내부순환선 연장상영 3/7~3/13 @ 필름포럼

필름포럼 위치? -> http://www.filmforum.co.kr/
영화상영시간표 및 예매? -> http://www.maxmovie.com/

2006 ~ 2008 내부순환선

바로 아래 전주영화제 상영이후, 2년간... <내부순환선>은 무얼했을까요? 영화는 9개 영화제를 더 돌았고, 감독은 2년이란 세월만큼 나이를 더 먹었습니다.

영화는 혼자 잘 돌아다녔는데... 이 국적불명의 웹싸이트는 영/한 두 언어로 업데이트가 하루 이틀 미뤄지더니... 급기야 2년에 가깝도록 영어하는 사람도 한글하는 사람도 도통 들어와볼 엄두가 나지않는 파리날리는 싸이트가 되고야말았습니다... 2008년 2월 22일 영화가 개봉되기까지...

이 공식 웹에 먼지를 털어내고 업데이트를 시작한건 개봉 때문입니다. 그것도 부지런을 떨어 한글 버전을 재빠르게 업뎃했어야하나... 방대한 작업양으로 인하여 DVD가 출시될때에쯤 전체적인 업그레이드가 '제대로' 되지않을까...하는 생각입니다.. ^^;

2월 22일부터 3월 6일까지 인디스페이스 상영 무사히 마쳤습니다. 아.. 이제 <내부순환선> 개봉도 끝냈으니 따사로운 봄이 오겠구나... 하며 오늘 아침 눈을 떴는데, 필름포럼 연장상영에 들어간다는 소식을 접했습니다. 정말 기뻤습니다...

그간 여러분이 보여주신 성원과 관심으로 3월 7일부터 13일까지 계속되는 내부순환선 2차 상영... 참 부족한 영화 그래도 작으나마 관객분들께서 꾸준히 찾아 주셔서 성사된 일이라 생각하고 깊이 감사드립니다. 조금이나마 이 영화가 여러분 삶에 치유와 활력의 힘이 되어드릴 수 있었기를 그리고 될 수 있기를 간절히 소망합니다.

<내부순환선>이 걸어온 지난 2년의 세월이 궁금하시다면, 감독의 개인 싸이블로그 나 내부순환선 Myspace 페이지 방문해 주세요 ^^

친구들이 선물한 케잌으로 개봉자축과 감사를 대신합니다. ^^

한국 복귀 그리고 뉴욕 프리미어

서울에 돌아온지 12주가 되어간다. 3개월...짧지도 길지도 않은 시간.
그 동안 지친 몸과 마음을 먹이고 재우느라 한 달여의 시간을 보냈고, 전주영화제에 참석 유쾌하고 즐거운 만남으로 좋은 추억을 만들었고, 영화제 이후 허탈해진 기분으로 새 작품을 구상중인데...

영화를 만들고 완성되어지길 기다리는 과정은 길었으나 완성의 기쁨을 즐기고 누리는 시간은 짧더이다. 완성과 동시에 마음이 허해지니 좋게보면 계속 영화만들 팔자요 나쁘게 보면 강박증이라... 만드는게 자유인지 만들고 나서가 자유인지... 마음이 홀가분 할 새가 없다. 이 작품만 끝내면 사람답게 살아볼까 했는데... 다시 책상머리에 앉아 머리를 쥐어뜯고 있는 내 모습이 기이하기만하다.

감독은 감독대로 새 작품 구상할 동안 영화는 저 나름의 생명을 얻어 돌아다니니 기특하다. 상영되는 도시가 하나, 둘 늘어갈 때마다 내 영화가 속삭이는 고백을 듣고 같이 속삭여주실 분 많이 만났으면...

다음은 뉴욕. www.aaiff.org

ICL Goes "Home"

5.2.06 Greetings from Jeonju! ICL finally had its premiere last night in Korea, the country where it was shot. Eunhee and I were joined by castmembers Yongkun Bae, Yumi Jung and Soyun Jang, and Youngmin Choi (our DP) and Jung-sik Park (our AC). I wish I could tell you all what happened in the Q&A, but I don't speak Korean! So, all I could do was just smile and nod, pretty much. Thanks also to Eunhee's family, who were in attendance and gave us great support.

The experience here at the Jeonju International Film Festival has been great - the volunteers are mostly college kids who are so spirited and cute, with organized cheers and everything. Also, the audiences have been great - Eunhee and the cast got quite a few autograph requests! I'm planning to see a lot of films by other filmmakers in the coming days...

After the premiere, the ICL gang went out for drinks and food. It was great for me to get to know the actors and camera dept guys, who I had not met before since I had not yet joined the project at the time of the shoot. It was great to actually get to know the people who felt like my friends already from watching ICL so much during the cutting and post-production of the film. And I'm glad to say, everyone welcomed me to the ICL family so warmly - it's made my experience of working on ICL that much more complete. Surprisingly, all of the actors' personalities are pretty different from their characters in the film. Just shows how good they are at acting!

5.5.06 We had a very successful second screening here. Yumi Jung came back for the second screening Q&A, and our 2nd AD, Bo-kyoung Lee also attended. Also, our friends Steven Nam and Eunjin Bang, producer and director of "Princess Aurora", came to support us, and we all got food together after. All in all, it's been a very fun week. We made some great new friends here and saw great films, spent the evenings having drinks with other filmmakers and getting to know them, and one of those nights we stayed up with some of the festival staff and some of our crew, and partied until morning. I gotta hand it to them, Koreans really know how to party. The camaraderie is great, and I've really come to admire so many aspects of Korean culture. The closing awards ceremony was quite an elaborate affair - we got to walk the red carpet and watch the fans go crazy over movie stars in attendance.

5.8.06 I had such a great time in Seoul this last weekend. We went to great restaurants, saw Soyun perform in a play called "New Boeing Boeing", went clubbing, hit a wine bar, etc. Thanks to E, Jang-wook and Soyun for hanging with me all night before my flight! It's been an amazing few weeks. I'm really gonna miss my friends here but I've had such an unforgettable time, so I'm sure I'll be back!

감독의 첫 인사 First greeting from Director

미국 프로듀서가 되어 지난 10월 부터 동고동락을 같이한 앨런이 자꾸만 블로그를 쓰라고 보챕니다. 자기만 올리면 사람들이 재미없어한다나...그 닥달에 못이겨 감독판 첫 블로그를 작성하게 되었습니다. 안녕하세요? <내부순환선> 감독 조은희입니다. ^^

자, 무슨 말부터 할까요?
아 래 블로그를 보시면 아시겠지만 <내부순환선>은 지난 2월 "로테르담 영화제"에서 월드프리미어 상영을 갖는 큰 행운을 얻었습니다. 그에이어, 북미 프리미어 상영이 된 미국 내 큰 영화제 중 하나인 "사우스 바이 사우스웨스트 영화제" 까지 2006년 초는 <내부순환선> 에 있어 즐겁고 바쁜 시간이 되고 있습니다.

이번 영화제에서는 참 감사한 일이 많았습니다. 영화제 내에서 매우 드문 외국어 영화인 <내부순환선>을 장편 경쟁부문에 뽑아주신 일도 감사한데 "심사위원 특별상"이라는 큰 상까지 안겨 주셔서 너무나 기뻤습니다. 솔직히 저는 거의 일 년 가까이 진행된 영화 후반작업으로 지칠대로 지쳐 있었습니다. 솔직히 말씀드리면 영화제에 가는 것 조차 성가시게 느껴질 만큼 지쳐있었습니다. 심지어 영화만드는 일을 당분간 그만 두고 돈을 많이 벌고 싶다는 생각으로 가득차 있을 만큼 지쳐있었습니다. 그러나 이 은혜로운 사건은 마치 제게 깜짝선물로 용기를 북돋아 주시려는 계획처럼 저의 지치고 오그라든 마음을 단방에 녹여주었습니다. 그리고 다시 고민하기 시작했습니다. 그래...조금만 쉬고 다음 시나리오는... 언제 부터 쓰면 좋울까...그래서 그 첼리스트를 10대 소년으로 바꾸는 건 어때? (다음 시나리오는 첼리스트에 관한 이야기가 될 가능성이 큽니다 ^^)

이 불쌍한 독립영화감독을 알아봐주시고 깜짝 선물을 주신 영화제 측에 깊이 머리숙여 감사드립니다. 사실 수상 소감이 끝나고 넙죽 90도로 인사를 하고 말았습니다. 그게 미국식은 아니지만 저절로 숙여지는 머리를 굳이 막을 필요가 있겠습니까.

그러나 <내부순환선>은 아직 갈 길이 멉니다. 이 영화의 고향, 한국에서의 상영이 기다리고 있기 때문입니다. 아시아 관객들, 특히 한국관객의 반응은 어떨지 두렵고 긴장됩니다. <내부순환선>은 한국 남부의 도시 전주에서 열리는 "전주국제영화제", 한국영화의 흐름 부문에서 상영을 갖습니다. 따사로운 봄이 한창일 4월 말에서 5월 초, 인사드리겠습니다. 다만 염려되는 것은 보기만 해도 추운 겨울이 배경인 그리고 대부분이 실내거나 밤인, 심각한 또한 별로 해피하지 않은 앤딩을 맞는 영화를 그 화창한 봄날에 보여드려 혹 누를 끼치진 않을까 하는... --;

사우스 바이 사우스 영화제에서 있었던 세세한 사항들은 아래 앨런의 재미있는 글을 통해 즐감하시길 바라며, 저의 첫 글은 이것으로 마치겠습니다. 아직은 겨울기운이 가시지 않은 3월 이 곳 시카고나 뉴욕, 서울 기타 세계 각지에 계신 여러분들 . 앨런이 올린 따사로운 텍사스 사진 보시고 최면거시기 바랍니다. ^^

My US Producer, Alan, who has shared the pleasure and pains of filmmaking with me since last October, has kept asking me to write a blog. He said people would be bored by the producer's blogging alone. So, I did this partly so that he will stop bugging me. Producers can be such a pain in the you-know-what sometimes! Just kidding. Mostly.

Hello! I'm the director of INNER CIRCLE LINE, Eunhee. ^^

Well, where to start?

As you can see from the rest of the blog, INNER CIRCLE LINE was fortunate enough to have world premiere screening at International Film Festival of Rotterdam last February. Another lucky thing was that one of the biggest film festivals in the US, SXSW (South by Southwest), gave us a chance to have our North American premiere. It has been a very busy and happy time for INNER CIRCLE LINE in early 2006.

We had many things to be grateful for at SXSW. I appreciated that the festival chose this as one of very few foreign films in the festival for the Narrative Feature Competition, plus, I was so happy that they gave me a meaningful award, Special Jury Prize. Honestly, I was so exhausted by the almost year-long process of post production that I even felt bothered by having to make this festival trip. I was even hoping for earning lots of money doing something other than filmmaking for a quite a while in my life after this project. But this graceful incident, like a great plan of encouragement with surprising present from Angel, immediately melted my tired heart. And I began rethinking ...well, let's take a rest for a little bit and then next script... when would it be a good time to start?...so how about changing the Cello player to teenaged boy? (It's highly possible that my next script will be about cellist ^^)

I bow with gratitude to SXSW which recognized this poor indie filmmaker and gave surprising present. Actually, I did happen to bow to the crowd after my speech. I know it's not American style but do I need to stop myself from this automatic expression of showing thanks?

But we still have a long way to go. This film's home, Korean premiere is waiting. I'm sort of scared and nervous about the Asian audience's, especially Korean audience's, reaction to the film. INNER CIRCLE LINE will be screened at Jeonju International Film Festival in the section called Korean Cinema on the Move. I hope to see you around late April, a peak time of Spring in the southern city of South Korea, Jeonju.

Please enjoy the detailed story of SXSW through following Alan's fun blog. I'm closing my short blog here. To the people like me here in Chicago, NY or Seoul, whatever areas over the world, still having Winter this March! Upon seeing some of the pictures from warm Texas, hope this helps you daydream. ^^ -Eunhee

SXSW: Next stop on the Inner Circle Line

3.11.06 Just arrived for SXSW today from LA, fresh from pickup shoots for my other movie Half-Life, which was exhilarating because of the excitement of production, hanging with my HL peeps and meeting a lot of cool new people, but I’m also sick and really fatigued. But it’s freaking 85 degrees here and the rental car was out of midsize cars so they gave me a Jeep Wrangler for the same price. Yee-haw! Woo-wee! Yippee-ki-yi… ok, nevermind. Sorry to my Texan friends Kat and Stacy, who must be cringing right now ;) Anyway, to celebrate our arrival in America's heartland, we did some truly American things: ate at a diner, and went right to Wal-Mart, where the aisles are bigger than Manhattan streets, and we bought everything from bathing suits for the hotel pool and hot tub, to a completely unreasonable number of tangerines, just because we could.

3.12.06 Had our first screening today, at the Alamo Drafthouse, which is this crazy awesome place that serves food and beer during the movie. The projection was a little dark, and the subtitles were cut off a little at the bottom, but we had a good appreciative crowd that asked a lot of really cool questions. Eunhee and I each got into the drafthouse part a little too much though, so we were a little tipsy by the time the Q & A rolled around, and the proof of it was that the first thing I blurted into the mic was something like “Hi, I’m Alan, and we’re drunk” ;) Chris and Quynh from the Americanese team stopped by to say hello, which was cool – I’m looking forward to seeing their film. And thanks to our co-producer Robert, my friends Annie and Michael, and all of Eunhee’s TX peeps who came out for drinks with us afterwards at the crazy bars on Sixth Street.

3.14.06 When I woke up this morning, I just had a good feeling about today, and sure enough, we had a great screening. Even though it was a daytime screening, we had a good full crowd, and most of all, they were hoppin’ – laughing at all the jokes, chuckling at the situational stuff – very lively, maybe because it was a younger student crowd? Afterwards we talked with a lot of aspiring filmmakers, a few festival programmers and acquisitions people, and some fellow filmmakers we’ve met, like Eric Byler, stopped by to chat too. Good stuff.

Then came the awards show at night, which I almost missed due to a mishap involving me, a missing rental car key, and an urgent need for a locksmith…but that’s another story. Not being one of the films that had Hollywood actors in our cast or a huge PR machine behind us, we pretty much expected to be spectators for this, but when they got to announcing the special jury prizes, something funny happened. The first special jury prize went to Americanese, and while they were giving their acceptance speech I looked up at the screen announcing the recipients, which read: “AMERICANese & Inner Circle Line!”. I turned to Eunhee and said, “Does that mean what I think it means?” We just stared at each other for a second, then I said, “I think we’re about to win something.” We were kind of in shock, so we did the only thing befitting ultracool indie filmmakers – we panicked. E was like, “You have to come down with me – I don’t know what to say.” I was like,”I don’t know what to say either!”. But sure enough, seconds later, they announced that ICL had won the Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Visual Achievement. Somehow we managed to say things that I think were mostly sensible, from what I can remember. I just recall E making a nice speech, and I think she got a little misty up there! She included a very heartfelt thanks to me, which meant so much to me, and I managed a few words thanking SXSW for being a fest that supports films that are truly indie, and to prove how indie E is, I mentioned how she cut ICL on an old G4 with a monitor that turns purple every 9 seconds until you slap it – which by the way, is utterly true. Afterwards, they whisked us into the wings, where we exchanged hugs and handshakes with the “Americanese” peeps. After a few seconds, it really sunk in, and E and I had a nice big emotional hug. Suddenly, all the all-nighters and blood, sweat and tears of filmmaking seem so worth it. I’m so proud of E! Wow. K, enough mushiness, time to party our asses off at the Closing Party!

3.17.06 Today was our last day at SXSW. We’ve been watching as many movies as we can. I've gotten to see "Bondage" (funny) and "The Last Romantic" (love the look) and "Neil Young - Heart of Gold", as well as a cool film called "Apart From That". Last night was our last screening, and the playback on the HDCam deck was glitchy, but it’s all good because we got to hang with our pals Kat, Stacy and Lorie from “jumping off bridges”, Ari K from “For Sale by Owner”, and Robert Z from “Half-Life”. Maybe the best part about winning the award was that lots of people knew us afterwards, and approached us to say congrats - we got to meet so many great fans and so many terrific filmmakers – I’m so excited to see their future work! Some of them are pictured here – please support them all. I'm sad to leave Austin - almost bought myself a real 10-gallon cowboy hat, but I decided it might be a little too Brokeback for a straight guy living in Chelsea. Next stop, Korea! -Alan














Pictured, top to bottom: us with Greta from "LOL"; Eunhee with Aaron Nee of "The Last Romantic"; me with Allison Sie of "AMERICANese"; us with Kat, Stacy and Ari; us on Sixth Street.

A successful premiere for Inner Circle Line!

Hello friends and welcome to our filmmakers' blog! On February 1, we successfully premiered ICL to a sold-out crowd of about 250 people at the Pathe Cinema at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. When we got to the theater to do a technical check with the projectionist and I saw how large the theater was, I was a little worried about how the heck we were gonna get that many butts in the seats, but then we were told that the show had sold out earlier in the day! Moderator Ralph McKay did a little intro and Eunhee made a pithy speech before the screening and did a great job of answering questions in the Q & A afterwards. The IFFR staff were kind enough to bring us flowers at the end to celebrate our world premiere. Check out the cheesy photos - with the bouquet in hand, I felt like waving to the crowd like an ice pageant contestant or something ;) Many thanks also to our friends Kit and Mi-Sun for helping us out and taking photos!

In all, we had 1 press screening and 4 packed screenings open to the public. The Dutch audiences were great- very attentive, a little on the quiet side, but audible laughter and sniffles could be heard throughout the theaters, thankfully at the appropriate times! We had good Q&A sessions and lots of enthusiastic one-on-one questions afterwards too, and we were told by many that ICL was one of the best films they had seen at the festival, which was nice. Eunhee was also honored to have famed Korean director Chang-Dong Lee attend one of her screenings, as well as senior officials from the Pusan International Film Festival, and all offered nice compliments and camaraderie to her. She was pretty psyched to get such nice treatment from one of her idols!

Some other neat stuff - the Dutch magazine SAFE wrote an article about Korean films and ICL was prominently featured. At first, we couldn't read it, because it's in Dutch, and all we could tell was that Eunhee was mentioned in the same sentence as "Sofia Coppola" and "Lost in Translation". We figured it was probably good... and fortunately, we now have a full translation - check out our News and Reviews page on the website. Turns out they said, "Director Eunhee Cho's strong debut feature calls upon a sense of despair that strongly reminds us of Sofia Coppola's LOST IN TRANSLATION." Yay.

Next up for us is prep for our U.S. premiere at South By Southwest, where we're one of the 8 films picked to compete for the jury prize for Best Narrative Feature. We're looking forward to going to Austin, which we hear is a great indie-movie-lovin' party! Hope some of y'all can join us there! -Alan