the character, So I told him not to try to be someone else.. He did an amazing job. We tried not to do too many rehearsals because that killed the freshness. When you work with young actors, It is better not to do too many rehearsals because kids like things that are fresh and if you force them to do the same things over and over again, they think they are doing something wrong, so it is very important to do less rehearsals. But, above all, we try to connect with each other. Of course we talked about the script and I tried to respond to things she didn't understand.. I would like to say that there is something particular behind, but it was simply a process of mutual understanding, of very deep communication, to understand each other.
Did the story change your personality in any way??
We shot it the same way I had written the script., but obviously he also asked her to do whatever she wanted.. A sequence could take five takes, For example. So, I did three takes the way I wanted and the rest I asked him to do whatever he wanted.. In fact, I used a lot of shots in which she acted freely because they had a certain vital energy. In the script readings we could establish his character, but on the set we could resort to improvisation.
The story shows the situation of women in Korean society, but it is set in the year 1994. Why were you interested in setting your story in that precise year?? What has changed since then?
The reason why I place the story in that year is because it was an important period for my country because, in the nineties, Korea began to develop very strongly. My country strived to be recognized by the world. Thus, we started building a lot of things very quickly. But in 1994 a bridge collapsed, and the following year a large department store building also collapsed and many people died. in two years, there had been the collapse of great architectural works, which was a little ridiculous. If you could see images on Google, you would see that they were big buildings that weren't supposed to collapse like that. That gave my country the idea of stopping development and reflecting on the fact that we had to think like human beings., not only in terms of development. Those years were a turning point for my country, to worry about what we were doing. That's why I chose those years. You asked me if my film was autobiographical, and I think I should say that it is not 100%, but it starts with my personal memories and although, in the end, be a fiction, I was in high school in 1994, as the main character. In those years, women were not treated equally. Now Korea has changed, but we still have many issues to correct. Actually, It is a problem that affects everyone. It is getting, but there is still a lot of inequality around the world. And although in the 90 In Korea it was worse than now, As a high school student I wondered why this was happening.. I was always wondering why women weren't treated equally.. Other girls took it naturally, but I was very rebellious and I questioned society, and I was very angry with her and with the education system, yet. But I didn't show my anger, I locked it inside me. They were things that I couldn't verbalize.. twenty years later, I made this movie to revisit my teenage years..
One of the things that may draw attention is that most of the pressures that the protagonist receives from that environment, They do not come from his father, but from his brother. Something similar happens to one of her friends.. Why have you highlighted this in your film?? Is it part of some cultural issue that you wanted to denounce??
I wanted to show that there was a vicious circle. These boys are treated like the kings of the family, so they treat others accordingly. This comes from parent education., That's why boys treat sisters that way.. But I didn't want to blame them because those kids are also victims of society.. Your behavior is wrong, but they are also victims. They don't know what they're doing. This brother who appears in the movie is stressed because he has the pressure on his shoulders to be the best student and son in the family. That's why he treats his sister that way., to get rid of that oppression. I wanted to show that complex side of the character in the moment when the boy starts crying at the kitchen table when the Seongsu bridge collapses.. People find this scene a little strange because they don't expect the brother to cry., but I thought that, if someone endures great pressure, will cry in that somewhat desperate way. When you are under great pressure, you react extremely to things. He is never in the middle, balanced, that's why he doesn't control his feelings .
Although the story is dramatic, contains a positive point of view. I don't know if I'm right, but I think that what your film proposes is a reflection on the fact that it is, precisely, in moments of greatest crisis when you can begin to solve problems. Why did you want to convey this message?? What was your interest?
Yeah, I think you understood the film very well and that is what I really wanted to convey.. In many screenings they ask me about the pressure on women and such.. That's a mirage. I didn't want to make this film to talk about how violent our society was.. That was not my concern because violence is everywhere, here in Spain, one US, everywhere. My theme was that there is violence, and we can't avoid it, but what we can do is try to find ways to connect with other people, no matter how, above violence, above the circumstances because people have great capacities to be better human beings and to overcome that violent environment. We have to find ways to overcome it. And I wanted to teach that with the relationship between the teacher and the girl.. when something dies, new things are born. When Eun-hee sees the collapsed bridge she is sad, but you can see that there is something that is also being born. That accident is symbolic. We can have that hope in the end about the possibility of building a new, different life..
Could we say that your vision of that family is comprehensive?
Yeah, I think so. What I tried when I was writing the script was not to make any character excessively evil because I believe that there are no bad or good people in the world.. People are good and bad at the same time. As Yong-ji says at the end of the letter, good and bad things always happen together. If you only have good things in your life, you will be bored, you will not value anything. Of these family problems, Eun-hee will become more mature. If she hadn't had this very unstructured family, would not have appreciated the beauty of friendship with his teacher Yong-ji. Eun-hee can be a little weird compared to the rest of the girls around her., but Yong-ji sees her beauty, understands her and tries to help her.
One of the most beautiful elements of your film is the music. How did you approach the relationship between soundtrack and story??
Thank you very much for mentioning it. The composer's name is Matija Strnisa. I met him through my producer Zoe. My producer and Matija met working on the Berlinale campus. There we proposed working together and we have had a very good relationship.. We talked a lot about the script and I asked him to make electronic music on purpose because, although many people prefer to go for something more classic, I didn't want to go for that easy choice.. So I chose to play very modern music to make this contrast between the old and the new.. He did a great job.
Your film is full of small details that build the narrative. I don't know exactly what the precise meaning is, but I think that there, in those details, you put something that seems relevant to me. A short shot of some plants, a small cactus, a window, etc. What meaning do they have for you??
Yeah, Yeah. Thank you for recognizing those details because it was my intention. (laughter) Especially windows or doors. I don't know if you remember the scene where the guy [the protagonist's mother's brother] his from home [after a visit]. Can you see that empty door, although he is already gone. In the editing process, Many people told me to cut that shot just when the character leaves the house.. But I told them no because I wanted to show that empty door, that empty space after the uncle left, so that the audience would think that something is going to happen. There's a certain loneliness around him, and I wanted to show that loneliness by showing the image of that empty door. And this happens because, when you see a door, somehow you want to open it or call, and if they don't open, you feel sad because the doors are supposed to be opened. It works in a symbolic way. Regarding the windows, I put many during the footage because they combine many emotions. I can't articulate a single emotion, but there are many. when you see windows, you see a landscape through them and that triggers many things. On the other hand, I also wanted to show these windows because they convey melancholy., and I wanted to use that melancholic feeling. Regarding the plants, when I was studying cinema I heard that, if you do it right, when you make a close up shot of an object, that object has a face. So I wanted every everyday object to have its face., like I have emotions. I worked a lot with my director of photography, who did a very good job. We shot many short shots and in the editing process we chose them very carefully to provoke those emotions. But what emotions this shot or this other transmits, I cannot explain because it transmits multiple emotions that can be very personal..
Is it a game with the public?
Bueno, I chose these plans thinking about my experience, but the emotions must be based on the emotions of the viewer. Cinema is an art and art is supposed to have multiple meanings.
