Boram Kim wins DOK Leipzig’s Next Masters competition 2017 and the Media Foundation’s Golden Dove
Leipzig, 4 November 2017. The 60th International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film has honored Boram Kim from South Korea with its Golden Dove. The award, funded by the Sparkasse Leipzig Media Foundation and endowed with 10,000 euros, aims to support filmmakers who are still at the beginning of their career. Boram Kim’s film Baek-gu won the Next Masters competition, having competed successfully against ten other productions.
Apart from winning the Next Masters title, the laureate also receives prize money to the tune of 10,000 euros donated by the Media Foundation. The money is intended to help Boram Kim with her next film project. Stephan Seeger, Managing Director of the Media Foundation and Director of the Sparkasse Foundations, warmly congratulated her: “This documentary film by South Korean filmmaker Boram Kim paints an equally exciting and depressing picture of the people in this part of Seoul, who rather seem to be interested in their own world only and are thus almost unable to see what is happening right in front of their doors. We hope that the prize money will help Boram Kim in realizing her next film.” The film’s international premiere was held at the festival.
Ever since 2004, the Sparkasse Leipzig Media Foundation has been supporting DOK Leipzig by donating prize money for exceptional works by aspiring filmmakers. Every year, the jury awards films that are marked by a special kind of fearless energy, which only young filmmakers seem able to achieve. Last year, Georgian filmmaker Mariam Chachia won the prize and in 2015 it went to Klára Trencsényi from Hungary.
About Baek-gu: The film begins with the search for a stray dog living in a Seoul neighborhood. On a subconscious level, all of the neighbors seem to have met the dog before. The director asks them about the homeless animal but apparently nobody is able to give an answer - everybody is only interested in their own lives. The documentary focuses more and more on the stories of the people from Seoul, painting an increasingly sad picture of the people - who almost never leave their own little world.