ACF Asian Cinema Fund

Asian Network of Documentary(AND) Fund

2011

2011 Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund

LIST The Reason Why I Step
Category ACP Fund
Project The Reason Why I Step
Director KIM Cheolmin
Country Korea
Director's Profile Graduating from the university in 2002, Kim Cheolmin came to Seoul dreaming about changing the world through images and still works for progressive media group, Chungchun. Kim took his camera to rallies and demonstrations for ten years, capturing film and images of labor, democracy, human rights and reunification. Among his previous works, four short documentaries have been broadcast on KBS Open Channel. His feature length documentary [The Reason Why I Step] has been 3 years in the making, and deals with an artist struggling to make a living.
Synopsis
Ten years ago, I met Back-ja, who wanted to change the world with songs. He was a singer in a protest song group, Our Country. He wrote a number of songs that touched demonstrators at many protest sites for ten years. But now he is in trouble. Society didn’t change, and there’s no place for protest songs anymore. With income of less than 400 dollars each month, he has become a victim of circumstance, and this makes me anxious and sad.
He is trying to overcome his hardships through writing. He continues writing songs with all his heart and still searches for places to perform. Back-ja never stops singing.
Director's Note
[The Reason Why I Step] is about an artist who dreamed of art that could touch people and change the world. This film shows us how he overcame real difficulties, resolved his inner artistic conflicts and stuck to his original dream. Isn’t art that can change the world capable of changing who we are and where we came from? It may be impossible to have a clear answer to life and to art but I don’t want to stop asking the question.
Festivals
2011 Busan International Film Festival - Wide Angle_Documentary Competition
2012 Jecheon International Music & Film Festival
Still Cut
LIST