Seong-ho is autistic and a gifted musician. His mother raised Seong-ho and his younger brother Geon-gi on her own, pushing both to study music but she seemingly devotes most of her time into furthering Seong-ho’s career, leaving Geon-gi feeling neglected. She hopes that the riches and fame that come with an international career will provide for Seong-ho after her death and that Geon-gi will take care of him.
SFF Blog Contributor Connor Ryan caught up with NOCTURNE Director Gwanjo Jeong ahead of the film's US Premiere at Salem Film Fest.
Connor Ryan: NOCTURNE is such an intimate portrayal. How do you get your subjects comfortable with the idea that the camera will be so close so often? To ask it another way: do you tell your subjects how they'll be filmed?
Gwanjo Jeong: My goal as a documentary filmmaker is to reveal the truth in this world. It is tough work to show the life of other people... Every protagonist in the film wants to show themselves as a "good" person rather than how things are in reality. But, for documentary filmmakers, that's the worst situation. To avoid that situation, the only thing I can do is to make the characters feel at ease. My shooting strategy is 'to live with them'. While this movie is a record of them, it is also a record of the director's life. There was no need to tell them how they would be filmed. They could imagine the final cut to see the way the director treats them, it's enough.
CR: How much of the vision for your film do you share with them ahead of time?
GJ: I always told them this story would be a hopeful one, as to say, a happy ending. They didn't believe it, but I really wanted it to be. It took ten years for it to come true.
NOCTURNE streams as part of Salem Film Fest from Friday, March 19 - Sunday, March 28. Tickets to view the film can be purchased here.
