Space Adaptation / 2019 / Technology+Dance│36min
The dance film Space Adaptation is a 36-minute mid-length SF genre independent film produced by Yoon Jungwon. It underwent a two-year period of exploration into how film and dance have merged so far and how they might continue to do so in the future. The aim was to investigate how a new form of dance and simultaneously a new form of film could be created through chemical bonding. According to film critic Oh Dong-jin’s review, the result was a work that is “non-cinematic and simultaneously non-dance.”
Space Adaptation has a narrative structure that progresses solely through movement, without dialogue, and touches on themes such as space exploration, love and camaraderie, real estate and youth issues, and adventure. The overall tone and format are not situated within dance film nor silent film, but somewhere in between, focusing solely on allowing the audience to experience the rise and fall of the two protagonists (dancers). The film experiments with how the language of video and dance can overlap and coexist in a state of overlap.
As a director, orchestrating the process and contemplating how to convey trembling and opening through media allowed for an embodiment of the discourse surrounding screen dance. Winning the Best Film Award at the Seoul Dance Film Festival, recommendations from the Central Park distribution company, and screenings organized by Orange Film allowed the director to meet critics and audiences, and an invitation to present at the Korea National University of Arts School of Dance provided an opportunity to discuss dance media and its direction theory, gathering a wide range of concerns, expectations, and opinions from various choreographers. This served as a turning point, fostering a unique perspective on media and dance, a sense of role as an artist, and becoming a major motivation for future work production, leading to critical reflection on the act of processing within media as a subject.
A spaceship made from materials like personally collected trash and standard garbage bags. With a budget of less than 500,000 KRW(360USD), I persuaded an Incheon scrap yard to give me a Hyundai Starex to build an SF movie set. The car was painted and styled within the two permitted days. The spacesuits and lights were all designed from scratch and created by a small team. This ultra-low-budget universe, composed solely of movements and art, deconstructs the capital dependency of the science fiction genre.
▲ Storyboard for Film: Space Adaptation, 2019 Yoon Jungwon
I conceived and directed every aspect and core choreography of the film, translating it into a storyboard. Creating a dance film without dialogue required meticulous planning and designing every movement. During this process, conversations with choreographers were materialized into my storyboard, and I experienced the transformation of those drawings into choreography, which then evolved further.
*Awards:
- Best Film Award at the 3rd Seoul Dance Film Festival (SeDaFF), 2019
- Korean Propose Audience Jury Award at the21st Seoul International ALT Cinema & Media Festival (NeMaF), 2021
*Comments:
The process of selecting the Best Film was challenging due to the presence of numerous outstanding works that were difficult to compare horizontally. One work I personally want to mention is Space Adaptation. Belonging to the queer dance film category, Space Adaptation holds the power to seek social resonance without the use of language.
An Soong-beom, Korea New Work Competition Jury
As an audience jury member at this year’s NeMaF, the 30 Korean new works I watched during the festival enriched the NeMaF period with a variety of genres including documentaries, feature films, experimental films, animations, and essay films. The themes covered belonging and alienation, oppression and liberation, feminist perspectives, art and labor, presence and absence, and the time of growth, allowing for a multifaceted observation of how society and individuals relate to each other.
The audience selection jury focused on the progressiveness of content and form based on otherness and gender sensitivity, while also paying close attention to the originality and completeness of the works.
The work selected by the audience jury’s majority vote is Space Adaptation. Space Adaptation is an original film peppered with natural movements, belonging to the genres of experiment, dance, SF, and queer. Its form and expression for reaching understanding through alternative communication were outstanding.
It makes one think about how those who must adapt in the face of uncontrollable environments, and those who feel too different to exist in a world woven by the logic of privilege, can find footing and live.
Upon landing on a strange planet, the spacesuit becomes a metaphorical medium that hinders smooth breathing. Shedding the spacesuit enables a form of breathing that moves beyond personal movement to expand into the realm of ‘us’. They establish their own language within expanded relationships to settle on this land. The will to stay here through unique movements is revealed through dance, the gestures of imperfect and wavering human bodies. The sight of adapting to space through the language of dance appeared as a form of encouragement and support towards modern individuals overwhelmed by the breath of life in a confusing reality.
Audience Jury Members Kim Jiwoo, Park Naum, Park Rosa, Shin Hyunjung, Lee Arim, Lee Hyemi, Jeong Won
▲ Poster, Space Adaptation
Director, Art, Screenplay by Yoon Jungwon
Choreography, Original Work by Lee Jongyun, Lee Jinwoo
Starring: Lee Jongyun, Lee Jinwoo, Son Younggun
Assistant Director: Choi Eunsol
Director of Photography: Park Chanwoo
PD: Kim Youngseo
Scripter: Han Gyupil
Costume Design by Bae Hayoung, Park Hyunjin
Sound by Park Jun
Music by Lee Jiwon
Assistant Camera: Ryu Kwonwoo
Lighting Assistant: Yang Kita
Field Staff: Jo Eunki, Han Euihyun, Shim Kyubeom
Art Assistance by Kim Junha, Kim Junha
Technical Assistance by Kim Dohun
Photography by Choi Geunwoo