The short film of Joonyoung Kim, student of our Film and Media Studies BA program, was selected for the UGIFF film festival in Korea. 

UGIFF (in English, University Student Short Film Festival) is part of the non-competitive film festival Gangneung International Film Festival (GIFF) dedicated to showcase works of university students. 

Joonyoung Kim was both director, screenplay writer, cinematographer and editor of the short film <People Like You>, which also starred famous Hungarian singer and songwriter Torres Dani. 

Being selected for UGIFF was not the first recognition of Joonyoung’s work. The short film also made it to the semi-finals of BIFF, the swedish Boden International Film Festival in June 2021. 

 People Like You 

Please introduce yourself: how would you describe yourself, what are your main interests? 

I’m from South Korea, and I study filmmaking at METU. Besides my studies, I also work as a videographer and photographer in Budapest.  I’m interested in all the kinds of different art forms that can be creative outlets. This is why I chose Film and Media Studies as my major - it has everything in it. 

I always had many thoughts coming and going in my head, and I was never really good at putting these into words. However, I know that if I don’t let them out, I just end up feeling tired, unmotivated, and stressed out. Filmmaking helps me to express these thoughts more freely. 

What inspired your short film? What is the main message of the film? 

The project was initiated as a part of one of my courses. It was a semester-long film project, during which all the students had to make one short film each.  After the assignment was given to us, I decided to make a film using the resources I can get from this particular city. I wanted to find local actors to work with, and I wanted to get an idea from the city which the actors and I can both easily understand. 

I started walking around the city, hoping that a good idea will come to me. I started to observe the people on the streets. Someone was sleeping on the side of the alley, and someone was hopping inside his Mercedes. It’s easy to see the contrast and to judge these people based on their looks. But most of the time, the stories they have are much more complicated than that. So, I ended up writing a story of a desperate homeless guy complaining about his life, in the end coming to the realization that he has something valuable in his life too. 

I wasn’t exactly intending to lecture the audience to think positively about their life. I simply wanted to show that even though we sometimes suffer with the problems we have, in the end, what matters is the realization that the world is kind of a funny place. 

What does it feel like to have your work selected for the GIFF festival, and becoming a semi-finalist at the Swedish Boden International Film Festival? 

It’s really exciting, especially as the project had a few things I have never tried before. The whole project was like an experiment. Instead of controlling every single thing, I tried to focus on explaining the characters to the actors and let them interpret these. The film was made in Hungarian, which is a language I don’t speak. As the film was made in one long take, there was nothing much I could control once the camera started to roll. I felt like I was sitting in a theater while recording it. 

As it ended up being selected to other foreign film festivals, I feel like the experiment was a big success. 

As a student of our Film and Media BA program, how do you think METU helped you in your creative process and achievements? 

What I like about the classes is that they are not too strict with the theory and the rules, but they respect the original ideas of the students. The professors share their honest ideas with us. They encourage us to fail, learn and then try again.  My classmates from METU are also always very helpful, sharing good feedback and always ready to help each other’s projects.   

 

Would you like to follow in the footsteps of Joonyoung? Click here to find out more about our Film and Media Studies BA program! 

2021. 11. 16.