Cheonggyecheon Medley: A Dream of Iron

Directed by Kelvin Kyung Kun Park (박경근)

Written by Kelvin Kyung Kun Park (박경근)

79min | Release date in South Korea: No release

The narrator writes a letter to the ghost of his grandfather wondering if his recurring childhood nightmare of rusted metallic image is related to the family history. After running a scrap metal factory in Tokyo during World War II, his grandfather ended up in Cheonggyecheon of Seoul where rundown small scale metal workshops still exist amidst the gentrifying city. Drawing clues from fragments of dreams and myths relating to the metal, the film reveals the secret alchemy of third world modernity in Cheonggyecheon where these obsolete hand labor still survive. The film attempts to reveal how we shape the metal through techniques such as sand casting and milling machines, only to find out that metals had already shaped us into beings of an industrial society instead.

*Pusan International Film Festival, Wide Angle Section, 2010
*Seoul Independent Film Festival, Invitation, 2010
*Berlin International Film Festival, Forum Section, 2011
*Seoul Independent Documentary Film & Video Festival, 2011
*Hot Docs, Next Section, Canada, 2011
*Planete Doc Film Festival, Poland, 2011
*Los Angeles Film Festival, Documentary Competition, 2011