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Synopsis
A person completing the work of death, in a place where the death of an old building is being carried out... and I.
Director's Statement
A huge outlet is being built as part of the development plan of Keumsa Newtown in Keunsa-dong, Busan. In the narrow alley that is the western wing (Seodong), the surrounding buildings of the old road are being taken down to expand the road.
I felt a sense of irony when I noticed a funeral director's building among those buildings that were being torn down at the site.
The buildings that were falling apart appeared to signal the concept of death to me. The things that were happening at that place, and the work of that person we refer to as a funeral director. The beginning of this documentary stems from this strange coincidence. I find myself continuously going to this place where buildings are being taken down, one by one, while a funeral director is marking the end of some people's lives.
On the first day I captured this space on camera, I saw a white butterfly. The reason my choice of location had to be this place was because I saw that white butterfly. In the numerous scenes I took, that butterfly stopped by several times. I had also seen a white butterfly when I was a child, in the graveyard where I had first known about "death".
That is how this documentary began, and the work was difficult. Contrary to my plans to capture the concept of "death" in my work, it became a push-and-pull struggle between me and the elderly funeral director.
However, this project made me fully realize that while facing someone with a camera in your hand is difficult, it is valuable.
Biography