YIM Pil-sung’s primal interest in human desire and the destruction it causes was evident in his early short films and debut feature. He often broke the fantasies of happiness that young hearts often have, and focused on the dark reality of growing pains and rites of passage. In <The Antarctic Journal>, YIM told the story of humanity chasing after the desire to reach an impossible point that no man has attained before, eventually leading to its own demise. His film &l...More

YIM Pil-sung’s primal interest in human desire and the destruction it causes was evident in his early short films and debut feature. He often broke the fantasies of happiness that young hearts often have, and focused on the dark reality of growing pains and rites of passage. In <The Antarctic Journal>, YIM told the story of humanity chasing after the desire to reach an impossible point that no man has attained before, eventually leading to its own demise. His film <Hansel and Gretel> also shows how the desires of adults can change young children into monstrous creatures. In <Doomsday Book>, IM displays two different approaches to the topic of doom. <A Brave New World> shows the realistic, yet horrifying process through which man’s pursuit of desire leads to destruction. <Happy Birthday> is the innovative combination of destruction and comedy and shows the first ray of hope in any of IM’s films to date. Following a couple of special appearances as himself in the films about filmmaking <Behind the Camera> (2012) and <Playboy Mr. Bong> (2013), YIM released his third feature length work in 2014. Debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival, <Scarlet Innocence> is a steamy thriller featuring star JUNG Woo-sung and new face E Som. Based on the Korean folk tale ‘The Story of Simcheong’, the film features a professor who becomes involved in an affair when he is forced to move to the countryside only to have it haunt him years later back in Seoul.Less