Under A Big Tree

Commissioned by South Korea's National Human Rights Commission, If You Were Me is an innovative omnibus film project to promote tolerance and human rights and shed light on the hardships disadvantaged people face in Korea. After the success of the first anthology, a second series, If You Were Me 2, was released this year. Five notable Korean directors - Park Kyung Hee (A Smile), Ryoo Seung Wan (Crying Fist), Jung Ji Woo, Jang Jin (Guns & Talks), and Kim Dong Won - participated in the second installment, creating shorts on human rights issues of their choosing.

This debut feature from female Korean director Park Kyung-hee tells the story of a photographer whose life is changed indelibly when she discovers she has a rare disease which causes tunnel vision and possible eventual blindness. Divided into four sections, it depicts the break-up of her relationship with her boyfriend, her problems with her old-fashioned family, her attempts to deal with her disease through her art and, finally, her desire to fly an airplane before she loses her sight entirely.

In order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Korean Film Academy, 20 of the academy's former students (who are respected director's today) were invited to shoot an omnibus movie consisting of 20 short films. Overall this work was very well received by the critiques at the 17th Tokyo International Film Festival. Films include Under a Big Tree, Sutda, Twenty Millimeter Thick, Innocence, *?!#@$ Up Shoes, Twenty Questions, The Twenty's Law, To the 21st, Pass Me and Alone Together.