O Muel

O Muel (born Oh Kyung-heon in 1971) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. He wrote and directed the award-winning film Jiseul in 2012.

In this Korean name, the family name is O.
O Muel
Born
Oh Kyung-heon

1971 (age 51–52)
Jeju Island, South Korea
Alma materJeju National University
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter
Years active2003-present
Korean name
Hangul
Revised RomanizationO Myeol
McCune–ReischauerO Myŏl
Birth name
Hangul
Revised RomanizationO Gyeong-heon
McCune–ReischauerO Kyŏng-hŏn

Career

O Muel was born and raised on Jeju Island, and studied Korean painting at Jeju National University.[1] In 1998, he became the director of the Jeju-based culture collective Terror J and organized an annual street art festival called Flower for a Head. O is also the co-director of the Jeju Independent Film Society and acts as artistic director of the theater troupe Japari Research Center.[2]

As a film director, O chose his native Jeju as the setting for all his films, focusing on the island's unique lifestyle, nature and people. He began his filmmaking career with two short films in 2003, Putting on Lipstick Thickly and Flower for a Head.[3] In 2009, O made his feature directorial debut with Nostalgia, which follows a pair of middle-aged amateur musicians who beg a once-promising rocker to be their mentor, as the latter deals with his mother's death. This was followed by Pong Ddol (2010) about the humorous travails of a first-time filmmaker and whose title refers to the stone and metal objects attached to the end of a fishing rod, and Wind of Island (2011) about a young mother forced to abandon her only child.[4] Nostalgia and Pong Ddol received a theatrical release in 2011.[5]

It was his fourth feature film, Jiseul (meaning "potato"), that brought O both domestic and international critical acclaim.[6][7] Based on a tragic but largely forgotten historical event set during the Jeju Uprising in April 1948, O cast non-professional local actors speaking in their native Jeju dialect to play a group of villagers who hid in a cave for 60 days, suffering cold and starvation, to escape from soldiers under shoot-to-kill orders.[8][9] Shot entirely in black-and-white, the film had a small budget of ₩210 million (US$190,000), part of which was raised through crowdfunding.[10] It premiered at the 17th Busan International Film Festival in 2012, where it received four prizes: Best Director from the Director's Guild of Korea, the Citizen Reviewers' Award, the CGV Movie Collage Award, and the NETPAC Jury Award.[11] The NETPAC jury praised it "for focusing on a dramatic historical event in an understated way, with stunning B/W cinematography, depicting the pathos and the psyche of the victims as well as the aggressors."[12] Jiseul won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, the first Korean movie to win that prestigious award.[13][14][15] It also won the Cyclo d'Or at the 19th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema and Best Film at the 1st Wildflower Film Awards.[16][17][18] Jiseul was released in South Korean theaters in 2013, and through positive word of mouth after the Sundance win, it became the best-selling Korean indie drama film with 144,602 admissions, as well as the most successful Korean film to be released on less than 100 screens (this record was later broken by Han Gong-ju).[19][20]

O's fifth feature film Golden Chariot in the Sky (2014) revolved around three brothers who go on a road trip together, with the youngest dreaming of starting a band called "Golden Chariot" with his village friends (played by real-life nine-member ska band Kingston Rudieska). It made its world premiere at the 49th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and was the opening film of the 10th Jecheon International Music & Film Festival.[21][22][23]

O has started pre-production on his next film The Legend of a Mermaid, where a haenyeo (Jeju-based woman diver) meets a former national synchronized swimmer (played by Moon Hee-kyung and Jeon Hye-bin, respectively).[24][25] It received a US$10,000 cash grant from the Asian Cinema Fund in 2014.[26][27]

Filmography
  • Putting on Lipstick Thickly (short film, 2003) - director
  • Flower for a Head (short film, 2003) - director
  • Nostalgia (2009) - director, screenwriter
  • Pong Ddol (2010) - director, screenwriter, editor
  • Wind of Island (2011) - director
  • Jiseul (2012) - director, screenwriter
  • Golden Chariot in the Sky (2014) - director, screenwriter
  • Eyelids (2015) - director, screenwriter, editor, executive producer
  • Mermaid Unlimited (2017) - director

Awards

References
  1. Lee, Claire (10 October 2012). "Herald Review: Jeju director's film features 1948 Jeju Massacre". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  2. "O Muel". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  3. "O Muel". Festival Scope. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  4. "Jiseul". IndieStory. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  5. Lee, Hyo-won (5 September 2011). "Jeju filmmaker captures local quirks". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  6. Yun, Suh-young (18 March 2013). "Requiem for Jeju's forgotten masscre". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on March 28, 2014. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  7. Kim, Kyu-hyun. "Jiseul". Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  8. "Korean Director O Muel Discusses His Black-and-White Dramatic Contender Jiseul". Indiewire. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  9. Kosek, Jane (20 January 2013). "Road to Sundance 2013: Jiseul, directed by O Muel". All About Indie Filmmaking. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  10. Heo, Young-sun. "Indie Movie Sheds Light on Jeju Massacre". Korea Foundation. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  11. Conran, Pierce (12 October 2012). "BIFF 2012: Awards Announced, JISEUL Picks Up 3". Twitch Film. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  12. "O Muel's Jiseul wins the NETPAC award at the 17th Busan International Film Festival". NETPAC Blogs. 15 October 2012. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  13. "Jeju Native's Film Wins Jury Prize at Sundance". The Chosun Ilbo. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  14. Conran, Pierce (28 January 2013). "JISEUL Picks up Grand Prize at Sundance Film Festival". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  15. Song, Ho-jin (28 January 2013). "Film on 1948 Jeju Massacre wins prestigious prize at Sundance Film Festival". The Hankyoreh. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  16. Conran, Pierce (13 February 2013). "JISEUL Picks up Cyclo d'Or in Vesoul". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  17. Frater, Patrick (1 April 2014). "Jiseul Plucks First Wildflower Korea Award". Variety. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  18. Conran, Pierce (2 April 2014). "JISEUL Tops 1st Wildflower Film Awards". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  19. Lee, Claire (17 April 2013). "Triumph of Jiseul continues". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  20. Ji, Yong-jin (24 April 2013). "JISEUL Becomes Most Viewed Independent Film". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  21. Kim, June (6 June 2014). "O Muel Rides GOLDEN CHARIOT IN THE SKY to Karlovy Vary". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  22. "Jecheon Music Film Fest Opens Next Month". The Chosun Ilbo. 18 July 2014. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  23. Jang, Seo-young (8 August 2014). "Music, movies mix at Jecheon event". Korea Joongang Daily. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  24. "O Muel's next film enters pre-production". KCTV Jeju. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  25. "O Muel Starts Production of THE LEGEND OF A MERMAID". Korean Film Biz Zone. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  26. "Haenyeo". Asian Cinema Fund. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  27. Frater, Patrick (29 June 2014). "Busan's Asian Cinema Fund Backs New Talent". Variety. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
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