Romantic Machine
The sun has set and the film sets its eyes upon the lighthouse which has begun its light-reflecting rotation. A light shines from a small bulb and a fresnel lens reflects it. Small pieces aid the lens’ movement and lights diffracting from the glass sheltering the lighthouse lantern. The light shines from far. The light fills the screen and blinds us. Ever-changing light-forms frequent the lighthouse and its surroundings. The lighthouse. Living and non-living creatures. Nature and artifacts. The movie constructs a network between these conditions and embodies a visual narrative.
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SOJEONG LEEDirectorTrust Fall(2017)
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Project Type:Documentary
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Runtime:35 minutes 3 seconds
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Completion Date:February 5, 2019
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Production Budget:2,000 USD
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Country of Origin:Korea, Republic of
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Country of Filming:Korea, Republic of
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Language:Korean
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Sojeong Lee was born 1993 in Seoul, South Korea. She studied documentary and fine arts in Korea National University of Arts. Her first documentary premiered at 2017 Seoul Independent Documentary Film Festival, screened in Seoul International Women’s Film Festival, and won 'Korean alternative cinema propose' award from 2017 Seoul International New Media festival.
The film mediates the lighthouse; an optical apparatus comprised of light and lenses, and invites ‘light’ itself, formerly conisdered a mediator in itself and nothing more, to be a physical character. The lighthouse, a result of modernity’s attempts to subjugate nature, is a manifestation of the gaze between humanity and nature, ultimately revealing its dialectique relationship with nature through this very purpose. Artificial lights that share the same purpose as the lighthouse do appear but only as fragmented manifestations of their purpose, as reflections on surfaces spread throughout the film. Light reflected through and with the lens fixate and remain on glass surfaces, on the darkness surrounding the night sky, on sea waves and reveal themselves to be a temporary cinema.