Kang Ha Neul stars in the title role in Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet which tells the story of the poet Yoon Dongju. Dongju is viewed as a massive icon in Korean culture, because of his role in the country's resistance to Japanese occupation during the colonial era. The film will screen Saturday (April 8) in Abu Dhabi and then again on April 15 in Dubai. We catch up with the actor who plays Dongju and find out his thought on UAE cinema and what the audience should expect ahead of the screening.
Yun Dong Ju is a huge figure in Korean history. Did you feel a great responsibility taking on the role?
The Portrait of a Poet is a work that I am very, very fond of. I am a big fan of Yoon Dong-ju, I used to read his poetry collections again and again. So I took the role with joyful excitement and sweet expectation simply because the film is about his story, but it was not long after when I realised the decision comes with a great responsibility and pressure. It was a difficult time that I couldn't sleep enough or eat well from that responsibility and pressure of taking the role of Yoon Dong-ju, who is the one of most important figure in Korean history and literature. It's been a great honour to have an incredibly large number of audience love the movie after those days.
Would you ever have expected the film to be screening in the UAE? How do you think audiences here will respond – there’s a strong poetic tradition in the region?
I’ve never imagined the film would be screened in the United Arab Emirates. As I said earlier, we all worked hard on this film to present it as a respectable gift to Yoon Dong-ju in heaven. This will be a wonderful memory for us to have the film screened abroad, and I hope this could be a respectable gift for the audience in UAE where people love poetry.
Korean cinema has a huge profile internationally, considering the relative size of the industry. What do you think leads to this success?
I’m only a young actor who acted in 10 or so films. I cannot dare to talk about Korean cinema’s international profile on behalf of the whole Korean film industry. Even if I could, it would be little and shallow.
But if I talk about it from my view, I think it would be the attitude of not thinking too much of the success that led Korean films to the international success.
All the directors, actor, filmmakers that I have worked with were never working hard for an international impact, but they wished for good, fun, meaningful movies. Wouldn’t it be this pure passion for the movie that brings the support from the international film lovers? This sincerity doesn’t need to be in a certain language to be delivered.
Do you think the UAE’s young industry can take any lessons from Korean cinema, particularly in terms of establishing a successful industry outside of Hollywood?
This question is beyond what I could answer elaborately. I could just anticipate jewels of the UAE’s film industry as a film lover. I believe other film lovers around the world would be looking forward to and would be supporting these jewels.
Any other words for the UAE audience ahead of the screening?
I'm Kang Ha-neul. You might not know me in the UAE, but it doesn't really matter. Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet, which so many people put a lot of effort into, is going to be screening in the UAE. Please remember Yoon Dong-ju whom you'll see on the silver screen, not me. I look forward to the beginning of Dongju in front of you.
• Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet screens as part of the Korean Film Festival K-Fest in Abu Dhabi on Saturday (April 8) at 9pm and Dubai the following Saturday (April 15), also at 9pm
cnewbould@thenational.ae
