Sunday, October 12, 2:30 p.m. | For most of the commercial film industry, the “digital transition” was treated as a foregone conclusion. This trajectory hasn’t been quite so clean when it comes to independent film artists. The 21st century has witnessed the rise of small, cooperatively run film labs, and dedicated showcases for working artists still exhibiting on film (like Celluloid Now). Korean artists have been making experimental films since at least the 1960s, but for the last twenty years especially, Seoul has been home to one of the most exciting analog filmmaking scenes in the entire world. The Experimental Film & Video Festival in Seoul (widely known as EXiS) was founded in 2004, significantly expanding exhibition opportunities for artists in the city and bringing their work into conversation with the greater international film community. The same year, filmmaker Jangwook Lee opened Space Cell, a site initially designed to accommodate experimental filmmaking workshops and related screenings, which expanded in 2006 to include an artist-run film lab. These developments have been transformative for film in Seoul, providing the spaces necessary for a community to form around analog filmmaking and facilitating access to the resources necessary for artists to learn, exercise, and share related technical skills. This program brings together a sampler of 16mm films by Korean filmmakers made across this still-young century, illustrating how each wave of young artists in this scene has benefitted from the work of their analog predecessors, and subsequently built upon this foundation for the benefit of the next generation. This isn’t to say this is a homogenous group of artists. Each of these six filmmakers has developed a unique sensibility, spanning structuralist one-liners, austere narrative tableaus, and several different and distinct flavors of visual abstraction. Considered individually, every filmmaker here is an immense talent in their own right. Taken collectively, they’re even better. Co-programmed by Chae Yu.
Program
1998 (Sungsuk Suk, 2002, 5 min.) - 16mm
The Dark Room (Minyong Jang, 2001, 5 min.) - 16mm
The Breath (Minyong Jang, 2007, 10 min.) - 16mm
Tide (Jang Eunju, 2007, 8 min.) - 16mm
Footage (Minjung Kim, 2015, 3 min.) - 16mm
(100ft) (Minjung Kim, 2016, 3 min.) - 16mm
Count Footage (Minjung Kim, 2016, 3 min.) - 16mm
Study for Three Streams (silent version) (Park Kyujae, 2024, 5 min.) - 16mm
Chang Gyeong (Jangwook Lee, 2024, 17 min.) - 16mm
Celluloid Now | October 10–12, 2025
The Chicago Film Society (CFS) is proud to welcome you to the third edition of Celluloid Now: four days of screenings, workshops, and other events showcasing the work of analog filmmakers and artists, alongside archival rediscoveries and restorations. Join CFS at the Gene Siskel Film Center for a special, jumbo-sized program of 35mm shorts, featuring brand new prints and other surprises! Learn more at celluloidnow.org. Synopses courtesy of Chicago Film Society.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu