This is the question posed by co-writer and directorJustin Kim WooSokin his Korean American short filmSarajin.
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DEADLINE: How did you end up in filmmaking?
Were your parents creatives?
Jongman Kim in ‘Sarajin’Justin Kim WooSŏk/Indeed/Rising Voices
Where do you think you got your creative ambitions from?
JUSTIN KIM WOOSOK:Im the first artist in my family.
But there was always a creative current through my family.
Justin Kim WooSŏk
For example, I know secretly that my dad took acting classes in college but didnt tell my grandparents.
He was not allowed.
DEADLINE: Where did the idea forSarajincome from?
And why base it in Alaska?
WOOSOK:Alaska has been a place of interest for me for a while.
[Some] worked the salmon season up in Bristol Bay over the summer.
In 2022/2023, I heard from friends that these essential fisheries were shutting down.
I also met a lot of the fishermen who depended on these fisheries.
So, I put all those experiences together into the script.
Where did they go?
WOOSOK:Exactly, whered they go?
I was so lucky to get admitted to this program.
So, we went out to Alaska.
So, we ended up shooting in Alaska and San Pedro.
Do you want to talk about what you learned in both locations?
I had actually initially wanted to shoot in Korea.
While that was happening, I also heard about all the stuff in Alaska.
I was like, Well, I have to go see how its done in Alaska.
And the way fishing is done is very different.
So, thats why I ended up shooting in Alaska.
DEADLINE: Can you talk to me about finding your leads, Jongman Kim and Taehee Kim?
WOOSOK:Thats impressive feedback, thank you.
I wasnt going for a glossy K-Drama look or anything like that.
So, I think Jongman was so special because hes a good silent actor.
He can do so much with so little.
What am I going to do?
So, she called me and was like, Justin, I think I know who you need.
She introduced me to Jongman, and I had him read.
Im really curious about her.
Can we turn the camera around and have her audition as well?
We had her audition, and I was like, Oh, thats perfect.
These two are perfect.
We later find out that theyre married in real life.
How easy was that?
WOOSOK:They had just started to act together recently.
So, I think I just got really lucky in finding them.
I was really happy to have found them.
WOOSOK:I was just like, Channel what you already know.
So, theres a really complicated triangle of pricing, conservation and legality.
That was surprising to me and definitely influenced the way I was thinking about the different characters.
It was a high-wire act, so you just have this adrenaline pumping.
I was out in the Gulf of Alaska for a week.
We got stuck in an ice storm and had to anchor.
No ones taking a shower.
In Alaska, the fisheries are shutting down because species are just disappearing.
And in Korea, itd be like, This fish was never this far north.
Its a really strange experience.
DEADLINE: Why the titleSarajin?
And Im curious about a repeating line in the film: The ocean will never fail us.
What is the significance of these words to you?
WOOSOK:Sarajin is from the infinitive Sarajida, which is to disappear.
On top of that, on the next level, its also about the fishery.
This way of life and economy is also disappearing.
I think it carried the weight of ideas that I was having and the things that were happening.
As far as the line, The ocean will never fail us.
That was something I actually came up with with our actor, Jongman.
So, hell get some credit, too [laughs].
Where is his blind faith coming from?
Where is this sort of denial coming from?
DEADLINE: I cant stop thinking about a couple of shots.
Hes in the dark, the shadow is bathing him.
He seems a little prideful but genuinely cares about his daughter and wife.
All of this seems so fully fleshed out.
What does a feature film look like for you to expand upon this character?
WOOSOK:I love films about a moral choice and having characters boil things down to a moral choice.
And I was really interested in, OK, well, what does it mean when youre… And I would probably show a little bit more of that journey.
As for the shot youre talking about.
The existence of that shot is partly because of practicality.
We shot this film in two days, it was a very tight shooting schedule.
So, we were shooting 20+ setups a day, which is much faster than usual for narrative.
Its like your relationship to whats happening on screen has.
And, of course, again, were so lucky to have Jongman.
Lets do it in this one tableau shot.
DEADLINE: The other shot is at the end of the film, the family deciding to leave.
Why was this important to see?
WOOSOK:It comes back down to the same technique of same, but different.
And we really just wanted to prompt the audience.
We wanted to prompt people to think like, Oh, well, do you feel this disappearance?
How can we best make you feel this disappearance and what it means?
And I think that the apartment definitely looks a little haunted and a little sad.
How does it make us feel that this is happening?
So, that was sort of the thinking behind that, the end sequence.
But in your film, its actually like, No, were actually going back.
Thats not too often depicted.
WOOSOK:Immigration is just really complicated.
I was interested in showing these immigrants lives in a very remote part of America.
And I wanted to show that it is not this aspirational vertical.
Its also kind of similar to my experience.
DEADLINE: Whats next for you?
WOOSOK:Im working on my first feature screenplay.
Its calledDancing with Cranes.
And so thats kind of what I have next on my plate.
Its something Ive been working on through the Sundance TAAF Fellowship and the CJ & TIFF Labs.
So, Im hoping to complete the script and start to show it around to people later this year.
DEADLINE: Are there any states that youre going to work in that are more popular?
WOOSOK:Thats a great question [laughs].
I would love to shoot a romance in New York City.
That would be cool.
I have a whole different idea for that.
