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Seoul Searching

February 11, 2014

City documentary now available at www.youtube.com/seoulourmovie 

By Park Si-soo

“Bitter, Sweet, Seoul” a “crowd-sourced” documentary about the capital is now available at www.youtube.com/seoulourmovie following its premiere at a theater.

Film director Park Chan-wook and his younger brother Chan-kyong were commissioned by the city government to make the movie from a total of 11,852 video clips ㅡ 5,329 from abroad ㅡ submitted for three months from August last year.


The Park brothers picked 154 clips and edited them to create the film that runs 65 minutes. Forty one clips were chosen as the best submissions for prizes.

A city spokesman said, as the title suggests, the movie does not solely portray beautiful aspects of the city. “It portrays the past and the present, and the tears and laughter of people living their lives, and honest and inspirational moments that happen in various parts of the city,” the spokesman said.

Park Chan-wook said it was exhausting checking all the submitted clips, but was a “pleasant challenge.”

Sebastien Simon, a prize winner from France who once lived in Seoul, said, “By contributing to the image of Seoul City, I feel like I’m giving back to the city, the country and the culture that have offered me such great professional experiences these past two years.”

During a preview of the film at Seoul Cinema, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon extolled the work, saying, “The greatest significance of this project is that everyone from all over the world was invited to contribute to it.”

“By sharing each other’s own experience and feeling of Seoul, we were able to create a special movie that illuminates the undiscovered images of Korea. The honesty and truthfulness of Seoul shown in the movie is what actually distinguishes the city,” he said.