[PRESS RELEASE] Cinema: Oscar Winner Bong Joon-ho, "Psycho" and "Bicycle Thieves" My Training Films

Di Petri and Bellocchio the political films I loved Tuscany Region and the Municipality of Florence pay homage to Oscar winner Bong Joon-ho

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"Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves are my two training films, both seen at a very young age, at 10". Oscar winner Bong Joon-ho said this today at the cinema La Compagnia in Florence for the masterclass organized by the Florence Korea Film Fest, which was sold out. "Among other things explained the director when I saw Ladri di Biciclette I had been given a bike that was stolen from me shortly after, so I'm very attached to that film, I immediately empathized with the characters, I didn't know anything about De Sica". Instead "Psycho was shocking explained the Oscar winner I saw it without knowing anything, it had this flow of history that you don't know where it's going, so far I've been left with this feeling of shock". "They are both films concluded the Korean director in black and white seen on TV, yet I remember the blood that flowed in the scenes in red".

Speaking of Italian cinema, he added: "I would say that I really like Alice Rohrwacher of contemporary Italian cinema, as well as her film Happy as Lazzaro, which talks about labor exploitation. Even when I was studying cinema, I saw many Italian films that talk about politics, such as those by Elio Petri or Marco Bellocchio. And about the song 'In Ginocchio da Te', in the "Parasite" soundtrack... I thought that since Koreans are very hasty, you immediately try to put the music on it to understand what kind of music suits us. When I selected Gianni Morandi's music so romantic in such a violent scene I thought: this is perfect! I like to depict things that don't fit".

"Once the Korean director recounts, still speaking of Italy in Lyon I had the honor of having dinner with Bellocchio, I was very nervous and wanted to talk but he was very silent, and I also ate my meal looking into his eyes, I was very excited". Speaking of "Parasite", the Oscar-winning film, the director said "I was able to see "Parasite" dubbed into Italian, there are so many talented voice actors in Italy at the time".

He then explained: "I enjoy organizing the spaces in my films, and preparing "Parasite" since the writing I had many discussions with my staff to better understand verticality. There are many scales in my film and we enjoyed calling this film...a film of stairs. I think "Parasite" has managed to expand this verticality in a general way, it is not only conflict between rich and poor family, but also between poor. 90% of the scenes take place inside, we wanted make these houses appear alive, the rich family house is a set".

"As a child added Bong Joon-ho I liked drawing cartoons, I liked them a lot and I made many, so I draw the storyboards and I delude myself that I am a great illustrator. It depends from director to director: I do it because I feel insecure, I have to completely finish a storyboard, if I have a finished storyboard in my hand I feel at ease and confident. I try to be faithful to the storyboard but I also want to give the actors freedom, it's absurd but if he does it, slowly he succeeds".

Regarding his latest project, "Mickey 17" he said: "it wasn't difficult to get used to a foreign production, there are funny characters, you can tell I did it!"

Cinema: Tuscany Region and the Municipality of Florence pay homage to Oscar Bong Joon-ho, Oscar winner

Florence, April 6 The Pegasus of the Tuscany Region, a medal from the Regional Council of Tuscany and a parchment from the Municipality of Florence were the tributes presented to Oscar winner Bong Joon-ho today in Florence at the La Compagnia cinema on the occasion of the Florence Korea Film Fest, the Korean film festival underway in the Tuscan capital. "It is an honor to deliver the Region's Pegasus to an Oscar winner explained Eugenio Giani, president of the Tuscany Region. When the festival started, Korean cinema was little known. 21 years ago. Today it is a reality, Korean cinematography in Florence is known, a cultural bridge between two countries". "With great pleasure said Antonio Mazzeo, president of the Regional Council I welcome Boong Joon-ho to Tuscany. I am proud to award one of the most important directors in the world on behalf of all of Tuscany. His cinema poses questions to politics and institutions, on the model of society we want to build. I take advantage of this beautiful opportunity, of the prestigious Korea Film Festival in Florence, to invite him to discover our region, where our villages, our landscapes, our cities represent natural film sets. And where our stories, our traditions are scripts. I hope that all this can be a source of inspiration for your next film, perhaps to be shot right here in Tuscany". Mayor Dario Nardella instead handed over a parchment. "To the award-winning director and Oscar winner Boon Joon-ho it was written in the motivation of the parchment one of the most authentic, original and eclectic voices of contemporary auteur cinema, exceptional for his ability to mix genres and registers apparently at the antipodes and create a cinema that escapes labels, hypnotic, compelling, radical, unpredictable, which captures, amuses and destabilizes the viewer and is a window onto ourselves, others, our time". The Mayor then jokingly added "why don't you come and shoot a film in Florence"?

Information: Florence Korea Film Fest; via San Domenico, 101 (Fi); Tel: 055 5048516; info@koreafilmfest.com; www.koreafilmfest.com.