Straw Shoes (1977)

Overview

This is a documentary that records the actions of the elderly who makes straw shoes. It was filmed in Bongcheon-dong for a day before the urban redevelopment that area. It sharply contrasts the primitive labor of agricultural society and the modern urban labor with bold close-ups and cross editing. Against the backdrop of a poor hillside village in Seoul, it contains young filmmakers’ criticism on labor and society with an anthropological perspective. The film is the last one of the total seven short films made by director Kim Hongjun and Hwang Juho using a self-taught Super 8mm camera for a year from 1976 to 1977 before the founding of Yalasheng, a film society of Seoul National University. The film was selected at the 3rd SIFF.