Bits and pieces of life with disabilities told through smartphone-shot films

Scene from the film "Dive in: Us at Last" / Courtesy of Korean Parallel Smartphone Film Festival

By Park Han-sol

"When I go out into the world, my hearing aid becomes essential. When I'm in the water, I really feel like a fish; a creature that suffers outside but finds comfort submerged. It just feels natural to me."

Film character Woo-kyung, who has hearing loss, explains that being immersed underwater, surrounded by muffled echoes, dispels the constant need to depend on sounds. In "Dive In: Us at Last," an official selection of the 3rd Korean Parallel Smartphone Film Festival (KPSFF), she takes new friend Ah-yoon to a freediving session.

Upon their earlier chance encounter at the beach, where the two bump into each other, Ah-yoon feels alienated as Woo-kyung, in her attempt to apologize, fervently communicates with her group of friends in sign language. This sense of isolation, an unfamiliar feeling for many of the hearing audience members, continues after the group invites her to play drinking games with them.

But despite the gap in communication as they exchange texts to understand each other, Ah-yoon soon comes to enjoy the newfound relationship and realizes how freediving can present the opportunity for Woo-kyung to be her truest self.

"Up until now, media content addressing deafness has been delivered from the perspective of hearing people and has been heavily focused on overcoming the disability," the film producer Seoul Association of the Deaf Youth stated in their Facebook page. "We made this film to break down that standardized image and portray ourselves as we are."

Another festival entry "Secondhand Deals" centers on the unlikely friendship formed between a dejected 20-something Ji-hye and Shin-ae, a woman in her 50s who uses a wheelchair.

Scene from the film "Secondhand Deals" / Courtesy of Korean Parallel Smartphone Film Festival

Shin-ae, who is going through menopause, decides to sell her unused packs of sanitary pads through an online marketplace and sets up a meeting with Ji-hye. On the day of the rendezvous, Ji-hye has a string of bad luck as she gets humiliated in a job interview and is dumped by her boyfriend. When Shin-ae arrives much later than the agreed time, she explodes with frustration and anger.

After an emotionally charged conversation, it is Shin-ae's malfunctioning wheelchair that eventually leads them to open up and bond with each other.

From relationship advice to the fear that "menopause means the end of a woman's life," the two characters' heart-to-heart conversation allows the audience to recognize that setbacks in life can come in any form and happen to anyone.

"Don't be scared but feel relieved. You've finished the race so it's time to do anything your heart desires," Ji-hye says to Shin-ae.

Since 2018, the KPSFF has screened short smartphone films produced by people with disabilities who complete the festival's four-month filmmaking workshop. This year's four-day event kicked off Tuesday at Roun Art Hall, the Korea Artist Center in Mokdong, Seoul, with its opening ceremony broadcast live on YouTube due to the recently raised social distancing level.

Scene from the film "Mr. Green" / Courtesy of Korean Parallel Smartphone Film Festival

In one film, two characters' magical interaction that explores the theme of disability, burden and guilt is told via the entanglement of the colors green and red ("Mr. Green"); in another, the movie listens in on an honest conversation between mothers whose children have developmental disabilities ("A Brilliant Day"). Sometimes, the camera chooses to follow a woman with physical disabilities who has never cooked in her life as she goes grocery shopping, takes advice from her friend and carefully follows recipes to make soybean paste soup ("A Day as a Cook").

Through such stories, the KPSFF aims to tear down long-held prejudices and promote the participation of people with disabilities in the content creation industry. A total of 40 selections will be screened both at the art hall until Friday and on the festival's official YouTube channel.

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