[INTERVIEW] European filmmaker duo draws inspiration from Busan

French-Turkish filmmaker duo Guillaume Giovanetti, left, and Cagla Zencirci / Courtesy of Embassy of France in Korea

Busan, Korea’s second-largest metropolis, is rapidly changing into a vibrant hub for worldwide inventive alternate, because of its charming port metropolis ambiance and robust world networks, highlighted by the long-established Busan Worldwide Movie Competition (BIFF).

The most recent addition to this cultural panorama is Villa Busan, a collaborative initiative between the southern port metropolis, Cannes, and the Embassy of France in Korea. Opened final 12 months, this residency program supplies artists with a singular artistic house to encourage and develop their work.

Villa Busan welcomed its first resident artists, French-Turkish filmmaking duo Guillaume Giovanetti and Cagla Zencirci, who introduced their distinctive filmmaking perspective to town from October to November 2024.

The pair shared that town’s assist for cultural occasions comparable to BIFF and their appreciation for Korean tradition made Busan the best place to encourage and develop their venture.

“Actually, our involvement with the Villa Busan venture predates its creation,” they instructed The Korea Occasions in a latest e mail interview. “For the previous 10 years, we’ve wished it had existed as a result of town of Busan holds a particular place in our hearts.”

They recounted their preliminary invitation to the movie competition in 2010 and the BIFF’s continued assist of their work.

“BIFF’s curiosity in our work, our rising love for Korean tradition and the prospect conferences we had in Busan impressed us to develop a venture in South Korea,” they mentioned. “Nonetheless, in addition they acknowledged the necessity for a supportive framework, stating, “An artist residency that permits us to expertise life and work in Busan was the proper steppingstone to maneuver issues ahead.”

The residency program, based mostly in Busan’s Hong-Ti Artwork Heart, goals to foster inventive collaboration between Korea and France. Initiated by the Embassy of France in Korea, the venture is the primary of its form within the nation and is predicted to observe within the footsteps of Villa Kujoyama, an identical French residency established in Kyoto, Japan, in 1992.

For this venture, Busan supplies studios and lodging throughout the artwork middle and helps exhibitions of the artists’ works. The French embassy in Korea additionally funds round-trip airfare for the artists and supplies Korean-French bilingual coordinators, whereas Cannes contributes 6,000 euros ($6,185) in dwelling bills.

Having beforehand been residents at Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto in 2010, the filmmakers drew comparisons between the 2 residencies.

“Each residencies give attention to dwelling and dealing in a rustic that conjures up you,” they mentioned. “At Villa Busan, we skilled the residency whereas sharing each day life with native artists, which we completely loved.”

Video set up artworks “Ghost & Discovered” by Villa Busan resident artists Guillaume Giovanetti and Cagla Zencirci are displayed at Hong-Ti Artwork Heart in Busan, November 2024. Courtesy of Embassy of France in Korea

Bridging movie, set up artwork

Throughout their residency at Villa Busan, Giovanetti and Zencirci discovered a powerful connection to the artwork middle’s give attention to set up artwork, regardless of their background primarily in movie. They shared that their over 20 years of filmmaking expertise and collaborations with artists from numerous fields led them to a key realization.

“Regardless of the variations in end result, the processes are fairly related. They contain an unconventional imaginative and prescient of life, the start of an concept, in-depth analysis which will take years to yield outcomes and an extended and difficult journey to discover a strategy to specific emotions and ideas in order that they will in the end be seen or heard by others,” the duo mentioned.

Moreover, they described „deep immersion“ as their method to the residency, noting that this immersion in the end impressed them to create the video set up “Ghost & Discovered.”

“At Villa Busan, we did what we all the time do: we immersed ourselves in Korean each day life, lived and labored just like the locals, had likelihood conferences, listened to their tales and nourished ourselves and our venture,” they mentioned.

“We lastly got here up with our video set up ‚Ghost & Discovered,‘ which is a stepping stone for the function movie with the identical title and coping with the identical topic that we wish to shoot in 2025 or 2026 in South Korea.”

Giovanetti and Zencirci, who’ve directed 10 movies since 2002, together with “Noor” (2012), “Ningen” (2013) and “Sibel” (2018), additionally emphasised the significance of likelihood encounters of their work.

“We all the time check with ‘Go En,’ the Japanese phrase for likelihood encounters, after we are requested to speak about ourselves. We met by pure coincidence and we each consider that likelihood conferences usually are not confined to the realm of the strange; they transcend time and house, and particularly logic and motive,” they mentioned. “Collectively, we are attempting to seize this ephemeral magnificence and make it tangible by reworking likelihood conferences into artwork.”

Video set up artworks “Ghost & Discovered” by Villa Busan resident artists Guillaume Giovanetti and Cagla Zencirci are displayed at Hong-Ti Artwork Heart in Busan, November 2024. Courtesy of Embassy of France in Korea

The duo shared their impressions of Busan as a cinematic metropolis, praising its thriving impartial movie scene and, most notably, its passionate cinema viewers.

“’Busan=Cinema‘ is the motto of town and it’s effectively deserved. The town has cultivated a wonderfully cinephile viewers,” they noticed, highlighting the energetic engagement of younger audiences particularly.

As Villa Busan grows, it guarantees to deepen inventive ties between Korea and France and Giovanetti and Zencirci expressed gratitude for this system’s assist, positioning Busan as a metropolis that celebrates cultural collaboration.

“A deep understanding of what an artist’s work represents, each within the quick and long run, is among the most treasured types of assist that may be supplied,” they mentioned.

They emphasised the significance of offering artists with “each the bodily and the psychological house crucial to remodel their creativeness into artwork,” including, “We will confidently say that each Busan and Cannes acknowledge these truths and use their sources to assist and assist artists.”