26개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
The following interesting piece has been published in last Monday's(6.25) Hankyoreh newspaper:
Film depicting Yongsan Disaster finds large, nationwide audience
Unusual success of independence film demonstrates continued interest in the mysterious tragedy (*)
On Saturday at Indiespace, a privately-run independent film theater in Seoul’s Jongno district, all 110 seats in the auditorium were full. Even after the film finished and the director’s talk began, the audience members remained glued to their seats. People waiting for the next screening, which was also sold out, squeezed in behind the back row to listen. Other Seoul theaters screening the film at the same time, including Indieplus, Megabox, Coex and the Daehangno branch of CGV, were all sold out. Joint director Kim Il-ran told the audience, “Every day since the film opened has seemed like a miracle.”
Independent documentary “2 Doors” (Dir. Kim Il-ran, Hong Ji-yu), which depicts the Yongsan Disaster of January 20, 2009, is proving a hit, selling out in its first week.
The Yongsan Disaster occurred when residents of a Seoul neighborhood that had been bought up for redevelopment clashed with police and private security forces. The residents demanded additional compensation before vacating their properties and staged a sit-in protest when developers refused. Five evictees and one member of a police SWAT team lost their lives in a late-night clash during which a large fire broke out. The full details of the case have never been found out. 8 residents were sentenced to terms in prison.
After opening at only 16 theaters nationwide last June 21, the film had been watched by around 5,600 people by June 24. Seoul theaters screening it were sold out from the first day onward, placing 2 Doors at the top of the ranking for highest audience figures on the opening day in the independent and art film category.
“To be screened [25 times daily] at 16 theaters, and sell out and attract 5,000 viewers from the first week onwards, is extremely rare for an independent film,” said Kim Il-gwon, CEO of Sinemadal, the film‘s distributor. “This week, it seems it will set the record for the shortest time to pass the 10,000 audience mark for a film released on this scale.”
It is hard for independent films, which are screened at small numbers of theaters, to pass the 5,000 audience mark. Last year’s documentary “Miracle on Jongno Street” only passed the 5,000 audience mark in the fifth week of its release. “Bleak Night,” popular from the day of its release, drew 3,977 viewers in its first week. “Old Partner,” which was watched in theaters in 2009 by a total of 2.96 million people, drew only 7,020 viewers in its first week while being screened at around 30 theaters.
“2 Doors” has risen to sixth position in the Naver and Yes 24 box office rankings, which include both Korean and foreign commercial films. According to Indiespace, “A lot of people have turned up thinking they don’t need to book in advance because it’s an independent film, and had to leave.”
Many believe the reason the film has become so successful lies in the strength of its directing, which takes a calm and composed look back at the Yongsan Disaster. Using images taken at the time, legal statements from the police and opinions from lawyers representing evictees, 2 Doors reconstructs the terrible events of the day of the disaster.
Jeong Ji-yeong, a well-known Korean film director said, “Its unique production method approaches the truth of the matter in the manner of a fictional film, tracing the progress of the incident through testimonies made in court rather than interviews with the families of the deceased.”
Just as “Silenced” and “Unbowed,” two other films with strong social messages, proved popular, 2 Doors is bringing audiences into theaters due to a desire for justice and reflection upon what would otherwise have been forgotten. “It seems this film has touched upon people’s desire to change desperate [political and social] situations into energy of hope, and ignited something,” said 2 Doors co-director Kim Il-ran. 29-year-old Hwang Ji-hun, watching the film at Indiespace, said, “I felt sorry that the Yongsan Disaster was gradually being forgotten, then I heard that this film had come out so I came to see it with nine of my friends.” Many Twitter users and netizens are saying that the film has given the strength and courage to face the truth.
The 834 members of the film’s distribution committee, including director Byeon Yeong-ju, who provided the entire sum of approximately 30 million won (about US$25,800) for the film‘s theatrical release, are taking their friends and acquaintances to theaters to watch it or taking part in the active Twitter publicity campaign that is accompanying it, adding to the film’s strength. Securing a stable schedule of two or three screenings per day at dedicated independent film theater Indiespace, which opened on May 29, has also aided its success.
A further source of support has been applications for group viewings via the film’s website (http://blog.naver.com/2_doors). Groups from Homeless Action, the National Human Rights Commission and the parliamentary offices of opposition parties have watched the film, while the New Progressive Party has hired an entire screen at Yongsan CGV to watch the film on June 30. Fans of idol group JYJ are due to hold a group viewing at Indieplus on the same day.
From this week, the film will be screened at 21 theaters nationwide, a slight increase, but the internet is inundated with demands for it to be screened at multiplexes too. As of 2011, there were 1,974 theater screens in Korea. “Ultimately, multiplexes like CGV, Lotte Cinema and Megabox must open more of their doors [to give screening opportunities to independent films],” said Kim Il-gwon. (**)
The producers of 2 Doors wanted the film to prompt the release of the eight evictees currently behind bars as a result of the incident and the revelation of the truth about the suppression that took place. “I hope the film will bring public attention to the petition to have [the imprisoned evictees] pardoned on Liberation Day this August and to ensuring that a parliamentary investigation to determine the truth about the Yongsan Disaster takes place in September [when the next session of the National Assembly opens],” said director Hong Ji-yu.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_entertainment/539431.html
* "Mysterious tragedy"?? We just called it "The Yongsan Massacre"... more detailed reports about it you'll find here (Indymedia, Feb./March 2009)!!
And my first contribution about the Yongsan Massacre can find here (2009.1.20).
** For more info please check out:
☞ "두 개의 문" 상영관 및 시간표 안내
Two days ago The Hankyoreh reported following:
NHRCK: Police crackdown during
Yongsan Tragedy was illegal
The NHRCK’s opinion also calls for the indictment of members of the police leadership, including SMPA Commissioner Kim Seok-ki
National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) submitted its opinion concerning the Yongsan Tragedy to the court, and stated in the report that the behavior of police during crackdown reached a stage of illegality on Tuesday(*). The NHRCK’s opinion is expected to have a huge impact on the Yongsan Tragedy issue because it also states that there is a need to indict members of the police leadership, including Kim Seok-ki, commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA).
The NHRCK stated in their opinion, “We believe that the police behavior at that time was illegal because police officers were in violation of a number of regulations stipulated in laws and ordinances.” The NHRCK cited specific examples as proof, such as the fact that the leader during the crackdown did not educate and inform the officers of the possible threat of a fire, and carried out the second crackdown without changing operational tactics even though the first attempted crackdown exhibited signs of a high possibility of a fire.
Additionally, the NHRCK emphasized, “If the government does not punish the illegal actions committed by public entities, it will do a great deal of damage to our Constitution.” The NHRCK added, “The trial to determine whether the police engaged in illegal behavior will set an important precedent.”
Prior to the NHRCK’s report, the individuals who were indicted by prosecutors in connection to the Yongsan Tragedy included Lee Chung-yeon, the head of a group of Yongsan residents refusing eviction. The group of indicted individuals accused 14 members of the police leadership, including Kim Seok-ki, of accidental homicide, however, prosecutors rejected their accusations. In South Korea, if prosecutors refuse to indict certain individuals while controversies remain surrounding a case, citizens may petition the court directly for an indictment.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/403987.html
* “용산 사건, 경찰 주의의무 위반했다” (인권위원회, 2.09)
P.S.
Emmm.. It's only a matter of time - IMO - before the LMB administration commands the closure of the NHRCK!!^^
Impressions from yesterday's Memorial for the Victims of the Yongsan Massacre:
Related articles:
☞ NewsCham Report
☞ VoP Report
Hong Kong:
龍山區拆遷悲劇
本星期二，首爾警察廳派出反恐特警隊到市中心龍山區，鎮壓一個市區重建地盤示威活動，弄成五死廿三傷的悲劇，多份南韓報章指這是「不尋常的數字」。這也令筆者想起，去年香港警察用胡椒噴霧對付天水圍手無寸鐵的平民，相對南韓派出反恐特警隊，原來只是小巫見大巫。
四十戶居民不滿跟政府未達共識就進行拆遷，於一棟四層高樓房屋頂進行了廿五小時靜坐。到星期二深夜，首爾警方派出反恐特警隊，以吊臂貨櫃攻入屋內驅散居民，又向屋內發射多枚催淚彈。當警察強行搬走居民時，屋內突然起火。有居民為逃跑到天台邊緣，失足從四樓跌到地上至重傷，亦有廿三人被打傷、或吸入濃煙入院。火種熄滅後現場發現五具屍體，包括四名居民及一名警察，令南韓公眾憤怒...
For more please check out:
☞ 龍山拆遷悲劇：南韓恢復「公安政局」
Taiwan:
☞ 2009韓國龍山區拆遷鎮壓事件 的文章
☞ 首爾龍山慘劇/韓人權團體發起反迫遷行動
Japan:
Following (worth reading!!) article was published y'day on IMC S. Korea:
The Murderer Is Not guilty; Guilty Is the Victim?
The weird logic of the S. Korean prosecution
The result of the prosecution’s investigation is full of lies, exaggerations and distortions. They described that the evictee-strugglers acted like terrorists. They said the strugglers shot slingshots (not guns, just slingshots. The police might have been deadly scared of the slingshots, ha!) and they went as far as 160 meters (maybe they had rocket engines), and they set fires by spreading the paint thinner on water. (Does it mean that the strugglers set fire on thelselves???) Also, the prosecution assumed that Jun Chul Yun, or the Federation Against House Demolition maneuvered everything from behind the scene even though they are actually a spontaneous solidarity network of evictees. Based on all of these false allegations, they concluded that the police’s crackdown was reasonable.
As for the cause of the fire, the prosecution repeated that the fire was broken out by a molotov cocktail a protester had thrown. Moreover, they said that a movie they have in which someone is pouring some liquid is a proof that the protesters deliberately spread paint thinner. However, nobody knows who poured the liquid and whether it is paint thinner, or water the police had sprayed toward the strugglers.
Meanwhile, the prosecution announced that the police was not guilty and their operation was not illegal. The construction thugs’ obvious involvement in the murder was also covered up, too, despite the evident record of the conversation with the police by radio transmissions and a movie that shows a guy is spraying water cannons at the operation.
The prosecution distorted obvious facts and denied the truth. Finally they prosecuted 20 evictees for ‘obstructing police in carrying out their duties and causing death’ and no one from the police and was indicted. (A moment ago, the news reported that the Seoul Police Commissioner offered to resign.)
The evictees were ‘killed’ three times. The first time was when they were deprived of their houses, stores and restaurants in the name of “New Town” redevelopment project. The second was when they were killed by the police. Now they were killed again by the Korean prosecution’s lies and bias investigation.
On February 14 in Cheong-gye Square (*), Seoul, there will be another large candlelight vigil to mourn for the evictees’ death and protest against the police murder and forced eviction.
The police will definitely block around the square and crackdown us as they always do. However, they won’t be able to put out all of the candles we are holding with our hands and in our hearts.
http://indymedia.cast.or.kr/drupal/?q=ko/node/30
* ATTENTION: The rally will be in front of Yongsan Stn.!!
Police State Transformer
With President Lee Myung-bak at the helm, the prosecution and the police working from the inside,
and the National Intelligence Service listening in, this Transformer wields a water cannon and a
canister of tear gas. “It’s turning into more of a monster every day,” someone says.
(Hankyoreh cartoon, 2.11)
Related articles:
☞ Protesters to blame for fatal Yongsan fire: prosecutors (JoongAng Ilbo)
☞ Prosecution blames protesters for Yongsan tragedy.. (Hankyoreh)
Latest news:
☞ 용산참사 항의 철야 시국농성 돌입 (KCTU)
☞ "도의적 책임지고 사퇴할 사람은 MB" (VoP)
Since the Yongsan Massacre almost everyone, especially - surprise, surprise - the bourgeois media, in S.K.(*) is blaming the people/activists who were/are resisting the "redevelopment projects". And frequently the resistance became/becomes militant (occupying and fortifying buildings, hurling stones, bricks and molotov coctails etc.)..
But nobody is asking about the cause why they're becoming militant!
And that's the reason why: For example in Yongsan 4-gu since (at least) last year's fall several so-called "security guards" (i.e. organized gangs of criminals, today's Yonhap called them as "temporary police workers", hired by the construction companies, commissioned with the "redevelopment..") terrorized the entire neighborhood:
Physically..
..by a swath of destruction (i.e. real TERROR!!)
Psychologically..
..by bloody (voiced and written) Terror! Source of pics: Digital Grotto
Related:
☞ 용산 용역직원의 횡포 (ChamsesangTV)
☞ 폭행·영업방해 다반사... 공권력도 비켜갔던 '철거용역' (OMN)
☞ New video footage.. (Hankyoreh)
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