SCREENING REPORT

12.12: The Day

12.12: The Day x Screening @ Rodeo Screening Room Recap

– Wednesday, November 19 at 7:00PM PT

Q&A RECAP

Moderator:

Jeff Sneider

Panelists: 

Kim Sung Soo (Director)

The screening looked great and full with 34 attendees in a screening room with 49 capacity. A full list of attendees can be found attached. A Q&A with Director Kim Sung-Su followed the screening. The Q&A started with the moderator Jeff Sneider asking about the director’s memory of 12.12 as he was a high school student when it occurred. The director also talked about the film’s budget, and how it was made after the Covid-19 pandemic. The director shared that his first film that did not do really well, and an actor from the film who he worked with in the past also did not do well, so they didn’t care to work together until they had another film that did well, so now they worked great together, which caused the crowd to laugh.

Moving on, the director shared what he wanted American audiences to take from the film. He added that the people who were supposed to be responsible did not do well, which resulted in 12.12, but if you look at it closely, similar things are happening all around in the world in the military, at home, at school, at work, so he feels that is where people can really connect and emphasize with this.

The director also answered audience questions.

One audience member shared how he thought it was a great film and asked how life changed and if they were ever prosecuted for what happened. Director Kim Sung-Su shared more of the history in Korea following this occurrence.

Another audience member asked what the director may have wanted to do differently if he had a bigger budget, and he shared that when the film is done, the question is too late and too hard to answer at this stage. Moving on, another audience member asked how he made this true story look more commercial rather than like a documentary. Director Kim Sung-Su shared that there were two main things that he had to consider, it had to be engaging, because many people in Korea are aware of 12.12 but don’t know the details, and the main technical aspect they were focusing on is making sure the audience felt immersed in the film as if they were a character in the film or watching from the sidelines.

The Q&A wrapped with one final audience question asking what the toughest scene to shoot was. The director stated that if you define difficult as a scene that he wanted to do really well, he could answer the question. He continued that there is no record of what happened internally, so in court they said they did it to save the nation, but I couldn’t believe that. He explained that the scene where they are gathered together making the decision for military insurrection, you see a clash of different desires and motivations.