Arthouse film ‘Jeseul’ trailblazing at box office

The South Korean film “Jiseul” depicting the 1948 Jeju Massacre sold 42,300 tickets as of Thursday, an unexpected feat for the small-budget independent film.

The black-and-white movie features some 120 people who try to escape from the soldiers ordered by the Korean government to kill every Jeju villager living beyond 5 kilometers of the coast. The movie title was named after “jiseul,” which means “potato” in Jeju dialect. Jiseul was a staple dish for refugees in the film.

“’Jiseul’ deserves praise not only because it portrays the massacre, but it also showcases a unique filmmaking technique,” highly acclaimed Korean director Park Chan-wook said at the movie’s trade show on Mach 18.

The movie had a small budget of 210 million won ($190,000), part of which was raised through what is called crowdfunding. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and became the first Korean movie to win the prestigious award.

By Park Sui, Intern reporter
(suipark@heraldcorp.com)


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