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An interview with 'Wishing Stairs' director Yun Jae-yeon

By KYU HYUN KIM

long wooded path to school dormitory is a stairway with 28 steps. The stairs referred to as the "Wishing Stairs", because an evil spirit in the stairs will grant wishes. If someone wishes with all of her heart as she climbs the stairs, a 29th stair will appear and a wish will be granted. However, the students who climb the stairs are not aware that the wishes granted by the evil return as terrible curses...

The Puchon International Horror Film Festival, which honors the best Korean horror film of each summer as its closing film, picked "Wishing Stairs" for his special honor. As such, "Wishing Stairs" joins the lineage of famous Korean horror movies following the critically acclaimed Sorum from 2001 and Korea's most commercially successful horror film "The Phone" and "Tale of Two Sisters' from 2002.
Director Yun, like many young directors from Korea I have met, is articulate, passionate and, perhaps most importantly, utterly committed to cinematic art. She majored in European Fine Arts during college years and moved on to the School of Visual Arts, Korean National University of Arts (KNUA), where she specialized on cinema. Upon graduation, she has worked as an art director for "Paradise Villa (2001)" and directed two short films, "Encounter (1998)" and "Psycho Drama (2000)". For the latter she received an award at the 2001 Seoul Women's Film Festival. "Wishing Stairs" is her first commercial feature film.
How did you get involved in making 'Wishing Stairs?'
It was really my short film "Psycho Drama", which won an award at the Seoul Women's Film Festival... The producer saw the film, and recruited me for the project.
Many Korean female directors are already working, or have debuted in recent years. They have made inroads into what had traditionally been considered a man's job. Have you recognized any visible changes in recent years in this regard?
Well, I am not sure about the visible changes in terms of reflecting "women's perspective". However, it is a good thing that people's standard image of a "film director" is breaking down due to the greater participation of women.
I am pretty recent graduate from KNUA and when I was studying cinema in the school, I was still one of the numerical minority. Now, I think about the half of the class in KNUA are women. So there has been a change. But I think the increase in the number of women filmmakers should be understood in the larger context of the greater diversification of voices in Korean cinema.
Film director is in many ways of position with a lot of authority. In that sense, wouldn't more women directors, or producers for that matter, working in Korean cinema bring about changes in the way Korean films are made?
Well, there are certainly more women directors and producers now, but...
Have you noticed any gender difference in terms of the audience response to 'Wishing Stairs?'
In terms of box-office receipts, the movie was seen by a wide range of people. But yes, I think there was a gender differential. I heard that women in teens and 20's liked the film most. Men in their teens and early 20's also liked them a lot.
What is your next project? If you don't have anything specific, what is your dream project?
"Wishing Stairs" was conceived as a genre film, so it was in that sense easier for me, but also it was a little like a jigsaw puzzle. You know, the picture was already there and I was looking for the pieces that fit together.
For my next project, I would like to make a film a little more personal. Not autobiographical, but a story about a specific person. So first come up with the content, and find a good box, shall I say, that can accommodate that content, and then find beautiful wrapping papers that go with the box. Making "Wishing Stairs' was sort of the other way around.
"Wishing Stairs" opens on Feb. 11 in Metro Manila theaters.

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