The Quay Brothers are artists who continue to control their images and time in the age of computer-generated images. After two years of close discussion with the Quay Brothers, the JEONJU International Film Festival has organized a special focus to honor the twins’ world of art and craftsmanship. The Quay Brothers first became globally known thanks to their animation The Street of Crocodiles (1986), which was invited to the Cannes Film Festival. 40 years later, they continue to create 24 movements for each second with their puppet animation.
Influenced by surrealism, German expressionism, and Eastern European literature, Quay Brothers’ works may seem illogical, dark, strange and horrific at first, but their artistic ambition is to give the audience the experience of breaking all customs. Creativity that breaks prejudices and condensed symbolisms are concepts the Quays express through the visual distortions and non-conventional camerawork in their films. In addition, they select and write their music, shoot, and even edit. Their production process is against the given institutional practices in the film industry, but identical twins Quay Brothers are not tied down by any conventions. They’re interested in the trivial and insignificant. Instead of being absorbed into the system, they rely on each other and have created their own unique world.
This special focus consists of a mix of their experimental work including puppet animation, live motion, and graphic projects. Commercial advertisements, documentaries, music videos, broadcast shows, and operas which are media readily around us, have gone through the hands of the Quay Brothers to transform into their own unique style. A diverse range of their works will be introduced. The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer shows their respect for the Czech surrealist animation director Jan Švankmajer and also their affection for Giuseppe ARCIMBOLDO. The Comb is based on an original by Robert WALSER, The Street of Crocodiles is the cinematic version of Bruno SCHUL’s short story with the same title, Maska (2010) is based on the novel by Stanisław LEM, and their latest film A Doll’s Breath (2019) is based on the novel by Uruguay writer Felisberto HERNANDEZ. These are some of the 25 titles from Quay Brothers, who were inspired by many other artists, that will screen at the festival. In addition, documentary Quay by Christopher NOLAN, who is famous for being a fan of the Quay Brothers’, will give us a sneak peek at the twins’ secret workshop.
Quay Brothers’ diverse works which had limited exposure in Korea will be screened as a part of the special focus, while an exhibition of their artworks will run at the same time to reexamine the unique world of the twins. Special exhibition “Quay Brothers: Welcome to the ≫Dormitorium≪” which will be held at the Factory of Contemporary Arts in Palbok, will showcase the Quay Brothers’ The Black Drawings, installation work, as well as 100 of their dormitoriums, which are delicate decor boxes used for their films’ mise-en-scène. Experiencing the works of the Quay Brothers will surely marvel the audience.
Programmer Sung MOON
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JEONJU International Film Festival has introduced alternative trends of contemporary cinema and posed various discussions. Last year, it diverged from its traditional film screening style through exhibitions and VR cinema programs and attempted to expand films as a media art. Celebrating its 21st anniversary, JEONJU IFF prepared “Special Focus | KBS Collection: Audience Engagement” on questions about the roles and solutions that a film festival can present in this rapidly changing media platform era. Rather than focusing on the act of watching films, we would like to find clues through a community experience where strangers watch films together in one space and the directors and producers have deep conversations about the social, political, and cultural implications of their work.
Documentary Insight - KBS Archive Project Modern Korea was introduced on TV with 6 episodes from the second half of 2019 until the first half of 2020. This documentary series, which went beyond the conventional TV documentary, reconstructed important issues of Korean society into various layers using the extensive archived videos kept by KBS since its foundation. This documentary series brings lightness to the possibly somber mood by the historical weight of each episode with satirical images and brilliant composition. As it releases footages before and after transmission, scenes not shown unless it was a blooper, and disclosing entire footages which were deleted for being insignificant, it constantly reminds the audience of the relationship between microhistory and macrohistory. The narrative is constructed by rearranging the past and present of the featuring characters, connecting time, and combining images of various genres such as drama, entertainment, and news. Above all, the attempt of reasoning to face the meaning of the emotions we experience after this time, simply proves the delicacy and boldness of this series. The style of each episode created by the daring typography of designer KIMM Kijo and the retro music by DJ Soulscape is another attraction to look for.
After the screening of individual programs, there will be a meet-and-greet session with the Modern Korea series production team who will discuss the documentary preparation process and experience. As a concrete effort to see the true nature of Korean society, we attempt to provide opportunities for the audiences and production teams to meet face-to-face and have in-depth discussions about the conditions of our society.
Programmer Sung MOON
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