Mise-en-scène 2 미쟝센 단편영화제 2
How To Operate A Polaroid Camera by Kim Jong-Kwan
She holds in her hands a most precious object; not because of what it is, but because of its owner. Her crush is lending her his camera. He tells her how to use it, how it’s not the camera but the film that is expensive, and so she must be sure before she takes a photo. But all she hears and sees is him, out of focus, as she struggles to express how she feels, something a photograph can’t capture.
The Cursed by Huh Jung
Soojeong believes that she is cursed: she can’t remember her schoolwork, she has near constant pain in her stomach, her little brother has stopped growing and real estate prices are plummeting. There seems to be a crack in her mind, the size of the hole in her heart left by her missing dog. While her parents vigorously pray and cover everything in green, her brother patiently follows her everywhere, trying to bring Soojeong back to reality.
Don’t Step Out Of The House by Jo Sung-hee
His father told Chul-soo: don’t leave the basement apartment; look after your sister, Soon-yee; don’t open the door for anyone; finish your school work to show the teacher. But the food is running low, and he keeps writing his homework over and over again. Strange men are lurking outside, and voices on the radio speak of a world no longer existing. Why did their father abandon them? What do these men want? And why does their pet bird warn them with obscenities?
Be With Me by Kang Jin-a
Hyuck-keun can’t seem to catch a break: he’s in love with his friend Cha-kyung, and finds himself always waiting for her, whether he’s in her presence or not. She loves to regale him with stories and have shared adventures together, but her constant distraction and lack of commitment means he must always be satisfied with second place. As his anger and sadness grows, so his life seems to fall apart. Will he keep waiting, or will he learn to let her go?
The Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival was born in 2002 to present, under the motto ‘Beyond the barrier of genres’, short films that brazenly bend the boundaries of genre through imagination. As the slogan ‘I LOVE SHORT!’ suggests, our boundless affection for short film has continued across the past twenty years.
It’s true that in the past there were less opportunities for short films to meet the masses. The Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival, whilst drawing out the genre-based characteristics of commercial cinema, has supported brilliant shorts overflowing with their own unique charm to allow audiences to grow more familiar with short film. Through this, cinemagoers’ thirst for a fresh perspective has been satisfied. Nourishing this affection must also have given the directors of these shorts the strength for even more energetic filmmaking.
This year’s special focus, ‘Back to the SHORTS’, commemorates twenty years of the Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival, and is dedicated to the hard work of short film directors of the past two decades. From 24th to 30th June 2021, audiences were given the opportunity to meet once again with short films of the past, still brilliant from every angle even now.