Oracle Film presents…

Aperture Series
Take 6 – Eugene Sun Park

Screening selected works followed by Q&A Reception with the filmmaker

Admission is FREE in Public Access Theatre
December 4, 5, and 6, 2014, at 8:00 pm
December 7, 2014, at 7:00 pm

Oracle Film is excited to showcase the work of award winning Chicago Filmmaker, Eugene Sun Park.  Join the experimental filmmaker as he screens several selected works, several of which were independently produced through his production company, Full Spectrum Features.

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DESCRIPTION OF FILMS

The House Always Wins (10:25)

The House Always Wins provides a snapshot of a Korean immigrant;s first foray into casino gambling.  Filmed entry on a “spy cam” built into a wristwatch, this experimental doc has an unusual aesthetic quality that aspires to be voyeuristic yet intimate and confessional.  The city of Philadelphia serves as the physical and literal setting of this film, giving rise to a sense of displaced, amorphous “Asian-ness”, a common feature of the immigrant experience for many first- and second- generation Asian Americans.

 

Darker & Wetter Places (01:30)

A short, abstract film characterized by a shifting sense of place and haunting glimpses of a figure moving around and across indeterminate surroundings.

 

Untitled (03:39)

Time laspe love letter to Portland.  Shot on a Bolex using his thumb, one frame at a time.

 

1000 Li (14:45)

Produced after nearly eight years away from filmmaking to pursue a PhD in Philosophy with a focus in ethics, the script began as an adaptation of an old Russian tale.  With each draft, however, the screenplay mooched further and further away from the original source material.  The final product touches on issues of Korean American identity, religious hypocrisy, and personal ethics.

 

Outside (15:10), Directed by Tracy Pitts, produced by Eugene Sun Park

Richard and Frances’s shared history has begun to erode.  Frances, tethered to her past as Richard’s spouse, reluctantly wades into her future as his caretaker.

 

Spawned Seeds: A Post-Butoh Festival (02:08)

A short video celebraitng the magical characters created by a group of international Butoh performers.  Curated and conceived by Sara Zalek, this annual festival occurs at the Chicago Cultural Center and is supported in part by DCASE.

 

Self-Deportation: The Untold Tale of a Marginal Woman (22:00)

Self-Deportation follows the journey of an Asian American who crosses over into a surreal world after a series of strange encounters on the subway. Caught in an endless loop of subway cars and mysterious hallways, she becomes lost in the fantastical landscape of “Real America”- the dreamlike environments populated by various American archetypes: a peppy cheerleader, a fast-talking politician, an heroic firefighter, etc.  This state of “self-deportation”- both literal and figurative- raises questions about our notions of home and belonging.  This film is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

 

That Will Be Unpleasant (06:26)

A work-in-progress.  This film invites the viewer into a bustling public space filled with commuters.  The space becomes subtly charged by the presence of a mysterious person in black, who lurks around and then drops an unmarked black duffle bag on the sidewalk in plain view.  What is the appropriate reaction?  Alarm? Fear? Humor?

 

ABOUT EUGENE SUN PARK

Eugene is a writer, director, and producer of short films and videos, working in both traditional narrative and experimental forms. Eugene’s films have screened at festivals, micro-cinemas, and on broadcast television, including New York International Independent Film & Video Festival, Columbia Gorge International Film Festival, Upstream Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, HDFEST, New Hope Film Festival, the Whitsell Theater at the Portland Art Museum, and on Time Warner Cable.

Eugene’s feature-length screenplay, Michael’s Story, was the winner of the Screenplay Competition at the 37th Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF). He is a 2014 recipient of an Artist Project Grant from the Illinois Arts Council, which has supported the production of his latest film, Self-Deportation: The Untold Tale of a Marginal Woman. Newcity Magazine recently profiled Eugene in “Chicago’s Screen Gems: Film 50” – an annual list of the influencers in Chicago’s thriving film industry.

 

ABOUT APERTURE SERIES at Oracle

Oracle Film presents the APERTURE SERIES so Chicago can meet amazing filmmakers. Each series consists of a weekend dedicated to showcasing the films of independent filmmakers, providing them with an audience while offering free screenings and Q&A sessions to the community in Oracle’s Public Access Theatre.

 

FILMMAKER’S STATEMENT from Eugene Sun Park

I went to graduate school for philosophy, not film, so my creative process is characterized by a lot of questions and a lot of dissatisfaction with the answers. As a result, most of my films are “experimental” in one sense of the word or another.

To my mind, experimental filmmaking is entirely about one’s approach to the process of writing, shooting, and editing a film, as opposed to anything about the final product. Of course, when you write, shoot, and edit in unconventional ways, often the result is something that is very unsettling or strange or iconoclastic. Or sometimes it’s just bad. That’s one of the possible outcomes when you conduct an experiment.

As a producer, I try to support other filmmakers working on the margins, both in terms of content and form. I’m especially interested in supporting filmmakers who are willing to take risks, and who do not simply want to make films that conveniently fit into the standard narrative tropes of popular film and television.

-Eugene Sun Park, 2014