[INTERVIEW] Documentary director follows master drum maker's lonely journey to find the 'right sound'

The documentary, "The Birth of Resonance," follows the life of traditional drum maker Im Seon-bin, who was designated as a Gyeonggi Intangible Cultural Asset in 1999. Courtesy of Cinesopa

By Lee Gyu-lee

Preserving a cultural tradition in these rapidly changing contemporary times is a daunting mission indeed, especially when it is overlooked by society at large. Yet, this is not the case for master drum craftsman Im Seon-bin, who was designated as a Gyeonggi Intangible Cultural Asset in 1999. He has dedicated his entire life to preserving and passing down how to make the traditional drums including the grand bass drum, or "buk," to the next generation.

Director Lee Jeong-jun / Courtesy of Cinesopa

Recently, Im's six decades of unwavering efforts were recognized by a filmmaker.

Director Lee Jeong-jun's feature documentary directorial debut, "The Birth of Resonance," brings Im's craft into the limelight, paying tribute to the artisan for his perseverance and tenacity to continue a cultural heritage tradition. The documentary won the Asian Development Foundation Award at the 2020 DMZ International Documentary Film Festival and two awards ― the Special Jury and the Audience Award ― at the 2021 EBS International Documentary Festival.

"Many think that being an intangible cultural asset is sublime, beautiful and worth our respect. But that is not the reality. They make these incredible works in a small and rusty workshop," the director said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. "I wanted to show the artistic side of an intangible cultural heritage asset who makes this wonderful instrument, and wanted the audience to grasp that."

The documentary, which hit local theaters on Oct. 21, follows Im's process of making a grand bass drum, or "buk," to be used during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympics, while delving into his life-long quest to find the drum sound that touched his heart as a child.

Im paints drawings on a traditional grand bass drum, which was used during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympics. Courtesy of Cinesopa

Born in 1949, in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Im has led a tough life since childhood. At the age of 10, he was split from his family due to poverty and was sent to Seoul.

He began his new life in a poor neighborhood of Seoul as part of a "Worker Reconstruction Unit," a government organization to register those who made a living from rag-picking. Because he had a limp, due to contracting polio, Im was bullied and beaten by his peers until he lost the hearing in his right ear. He ran away at the age of 11, becoming homeless, before he met the late drum-making master, Hwang Yong-ok, and found a new home, living as Hwang's apprentice. Making drums with the use of only one ear also led him to lose most of his hearing in his left ear by the age of 25.

The director said that he came across Im's story after working as the assistant director for his mentor and filmmaker Jin Mo-young's popular documentary, "My Love, Don't Cross That River."

"I had a chance to film some items that were heading to an exhibition in Milan. I got to meet craftsmen for the first time and I was so shocked to see them working under such poor conditions to make those great pieces," he said. "So I drew up a list of all the traditional craftsmen in Korea and found Im on the list."

Im and his son Im Dong-guk, who became his apprentice, put up frames for a traditional grand bass drum. Courtesy of Cinesopa

He noted that Im's 60 years of craftsmanship, despite his disability, drew him to make the documentary. "I thought that if he was able to get to where he is, even though he had disadvantages, he must have immense tenacity and skilled craftsmanship. So I decided to visit him that next day," he said.

The director said that his offer to make a documentary fueled Im's desire to make instruments under his own name. "Until now, he has made a lot of drums… but he was mostly taking part in the production and not many were made under his name alone. And just as he was thinking that he needed to make his own pieces, I came along and asked if I could make the documentary," he said.

In the film, Im embarks on a dream journey to make a drum that has the sound he has longed for, built from timber he had stored for 20 years.

The film delicately captures each step of Im's efforts that go into making the buk, from structuring the frame and painting the decorative artwork on it, to testing the sound before sending it off to PyeongChang.

Yet, it also doesn't hide the regretful reality that Im is not getting the respect he deserves as an artist. Although he contributed his buk to the ceremony, the Paralympic organization failed to give him credit for his work and to invite him to attend.

A monk plays a grand bass drum that Im made at the request of an artist. Courtesy of Cinesopa

When asked about the most crucial part of the film, Lee noted that it was capturing the deep sound of the buk, in order to offer audiences a glimpse of the resonance Im was seeking in his work.

"The first and foremost purpose of this film was to deliver the powerful, touching sound of a buk to audiences, and weave that astounding sound into Im's story," he said, adding that he felt rewarded when people attending the film's screening expressed awe during the drumming scene.

However, the director explained that Im has still yet to find the right sound.

"I've gotten a lot of questions about whether Im has indeed found the sound. And I have answered no. During the whole time I was making the film, I tried to figure out what would be the 'sound' he was looking for," he said. "I don't think it meant in a technical sense, but rather referred to the sound that resonated with his loneliness ― the comfort he felt from the vibration of the drum he hit while he felt his childhood abandonment."

Adding that the driving force behind his mastery is this sense of loneliness, the director said that Im's search for the sound will not stop until the day he retires as a drum maker.

Along with the drum-making process, the documentary closely captures Im's daily life in his warehouse ― from working with his son and apprentice, Im Dong-guk, to providing shelter for stray cats ― which reminds him of his own childhood.

A scene from the documentary / Courtesy of Cinesopa

The director said that there are stories of Im that are yet to be shared, like his relationship with his son, in passing down his craftsmanship.

"Their relationship portrays the message that tradition is always changing… I don't think there's such a thing as a perfectly standardized tradition. And that message can be shown through the son's efforts to keep this traditional craft alive today," he said, adding that he hopes for a follow-up film to delve deeper into that part of the story.

Following his award-winning documentary debut, director Lee expressed that he continues to touch on traditional cultural heritage topics, using his background as a history major.

"My first film was like a test for myself to see how well I could do it. And fortunately, the documentary was able to be released and receive awards at festivals, which made me feel accepted," he said, adding that he felt that the wins were meant to pay homage to Im's noteworthy life as well.

"I think it goes for most of the fields of traditional culture as well. Not to simply put it in such a way that I just want to highlight bygone things, but rather, I want to be a filmmaker who covers the rich topic of the wide range of cultural heritage, architecture and traditions."