Jae-eun Jeong (1969)
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| Name | Jae-eun Jeong |
| Birthdate | January 1, 1969 |
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[edit] Bio
Jae-eun Jeong (Seoul, 1969) studied film at the Korean National University of Arts. Before Take Care of My Cat, she made several short films, including Yujin' Secret Codes which won the Grand Prix of the Women's Film Festival in Seoul, 1999. Ms. Jeong is now working on her second feature film, entitled TAEPOONG TAEYANG.
[edit] Interview
Interview with Jae-eun Jeong (Kino, October, 2001)
Q: A captivating aspect of the film is the solid presence of Inchon as a place, both as a backdrop of the film and the way it connects to the characters. The film richly portrays the implicated meanings of Inchon, the port city that was one of the first to open its doors to foreign culture and is declining now.
A: What do I reveal about the city? When I shoot the city of Inchon, what method do I use and what story do I tell through it? Then is it parallel to the way I am developing the characters? These were the thoughts that often crossed my mind regarding Inchon. First, Inchon is on the outskirts of Seoul, the capital city. I felt that this matched my characters who are also outsiders. Second, compared to Jeollado and Kyungsangdo, provinces with native settlers, Inchon, an old open port, is a city with many immigrants who came during the war or in the 70s during industrialization. It is a city full of wanderers. Therefore, I was attracted to the fact that the city has less regional color.
Q: In the film, the girls are mostly walking or taking the bus or roaming on the streets. And the places the girls go to - the Inchon Airport, Inchon Harbor, subway stations, etc. - are all places of motion. These things continuously bring one word to mind. It is 'nomad.'
A: It was the word that I thought most of while I was filming. I wanted my characters to be girls who possessed nothing permanent and therefore were able to leave. Their relationships change and the girls continue to walk. I believe that if something is not moving, the energy weakens and it needs to be filled with things that are moving. I intentionally wrote the screenplay in accordance to the space.
Q: In a way, these girls are all leaving. Hae joo leaves Inchon for Seoul, making a new home for herself there. Taehee tries to leave home and Jiyoung has nowhere to go. Biryu and Ohnjo have a Chinese mother so their nationalities are ambiguous. Where did you come up with such characters?
A: If the main idea is 'nomad' then Taehee is a child who has a home but her heart is not there; Haejoo wants to live in the middle of a cosmopolitan so she lives life as a city nomad; Biryu and Ohnjo always exist as still objects on the street so they place no meaning at home; and Jiyoung is under the pressure of the home but becomes free. The characters were set up in this manner so this is a very configured film. (smiles)
Q: Why a cat?
A: First of all, I personally like cats. Also, it is because cats are neglected over dogs. I believe that Korea is a dog-oriented society. (laughs) I think that cats are a bit taboo. In that way, I thought it would be good to connect cats to 20-year-old girls. I had hoped for the girls to be like cats - flexible, independent, complex, to have the tendency to leave if they are not happy with their owner. However, I do not like humanizing certain aspects of animals as it is often the case in nature documentaries. I dislike stories and tales about dogs such as the dog who finds his way home after being sold to a new owner.
Q: In many parts of the film, text plays a part in the images. The text messages and Joosang's poems present a new aesthetic beyond just captions.
A: From the beginning, I wanted a lot of text on screen. Personally, I like words very much. When people think of images, they usually think of pictures. But I think that words are images, too. When beepers were commonly used in the past, I would feel as if a mixture of numbers were floating in the air, going from person to person in the city. In recent years, text messages are in use a lot. Say there's a large globe. I keep picturing words flying here and there and words floating around as they meet and part. To me, words are the most abstract 'images.'
[edit] Director
- The Aggressives Taepungtaeyang (2005)
- If You Were Me Yeoseot gae ui siseon (2003)
- Take Care of My Cat Goyangileul butaghae (2001)
[edit] Writer
- The Aggressives Taepungtaeyang (2005)
- If You Were Me Yeoseot gae ui siseon (2003)
- Take Care of My Cat Goyangileul butaghae (2001)
