Amanda Kim is a Korean American director and producer. A former inventive director at Vice Media, she led U.S. video path for i-D, Creators, and Garage journal. Kim additionally labored on Viceland, Vice’s TV channel, as a inventive producer in an experimental incubator the place she directed a manufacturing crew to check out pilots and progressive content material codecs.
“Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV” is screening at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, which runs from January 19-29.
W&H: Describe the movie for us in your personal phrases.
AK: It’s a playful and emotional story about video artist Nam June Paik’s inventive and private odyssey.
Though he’s most famously often called the father of video artwork, the movie facilities round Nam June’s phrases following him on his journey from East to West and his discovery and want to make use of video/tv as a creative software. He skilled firsthand the methods by which know-how was used to amplify ideological division, splitting his nation and forcing him to go away his dwelling nation.
Through video artwork, he investigated the methods by which know-how may very well be used for higher communication and world connection somewhat than division. He created an digital Esperanto by means of his video artwork, a brand new option to talk with the world.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
AK: I used to be drawn to Nam June’s story due to my very own itinerant background as a Korean rising up in Japan after which transferring West. I associated to his nomadic life and multicultural id. He didn’t see the world in black or white phrases however as a hybrid and I actually gravitated towards that perspective. It’s inspiring and refreshing at a time when all the things appears to be categorized in binary phrases.
I used to be additionally interested by his work, which is stuffed with humor and leaves you with questions. I wished to study extra and found how layered his artwork was.
W&H: What would you like individuals to consider after they watch the movie?
AK: I hope individuals will really feel the must query and problem the world round us and the applied sciences which have turn out to be so ubiquitous. I hope individuals will really feel hopeful about the prospects that we’ve but to uncover.
I hope individuals will really feel the pleasure and humor Nam June introduced into the world by means of his presence and work. I hope individuals really feel the energy of artwork as a way of communication and investigation.
W&H; What was the greatest problem in making the movie?
AK: The greatest problem was convincing those that I might do it as a first-time function director after which ensuring I might inform the story I believed in whereas navigating a number of events that had various concepts of what they thought the story must be.
W&H: How did you get your movie funded? Share some insights into how you bought the movie made.
AK; This is my first function. I had by no means even directed a brief. So it was understandably fairly difficult to search out funding sources at first. But my good friend David Koh, who’s a producer on the movie and was Nam June’s assistant in his school years, inspired me to make a remedy and to start out recording my analysis interviews with Nam June’s contemporaries.
You don’t must be absolutely funded to make a documentary, so I began filming utilizing an iPhone and cameras I had entry to by means of good friend favors. Then I used to be accepted into the IDFA discussion board, the place you get to pitch your venture to a gaggle of worldwide co-producers and distributors.
I obtained cash from personal traders, grants, and Korean authorities funds by means of my Korean co-producer whom I met at IDFA. What was additionally a bonus was the topic intersected between artwork and movie, so I used to be in a position to search for funding choices in the artwork world as effectively.
W&H: What impressed you to turn out to be a filmmaker?
AK: I by no means thought I used to be going to be a filmmaker however I used to be at all times taken with storytelling by means of artwork. I labored in numerous inventive industries from music, trend, artwork, and media however couldn’t select one. I discovered myself at Vice the place they threw me into the deep finish of manufacturing after I had zero expertise, and it was a sink-or-swim scenario. Despite near-drowning experiences, I discovered that I actually loved telling tales by means of transferring pictures.
Filmmaking introduced collectively all the totally different inventive disciplines I loved. You must be a painter, composer, designer, author, and put on many different hats to make a movie.
W&H: What’s the greatest and worst recommendation you’ve obtained?
AK: Best recommendation: Trust your instincts however be open to something that comes up. An accident or mistake may develop into proper.
Worst recommendation: “This isn’t commercial enough.”
W&H: What recommendation do you have got for different girls administrators?
AK: Don’t let anybody inform you you could’t do it or that your movie isn’t “commercial” sufficient. Keep going!
W&H: Name your favourite woman-directed movie and why.
AK: “Morvern Callar” by Lynne Ramsay
I couldn’t cease serious about the movie weeks after watching it and it impressed me to start out writing.
No one is aware of how they’ll take care of grief till it occurs to them and “Morvern Callar” offers with that query in a really sudden means. Though the primary character makes a questionable determination, Samatha Morton and Lynne Ramsey, created a multi-faceted character and you continue to root for her — at the least I did.
I feel these are the strongest sorts of movies – when a personality surprises you. The movie is darkish, unusual, absurd, and transferring.
W&H: What, if any, duties do you assume storytellers must confront the tumult in the world, from the pandemic to the lack of abortion rights and systemic violence?
AK: I feel storytellers subconsciously or consciously are responding to the world, nonetheless refined or overt that messaging is of their work. I don’t assume it’s a duty a lot as an inevitability.
It’s onerous to make a movie, so the solely option to endure the lengthy and turbulent journey is when you really feel the story is necessary sufficient to inform. Even if it’s not a “confrontation,” it’s a response to the experiences of participating with the world round you.
W&H: The movie business has a protracted historical past of underrepresenting individuals of shade onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — unfavourable stereotypes. What actions do you assume must be taken to make Hollywood and/or the doc world extra inclusive?
AK: I feel it’s necessary for the business to present extra space to underrepresented individuals in a considerate and fluid means. Shifting casting/hiring practices are necessary. I wish to see extra Asian faces behind and on display screen, however I feel sure methods of promoting movies as “Asian films” can create unfavourable reinforcement and emphasize the “difference” additional. I perceive this is perhaps an important first step in course correcting however generally I feel we’ve gone too far.
That being stated, I feel it’s actually constructive to have extra of those conversations and it’s necessary to have the ability to discover position fashions or be position fashions in these communities.
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