Nothing like bonding over a 'Night Fishing'

As we have already announced, Park Chan-wook's latest short film, Night Fishing, will make its Australian debut at KOFFIA 2011. Hannah Lee has contributed this piece on the collaboration Park has had with his lesser-known, but equally talented brother Park Chan-kyung, with whom he collaborated on the award-winning short.

By Hannah Lee
While little is known about Park Chan-wook’s younger brother, Park Chan-kyung, there’s no doubt that their first collaborative short film, Night Fishing, will reel in some much-deserved attention for the talented filmmaker.

Beginning with a Cannes jury prize for his visceral thriller Old Boy, Park Chan-wook has preceded his brother in establishing himself as a critically acclaimed director of feature-length films – drawing increasing attention around the world with a U.S debut, Stoker, set to hit cinemas next year. While such success should really call for bitter sibling rivalry, Park Chan Kyung proved his own individualistic and visually engaging sense of direction in his first feature-length film, Anyang, Paradise City. The film debuted as the Korean Feature Film Competition winner at the Jeonju International Film Festival last year, combining fiction and documentary in eight episodes that traversed Anyang city’s past, contemporary life, politics and ancient folklore.

As a prominent Korean artist with extensive practice in media and installation art, Park Chan Kyung’s combined talents in filmmaking and art production then rise to the surface in Night Fishing as his imaging techniques give his brother’s internationally-renowned vision an added kick of freshness and originality.

In joining forces, the Park brothers prove there’s more to engrossing storytelling than high-tech equipment as their award-winning short was filmed entirely on an iPhone 4 (because Apple doesn’t get enough attention already). This makes Night Fishing the world’s first smartphone movie to receive the Golden Bear for best short film at the Berlin International Film Festival, and the first to be released in cinemas with its unique technological origins.

As the Park brothers challenge the conventions of filmmaking with an iPhone in Night Fishing, this artistically daring and bold work is sure to recognize the talents of Park Chan Kyung as the short film’s compelling story is given life through a convergence of two distinctly different visions.

Although Night Fishing is only a 30-minute short film, it received global attention upon its announcement. You can read all about the hype surrounding the film in Richard Gray's previous KOFFIA blog entry which covers how it was created, how they achieved it technically, and what sort of scale the shoot was. It even includes behind the scenes footage so make sure you check it out.