Interview with YOUNG MAN KANG
When did you start filmaking?
I was born and raised up in Chung Cheung Province in the countryside, far away from city in South Korea.
I was studying under the candle light instead of using electricity until I went to the mid-high school, I watched my first movie at the theater when I was at the 3 rd grade in the high school. “Movie” was an unknown world to me. It was a new land to conquer.
When I was a junior, at Hong-Ik University in Seoul, I have choosen a rough road in my life…a road to the filmmaking world.
I was very focusing and I had a lot of passion for what I'd like to do so I decided to go to Hollywood. After graduating from the University, I came to the US in 1994.
I studied filmmaking at The New School in New York City. In addition to preparing myself for the filmmaking world, I worked as a TV commercial director and a storyboard artist after I moved to Los Angeles in 1996.
My feature debut, “Cupid's Mistake,” was allegedly made with an invisible budget of US $980(Guinness World Record) and had a theatrical release in Los Angeles and New York City.
What was the inspiration for producing movies?
My art background is what brought me into filmmaking. I had been drawing a lot of pictures and put my own story into the comic book since I was five years old.
When I was a junior high, I used to draw the comic book during the class instead of studying. One day my teacher took away the comic book from me, I thought it was the end of the world. Next day the teacher called me, I went to the teacher's office. I was shocked that all teachers were passing around my comic book as enjoy reading it. The teacher smiled at me, “You're going to be a great artist”
I was studying hard in the high school and finally got into the best Art School, Hong-ik University in Korea in 1986. I studied visual design, conceptual design, story boarding, creative idea development, animation, TV commercials and film at that school.
The moment that inspired me about moviemaking happened in the third year at the University. I'd watched a lot of films from America, Europe and all over the world. These filmmakers have such a profound impact on their audience. I thought I could create a different world through filmmaking where anything is possible and where I can share entire worlds of experience with my audience.
'Haitian Slave Children' received the 'Best Effort Documentary' and took the Silver Remi Award.
What is the message behind this documentary?
“Let's go Haiti!” I thought I was going to Tahiti to shoot a documentary.
But I was feeling to die, i was so much scared, when I arrived at the airport in Port-Au-Prince. I had to hide a Cannon XL-1 camera in the shopping bag because they do not allow to shoot them without their permission. Of cause they don't want to be exposed their corrupt government and poverty into the world.
I've never forgotten the face of the slave children chasing after the film crew van to beg coins. They were on bare feet and were wearing dirty rags. They're either homeless or slave children, I couldn't imagine that there are 300,000 children abandoned like that. What a crude land!
When I was interviewing amputated children, I couldn't look at their scar. How bad are people to treat innocent children in that way
Whenever I was shooting on the street, I had to hide the camera inside the bag. I made a hole in the bag for the camera lens. Danger is everywhere.
The funny thing was that I noticed I'm the only Asian guy in this island during 4days shooting at Haiti.
I shot 100% in Haiti was a challenge in my approach toward a heavily humanist subject about Haitian slave children, for which I got a Best Documentary Award at the 2001 Jamerican International Film Festival and a Silver Award at the 2002 Worldfest in Houston.
I felt that's our filmmaker's mission to expose those hidden subject into the world through media.
“The Last Eve” has won the "Best Action Feature Film Award" at the 2005 New York International Independent Film and Video Festival.
Talk us about this movie!
A martial arts champion, Bruce Khan, who used to work with Jackie Chan & Sammo Hung, suggested to me.
“Let's go to Death Valley to shoot for action demo!” That was the start to make The Last Eve.
To shoot action sequence in the desert was not that easy at all in the early summer in Death Valley. We didn't even want to know how much degree are over there?
The footage turned out to look great and we decided to make a longer version, which became a 20 minutes short film. That's the first part “Eve's Secret” of The Last Eve.
Then Bruce moved to South Korea and met a martial arts choreographer Eung Jun Lee, who had worked on an action film called “Volcano High”, which was big hit in Asia and sold to MTV.
Muay Thai master Panuvat Anthony Nanakornpanom and me went to Korea to make the second part 40 minutes “Cain & Abel” with them. We built up the underground fighting cage and we were shooting the action sequence for 2 weeks. It became the best part of The Last Eve.
I came back to Los Angeles to make the third part “Snake's Temptation”, which is 30 minutes drama.
"The Last Eve" is an epic film consists of three different short films using Adam and Eve from the Bible as motifs. The story of Eve is shown from front to back. We start in the future and ride all the way back to the loss of all innocence. Our journey through time shows us three contrasting tales (Cain & Abel, Snake's Temptation, Eve's Secret) which in their own unique way reveal the dark tragedies at the heart of all romance.
“The Last Eve” won the Best Action Feature Film at the 2005 New York Independent Film Festival, and Best Cinematography Award at the 2006 B Movie Film Festival.
Upcoming film festival is in 2006 Another Hole in the Head Film Festival in San Francisco in June.
'Soap Girl' was rated one of the '10 BEST UNSEEN FILMS OF 2002'.
Where people can be informed about your movie releases?
The story is basically a farce about hijacks at a massage parlor involving geeky male virgins, gangsters and immigrants.
The main theme of the story is Maya's evolution from an abused girlfriend to an empowered, more mature the woman, in control of her love life and her destiny.
I believe that an Asian girl can actually be a protagonist in her life and she can have adventures that inspires other people to become survivors as well.
Love and intimacy can heal the scars that accumulate in people's lives. Maya is scarred by her former boyfriend. Why does she end up working at a massage parlor? Revenge? Jealousy? A desire to become another person? That question is left to the viewer. Why does she fall in love with Harry? Perhaps for many reasons, perhaps for none at all. Love knows no logic or rationale.
Now Soap Girl DVD are available at online stores everywhere, Blockbuster, Barn & Noble, Netflix, Amazon, Yahoo shopping etc.
Can you involve us into your upcoming projects? What is your future expectations in the film industry?
My next film will be a comic martial art film “Kimchi Warrior”, an Asian Super Hero, the tale of a man who tries to defend his family tradition against Japanese and Chinese schemes to steal the secret of making Kimchi.
While I like a film to be composed of stunning sounds and pictures, I am still basically a humanist. I like to see characters put to test. In any genre of films a wide variety of interesting people can be hurled together in a way to test their spirit. Now the film becomes not just a story but an experience to live on a variety of levels.
More info: http://www.youngmankang.com
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