Program Note
Esper's Light is, above all, a film filled with sensory pleasures. The task of creating the visual pleasure in the film is carried out with the awareness that the nature of this pleasure includes not only enjoyment and joy but also pain and confusion in similar textures. This film, which draws a group of dozens of teenagers to the center, alternates between documentary footage that observes their daily lives and the fantastical world of a low-budget B-movie genre. The records collected directly from reality interlock with the fictional symbols of various genres (SF, fantasy, monster movies, adventure films, crime films), constructing an image of a world that cannot be reduced to traditional representation logic. In this stage, JUNG Jae-hoon reconstructs the archetypal subject of 'the man with the camera' into the contemporary form of 'teenagers with smartphones.' The image of teenagers holding smartphones, looking at the light of display screens, and leaving posts on social media platforms transforms into adventurous subjects holding torches, looking at the light supplied to the entire city, and exploring forests and islands. Esper's Light, with countless characters, scenes, and symbols appearing and disappearing abruptly, is an adventurous and bizarre work that renews the material form of cinema. (KIM Byeonggyu)