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MANSHIN

MANSIN

By Chan-Kyong PARK

FINECUT CO. LTD. - as SALES All rights, World

Documentary - Completed 2013

Inspired by true events, a story of a lawyer who defends a group of innocent students falsely accused and tortured by the dictatorial government.

- Year of production
- 2013
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- KOREA (South)
- Languages
- KOREAN
- Budget
- 0.3 - 0.6 M$
- Duration
- 104 mn
- Director(s)
- Chan-Kyong PARK
- Writer(s)
- Chan-Kyong PARK
- Cast
- Keum-Hwa KIM, So-Ri MOON, Hyoun-Kyoung RYOO, Sae-Ron KIM
- Producer(s)
- Min-Kyung KIM, Sun-Hee HAN
- Synopsis
- Kim Keum-hwa(b. 1931) is one of Korea’s greatest shaman born in Hwanghae Province, North Korea. She has inherited Korean shamanism tradition since she was possessed by spirits at 17 through an initiation rite called “Naerim-gut”. She’s been honored as a national treasure of Korea with her outstanding talent in singing and dancing. However her impressive career accompanies the history of oppression on shamanism throughout 20th century, passing through the Japanese colonial period, Korean War, and 1970’s New Community Movement. The film gives a microscopic description of Korea’s modern history through eyes of Shaman Kim, who is destined to respond up close to sufferings of other people. It also reveals the power of forgiveness and reconciliation of Korean shamanism that survived the unfair treatment, while displaying different kinds of “Gut” rituals in relation with certain periods of modern Korea. Particularly, the film presents a deep-rooted local imagination in the west coast of Korea, following Shaman Kim’s on-going quest for preserving “Baeyeonshin-gut”, a village fête performed in fishing villages. Both the life of Kim Keum-hwa and significant moments of modern Korea are chronicled through reenactment of real stories, rare archive footage, stylized Korean ‘contemporary-traditional’ music and performance, and visually provoking mythical fantasy scenes. It gives an experience of surpassing the border between past and present, South Korea and North Korea, urban and vernacular, life and afterlife, and reality and fantasy.