It's easy to believe the concept of the 'independent film' has become obsolete, given that Hollywood studios have backed modestly budgeted productions via their subsidiaries for years. But just when the term might have has lost its currency, along comes a filmmaker whose endeavours illustrate the wonders of do-it-yourself artistry.
Kim Byung-woo has made three films, all inventive and all self-funded. His first, the five-minute Cry, was made on a shoestring, on digital video, and his feature debut, Anamorphic, made when he was a theatre and film student, cost him US$4,000. Written, his latest film, was shot on high-definition video and involved more people, but still cost only US$15,000.
'It's all my money,' says the 28-year-old (below). 'At certain points, I had to sell my things to make the films.' He says he's from 'a family which doesn't have that much money', and that he funded his projects through part-time jobs.
He's proud of never having 'sold out' to make ends meet. 'Some people I know made music videos and so on to survive, but I've never entertained the idea of doing that,' he says. 'I need to concentrate on making my films. I can't let all these other things distract my vision.'
And his films share a distinctive vision. His director's notes for Anamorphic at the Seoul Independent Film Festival in 2003 amounted to just one line: 'What I wanted to make is a weird film and it became so.'
And the film's a weird one, with the faintest hint of a story that has the main character searching for a way out after passing through gates and doors into a shadowy netherworld.