Celine Song 송하영
Director of the Korean Film In-Yun
In 1988, Celine Song, a female director and individual filmmaker was born in South Korea. Her family moved from Korea to Ontario, Canada when she was 12. Celine took psychology as her undergraduate major at Queen’s University in Ontario and got a Master of Arts degree in drama editing at Columbia University afterward in 2014. Celine’s play Endlings was performed in the American Theaters in 2019. The play was about three old Korean fisherfolks and a Korean playwriter living in Canada. The outcome of the play was controversial.
In 2023, Celine Song finally launched her critically acclaimed first-ever movie Past Lives. With this film, Celine earned her first applause in the field of film. Like her play, the film contained elements of the bilingual culture with Celine herself. The movie tells the story of the reunion of two childhood mates who separated with regrets. The story was to some extent related to her own early life experiences being in two completely different cultures.
Celine’s play Endlings was performed in the American Theaters in 2019. The play was about three old Korean fisherfolks and a Korean playwriter living in Canada. The outcome of the play was controversial.
2023, Celine lunched the movie In-Yun. Years ago, Celine, her husband, and her childhood mate sat in a bar. She sat in the middle. The two men loved her in different ways, different cultures, and different languages. Translating between them, Celine realizes that she is also translating between the past and present self. The experience inspired Celine to write the movie.
“In-Yun”, Celine defines it as the unusual moments and instants that usual people experiences. It could be short, special, short yet special. She defines it as feeling the spiritual connection between two crossing thousands of realistic barriers. This was also one of the main themes in the movie. Looking at pasts and futures startles you of how large and tiny you are.
In her interviews, Celine mentions the largest challenge she had bringing the film into the cinema. Her fear. Her fear that the audience could not take the unique cultural identity the character has, and the film delivers and emphasize with it.
“But I also do know something that nobody else knows, which is how this story should be told.”
Celine overcomes this fear by accepting what she doesn’t know and waiting for it all to come with “In-Yun”. She had no expectations of what the audience SHOULD take away from the movie. With the different life experiences, people may feel different things about the love, decisions, and regrets that Nora, the main character had.
Celine, from her movie, delivers that the past and future lives, the ones that weren’t chosen, were always the ones that seems better. So why be pity. Being brave enough to decide, make a film about oneself, and to reexamine the past shows the power of Celine, and any other female directors. Like Celine, lots of people leave their past lives and can become complete opposite, and the power of one is the courage to face their barriers and changes.
