Director Tae Ji-won heads to Busan with ‘Amateur Energy’, capturing daily life in Gyeongsan

Director Tae Ji-won (27) visited the Busan International Film Festival for the first time this year with her own work. Following her Grand Prize win in the Korean Short Film Competition at the Jeonju International Film Festival for ‘Touch, Tap’, her new film ‘Amateur Energy’ has been invited to the ‘Wide Angle-Korean Short Film Competition’ section of the Busan International Film Festival. The 15-minute film captures the daily lives of two sisters: Ha-eun, who sets out to become a poet, and Ha-jeong, who is immersed in a romance. Tae Ji-won, a graduate of the 4th directing major class at Daegu Film School, completed the work using spaces in her hometown, Gyeongsan, as a backdrop alongside filmmakers active in Daegu. She spoke about the experience of seeing her film on a large screen, the starting point of the work, the filming process, and her next project.

Invited to Busan International Film Festival following Jeonju Grand Prize

After winning the Grand Prize in the Korean Short Film Competition at the Jeonju International Film Festival this year with ‘Touch, Tap’, Tae Ji-won has been invited to the ‘Wide Angle-Korean Short Film Competition’ section of the Busan International Film Festival with her new work ‘Amateur Energy’. Tae Ji-won said, “While watching my film on the big screen, I felt like I wanted to step inside the movie.” She described the experience of seeing the work at the film festival as the moment she truly met ‘Amateur Energy’.

Born in 2000, Tae Ji-won is a graduate of the 4th directing major class at Daegu Film School and continues her creative activities based in the region. She showcased her works in succession this year through ‘Touch, Tap’, which won an award at the Jeonju International Film Festival, and her new film invited to the Busan International Film Festival. The experiences at both film festivals led to time for Tae Ji-won to screen her works and meet other filmmakers.

A sister trying to become a poet and a sister in a relationship

‘Amateur Energy’ is the story of Ha-eun, a younger sister who declares she will write poetry after going on a trip, and Ha-jeong, an older sister who is dating a boyfriend she met at an English academy. The film shows the daily lives of the two sisters, who are immersed in different interests, by intersecting them around the younger sister, Ha-eun. Ha-eun translates thoughts arising from daily life into eccentric poetic lines and attempts to go into the water or shave her head to avoid becoming ordinary. While Ha-jeong's daily life is not revealed as much as her sister's within the film, she is fully absorbed in her romance.

Tae Ji-won, who has a good relationship with her actual younger sister, initially thought of the image of sisters who love each other. Later, she changed the direction of the story by thinking about what it would be like if they were sisters who were not very interested in each other and were very different. Tae Ji-won said, “I thought about what it would be like if they were sisters who weren't very interested in each other and were very different. It was interesting that two people who have very different interests and ways of thinking are ultimately tied together as family and engage in conversation.” She made the work a story about two sisters pouring energy into their respective interests. When asked to introduce the work in one word, Tae Ji-won replied, ‘Energy Release Time’.

The setting of the film is Gyeongsan, the hometown of Tae Ji-won. Familiar landscapes of Gyeongsan, such as houses, markets, hair salons, streams, railroad tracks, and the neighborhood mountain, appear in the sisters' daily lives. Rather than centering on grand events, the work captures the sisters following their respective interests: the younger sister lost in the thought of becoming a poet, and the older sister in a relationship. The scenes of Ha-eun entering the water and attempting to shave her head to avoid being ordinary, and Ha-jeong being immersed in her romance, constitute the daily lives of the two different people.

Spaces in Gyeongsan and scenes from the filming site

In this work, Tae Ji-won took charge of both directing and cinematography. It was her first time participating as a cinematographer. Tae Ji-won said, “I thought most about where and how to shoot and the composition to find places where the background and actors are well-visible.” She examined locations and compositions to capture the houses, markets, hair salons, streams, railroad tracks, and the neighborhood mountain in Gyeongsan, which served as the main settings of the film. She filmed the daily lives of the two sisters in familiar local spaces.

Tae Ji-won's favorite scene came from a shoot that was not planned in advance. As filming ended earlier than expected, she captured an impromptu scene of Ha-eun lying on a cafe sofa and writing down a letter written by her sister's boyfriend as her own poem. It was not a scene planned in the script but an additional scene captured on the filming site. Tae Ji-won picked this spontaneously created scene on set as her favorite scene in the work. Ha-eun's action of translating the letter written by her sister's boyfriend into her own poem is a scene where the younger sister's interest in becoming a poet and the older sister's romance meet in one space.

The three actors and the filming crew are all filmmakers active in Daegu. They formed connections through the Daegu Film School, helping and receiving help with each other's works. Tae Ji-won cited the ability to work together based on the network formed in the region as an advantage. She also noted that she directly felt the fact that Daegu Film School is becoming a space where local filmmakers meet and the necessity of film education spaces during the working process. The work was completed with Tae Ji-won in charge of directing and cinematography, and filmmakers active in Daegu participating as actors and staff.

Work started at her family home and the next short film

The starting point of ‘Amateur Energy’ was the experience after winning an award at the Jeonju International Film Festival with ‘Touch, Tap’. After finishing the film festival and returning to Daegu, Tae Ji-won was so exhausted she didn't even have the strength to cook a meal, so she headed to her family home in Gyeongsan to rest. The comfort she felt at home became a clue for a new work. Tae Ji-won said, “The space of home was so comfortable and became a place of rest. While doing so, I became curious, ‘Can I film a movie with this comfortable feeling exactly as it is? What kind of movie would come out if I filmed like that?’”

Tae Ji-won explained that she wanted to make the filmmaking process itself different from her previous work, ‘Touch, Tap’. ‘Amateur Energy’ was written, filmed, and edited to completion in a short period. From winning the Grand Prize at the Jeonju International Film Festival to making the invited work for the Busan International Film Festival, the starting point of the work was the comfortable feeling she felt while resting at her family home. Through the work, she filmed the daily lives of two sisters lost in different interests in the spaces of Gyeongsan.

Currently, Tae Ji-won is proceeding with the final touches on another short film. The actress who played the role of the older sister Ha-jeong in ‘Amateur Energy’ is a long-time friend of Tae Ji-won and is set to study in Japan. Tae Ji-won made a work containing the feelings of parting with this actress as the protagonist. Regarding her next work, she introduced it as a “family movie containing sad feelings,” saying, “This time too, I captured everyday stories and emotions.” Tae Ji-won is continuing the final work on her new short film.

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