Love Death Dog + Baek-gu (UK Premieres)
러브데스도그 + 개의 역사
Korean Film Nights : MA-EUM (마음)
Love Death Dog | 러브 데스 도그
Directed by Gwon Dong-hyun and Kwon Sea-jung
19 min | 2023 | Korea | colour and b&w
Korean with Eng Subs | Print source: Gwon Dong-hyun, Kwon Sea-jung
Gwon Dong-hyun and Kwon Sea-jung have been collaborating on a long-term research project titled Love Death Dog City since 2020, which features experimental works investigating the relationship between cities, dogs, and humans. The film Love Death Dog is part of this research, and premised on the discovery of numerous glass-plate photographs left behind by a Japanese scholar who visited (and documented) Korea in the early 20th century. Having found dogs in many of these black-and-white archival images, the filmmakers follow the story of dogs from over a century ago through an essayistic syntax, tracing the evolution of human and canine co-existence since the colonial rule to the present day. As the asymmetries of power governing human-dog relationships in colonial Korean society are uncovered, Love Death Dog prompts audiences to reconsider the roles animals play in our shared histories.
Baek-gu | 개의 역사
Directed by Kim Bo-ram
83 min | 2017 | Korea | colour
Korean with Eng Subs | Print Source: Cinema DAL
In this film, director Kim Bo-ram uses an interview-format to collect testimonies around a stray white dog living in a car park. As residents of the area recall their memories of the eponymous dog after it has passed away, the camera’s gaze gradually shifts to the surrounding neighbourhood and the often-overlooked aspects of urban life. Initially indifferent, the locals eventually reveal their own stories in tangential response to the interviewer’s prompts. Alongside these unfolding narratives, the filmmaker delves into her own spiritual dilemmas, leading the audience into her observations of society, family, and marital expectations. In weaving through intersecting memories of humans and animals, the director explores a pervading sense of alienation and the ease of forgetting inherent in Korean society.
