PRESS CONFERENCE
Hong Sang-Soo - NEW HORIZONS
This year in the framework of the 43rd International Thessaloniki Film Festival, New Horizons presents the work of one of the most innovative modern cinematographers, Korean director Hong San-Soo. In his speech, the Director of New Horizons, Dimitri Eipidis, characterized him as the representative of the most radical movement in modern Korean cinema, "a cinema that comprehends the rest of the world and is respected and admired for its supply of new creative talent such as Hong San-Soo".
The director claimed that his pursuit of cinema was entirely coincidental: "As a child I never dreamt of becoming a director. At 20 years old I met someone with a proposal. We worked together, I enjoyed it and so I continued".

"I like simple films"
"As far as aesthetics and expression are concerned, I prefer my films to be as simple as possible. I've always preferred simple works in literature as well as in cinema which explains my initial inclination towards simplicity", said the director and added, "I consider my films' form and content as interdependent elements. You simply can't discriminate between them. Discrimination is only theoretical because when the audience attempts to comprehend the film in its entirety, they generalize and pay greater attention to the film's content. When a film of mine is well received by the audience I don't attribute this only to its content, but its form as well, which makes the content comprehensible. If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose form".

"Life inspires me"
Hong San-Soo spoke about the way he works saying that he tries to live his life fully and be inspired by his experiences. "I begin with a random incident. I then process the material and try to decide on the form that should represent it. The most important initiative I have to make films is my curiosity. I like to see what happens when I put particular material together with a particular form, their combination and the audience's reaction to it".
In further detail, Hong San-Soo went on to explain that his scripts are usually 22-30 pages long with a basic plot and minimal dialogues: "Every day I begin work by sitting in front of a computer and writing down the scenes to be filmed that day. I then give the actors the dialogues, I describe the action and begin filming".

"Cinema promotes globalization"
The Korean director declared himself against globalization stating the importance of the size of the community a person lives in. "Cinema could provide solutions to problems of globalization. For the time being, though, it promotes it. For example, many Hollywood films are shown in many countries. In contrast, I think that each country should be able to express its own questions and anxieties in its own way. Unfortunately, though, mostly Hollywood films are shown and therefore this limits the other director's chance of using the medium".

"Korea is one of the few countries whose production is primarily drawn from Korean directors. We have a system of percentages of films being shown in which 50% of the films that are distributed must be of Korean origin. Therefore, we're struggling against the will of the United States who wish to call off this system".

When asked if he would be able to work in another country Hong San-Soo said: "In my films there are only a few elements that are described by Korean culture, such as the language. I'm also aware that part of the content is lost through translation. Therefore, it is the language itself that makes me hesitate to work in another country although I don't think it's impossible. I actually see it as a challenge and I might do it in the future".

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