Mise-en-scène 1 미쟝센 단편영화제 1
Feel Good Story by Lee Kyoung-mi
Ji-young has dreams of being a writer; but for now, she’s stuck at an office job. When her boss takes notice of her, she’s working late nights with the seemingly insufferable and immature Hee-jin. But when they’re asked to do a task that is both tedious and illegal, Ji-young finds herself in a slowly evolving nightmare, caught between frustration and the need to prove herself. This multi-award-winning dark comedy is a candid look at lives of quiet desperation.
The Perfect Fishplate by Na Hong-jin
Creating a perfect meal is a combination of art, science, and a lot of trial and error. Chef is asked to make a dinner of red snapper, and calls on his devotion to craft, and insistence, by both himself and his master, on absolute perfection. The most accurate measurements, the perfect stroke of basting brush, the exact slice of the sharpest knife. Such is his devotion, that he will sacrifice his own flesh to it. Hunger can wait.
Enemy’s Apple by Lee Su-jin
During a violent stand-off between protestors and police, one man from each group finds themselves alone together in an alley, one with the power of the state on his side, the other with the power of the people. And yet, are they so different? They’re both frustrated, they need food and water, they both need to work on their fighting skills, and they both are trying to find a way to communicate, as human beings, outside their designated societal roles.
Forest by Um Tae-hwa
In the orchard, shy Gujeong and his brazen friend Taesik vie for the attentions of the lovely Esther over a picnic. In the forest, Gujeong and Taesik are making a movie, with Taesik taking extreme risks and Gujeong uncertain what to do. In both places, it seems that Taesik is winning the love battle. And in both places, a terrible accident happens that seems to implicate Gujeong. What will he do to prove to Esther of his sincerity and innocence?
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.