TimeLapse Pictures In Her Place World Premiere at TIFF 2014 GAT PR Press Summary
Interviews Completed Wednesday August 6
The Canadian Press Interviewed: Albert Shin CHCH TV Interviewed: Albert Shin 680 News Interviewed: Albert Shin Out There – City tv /OMNI Interviewed: Albert Shin The Gate Interviewed: Albert Shin
Thursday August 26 Monday August 25 Tuesday August 26
Toronto Star Interviewed: Albert Shin
Urban Moms Interviewed: Albert Shin The Watchlist – CHCH TV Interviewed: Albert Shin
Torontoist Interviewed: Albert Shin The Globe and Mail Interviewed: Albert Shin At the Movies -‐ CIUT 89.5 Interviewed: Albert Shin, Igor Drljaca
Frameline – Regent Radio Interviewed: Albert Shin
Dork Shelf Interviewed: Albert Shin, Igor Drljaca YTN Interviewed: Albert Shin SceneCreek Interviewed: Albert Shin, Igor Drljaca Tuesday September 2
Farchild TV Interviewed: Albert Shin Flickering Myth Interviewed: Albert Shin
Wednesday September 3
Arirang TV -‐ OMNI TV Interviewed: Albert Shin Evening News at 6 -‐ CHCH TV Interviewed: Albert Shin, Igor Drljaca The Stephen Holt Show Interviewed: Albert Shin, Igor Drljaca Toronto Star Interviewed: Albert Shin
Thursday September 4
Fairchild Radio Interviewed: Albert Shin
Friday September 5
Independent Film Channel Interviewed: Albert Shin, Igor Drljaca Tribute Media Interviewed: Albert Shin, Igor Drljaca
Reel Asian Blog Interviewed: Albert Shin Korean Film Council Interviewed: Albert Shin ATK Magazine Interviewed: Albert Shin
Monday September 8
Showbiz Monkeys Interviewed: Albert Shin Cine21 Interviewed: Albert Shin Ward and Al -‐ Sirius XM Interviewed: Albert Shin
Tuesday September 9
Metro Morning – CBC Radio Interviewed: Albert Shin The Korea Times Interviewed: Albert Shin York U Alumni Department Interviewed: Albert Shin
Wednesday September 10
CTV News Interviewed: Albert Shin First Weekend Club Interviewed: Albert Shin The Arts Guild Interviewed: Albert Shin
Toronto Film Festival’s Canadian Slate Features Xavier Dolan, Denys Arcand By Jenny Punter – 08.06.2014
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/toronto-‐film-‐festival-‐slate-‐1201276874/
The festival’s Discovery slate is chockablock with world-‐preeming pics from fresh talent, including Adam MacDonald’s based-‐on-‐a-‐true-‐story survival story “Backcountry”; Jeffrey St. Jules’ 1960s-‐set small-‐town horror-‐thriller “Bang Bang Baby”; Jefferson Moneo’s modern-‐day outlaw tale “Big Muddy”; Mathieu Denis’ drama about a teen caught up in Quebec’s 1960s socialist revolution “Corbo”; Pat Mills’ comedy about an alcoholic former child actor “Guidance”; Albert Shin’s South Korea-‐set rural drama “In Her Place”; Kris Elgstrand’s comedy “Songs She Wrote About People She Knows”; Kyle Thomas’ music-‐fueled, Alberta-‐set multi-‐ narrative “The Valley Below”; Jordan Canning’s story of estranged brothers “We Were Wolves”; and Lindsay Mackay’s coming-‐of-‐ager “Wet Bum.”
Cannes Winner ‘Mommy’ Heads Canadian Slate at Toronto Film Fest By Steve Pond – 08.06.2014 http://www.thewrap.com/cannes-‐winner-‐mommy-‐heads-‐canadian-‐slate-‐at-‐toronto-‐film-‐fest/ DISCOVERY “In Her Place,” Albert Shin / World Premiere
Toronto: Film Festival Unveils Canadian Lineup By Etan Vlessing – 08.06.2014 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/toronto-‐film-‐festival-‐unveils-‐canadian-‐723769 TORONTO – The Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday revealed its Canadian lineup, including world premieres for homegrown films by Ruba Nadda, Sturla Gunnarsson and Kyle Thomas. And the Discovery program has world bows for Jefferson Moneo's Big Muddy, Jordan Canning's We Were Wolves and Albert Shin's In Her Place, a Canada-‐South Korea co-‐ production that stars Yoon Da Kyung and Ahn Ji Hye.
Toronto 2014 top brass unveil Canadian line-‐up By Jeremy Kay – 08.06.2014
http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/toronto/tiff-‐unveils-‐canadian-‐roster/5075951.article?blocktitle=LATEST-‐ FILM-‐NEWS&contentID=40562
New work by Sturla Gunnarsson, Denys Arcand, Ruba Nadda and Xavier Dolan are among the selection set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) next month. DISCOVERY In Her Place (Canada-‐South Korea), Albert Shin WP
Toronto International Film Festival Reveals Slate of Canadian Features and Short Films By Casey Cipriani – 08.06.2014 http://www.indiewire.com/article/toronto-‐international-‐film-‐festival-‐reveals-‐slate-‐of-‐canadian-‐ features-‐and-‐short-‐films-‐20140806?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed Discovery "In Her Place," Albert Shin, Canada/South Korea World Premiere A mysterious woman from a big city arrives at a rural farm in South Korea, where she's taken in by an old woman and her odd teenage daughter. The three women remain in isolation and, as they begin to fall into a new rhythm of life together, work to fill a void within their lives. But soon enough, their arrangement becomes more than what they bargained for. Starring Yoon Da Kyung, Ahn Ji Hye and Kil Hae Yeon. The Toronto International Film Festival, which is set to make additional lineup announcements in the coming weeks, will run from September 4-‐14.
Toronto: Canadian Film Lineup Includes Xavier Dolan, Denys Arcand By Nancy Tartaglione – 08.07.2014 https://movies.yahoo.com/news/toronto-‐canadian-‐film-‐lineup-‐includes-‐xavier-‐dolan-‐denys-‐ 092711915.html In Her Place Albert Shin, Canada/South Korea, World Premiere A mysterious woman from a big city arrives at a rural farm in South Korea, where she’s taken in by an old woman and her odd teenage daughter. The three women remain in isolation and, as they begin to fall into a new rhythm of life together, work to fill a void within their lives. But soon enough, their arrangement becomes more than what they bargained for. Starring Yoon Da Kyung, Ahn Ji Hye and Kil Hae Yeon
Double The Dolan: Toronto Announces Canadian Programming, Including Two Xavier Dolan Films
By Jeremy Staley – 08.06.2014 http://blogs.indiewire.com/bent/double-‐the-‐dolan-‐toronto-‐announces-‐canadian-‐programming-‐ including-‐two-‐xavier-‐dolan-‐films-‐20140806 Discovery In Her Place Albert Shin, Canada/South Korea World Premiere A mysterious woman from a big city arrives at a rural farm in South Korea, where she’s taken in by an old woman and her odd teenage daughter. The three women remain in isolation and, as they begin to fall into a new rhythm of life together, work to fill a void within their lives. But soon enough, their arrangement becomes more than what they bargained for. Starring Yoon Da Kyung, Ahn Ji Hye and Kil Hae Yeon.
Xavier Dolan's 'Mommy' Leads Canadian Line-‐Up Of New TIFF 2014 Announcements
By Kevin Jagernauth – 08.06.2014 http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/xavier-‐dolans-‐mommy-‐leads-‐canadian-‐line-‐up-‐of-‐new-‐ tiff-‐2014-‐announcements-‐20140806 Discovery In Her Place Albert Shin, Canada/South Korea World Premiere A mysterious woman from a big city arrives at a rural farm in South Korea, where she’s taken in by an old woman and her odd teenage daughter. The three women remain in isolation and, as they begin to fall into a new rhythm of life together, work to fill a void within their lives. But soon enough, their arrangement becomes more than what they bargained for. Starring Yoon Da Kyung, Ahn Ji Hye and Kil Hae Yeon.
TIFF 2014 announces festival's Canadian lineup By Bruce Kirkland – 08.06.2014 http://www.torontosun.com/2014/08/06/tiff-‐2014-‐announces-‐festivals-‐canadian-‐lineup Canada rules — at least for one day in advance of the 39th Toronto International Film Festival in September. On Wednesday, TIFF organizers announced a diverse group of Canadian-‐made features, documentaries and shorts to be spread among 10 TIFF programs in September. Another buzz film in discovery is Kyle Thomas’ The Valley Below, set in the badlands of Alberta. Lindsay Mackay’s Wet Bum is a coming-‐of-‐age story starring Julia Sarah Stone, one of the four actors singled out as a TIFF Rising Star. Albert Shin’s In Her Place is a co-‐production of Canada and South Korea. Matthew Denis’ Quebec drama Corbo is set during the rise of the FLQ. Adam MacDonald’s Backcountry is a wilderness drama based on a true story of survival and tragedy. This article also ran in the following outlets:
http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/2014/08/06/21857761.html
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/08/06/tiff-‐2014-‐announces-‐festivals-‐canadian-‐lineup
The Canadian slate in which TIFF rolls out its local content By Norman Wilner – 08.06.2014
http://www.nowtoronto.com/movies/story.cfm?content=199171 With a flurry of names, titles and film clips, the Toronto International Film Festival announced most of this year’s Canadian entries this afternoon. Also in the Discovery program: Albert Shin’s In Her Place, a drama about a rural South Korean family who take in a woman from the big city; Kris Elgstrang’s Songs She Wrote About People She Knows, starring Arabella Bushnell and Brad Dryborough; Jordan Canning’s We Were Wolves, with Peter Mooney and Steve Cochrane as brothers reconnecting after the death of their father, and Lindsay Mackay’s Wet Bum, starring Julia Sarah Stone as a 14-‐year-‐old girl whose coming of age is not going quite as smoothly as she’d like. The 39th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 4 to 14, 2014.
Oh, Canada! TIFF ’14 Canadian Films Unveiled Today in Toronto By Anne Brodie – 08.06.2014 http://www.monstersandcritics.com/oh-‐canada-‐tiff-‐14-‐canadian-‐films-‐unveiled-‐today-‐in-‐ toronto/ DISCOVERY In Her Place Albert Shin, Canada/South Korea World Premiere
Arcand, Dolan among Canadian filmmakers at TIFF By Laura Kane The Canadian Press http://globalnews.ca/news/1496302/arcand-‐dolan-‐among-‐canadian-‐filmmakers-‐at-‐tiff/ Festival programmer Agata Smoluch Del Sorbo called Bang Bang Baby a “sly, genre-‐twisting movie” that is a prime example of a major theme in this year’s lineup. “This year we noticed there’s a lot of filmmakers playing with genre in really interesting ways, either providing fresh perspectives on traditional genres or blending genres in really interesting ways to create their own style,” she said. She also noted that there were a number of strong, female-‐driven narratives this year — including Albert Shin’s In Her Place, a story of three Korean women of different ages, and Andrea Dorfman’s Heartbeat, about a musician trying to reconnect with her songs. This article also ran in the followng media outlets :
http://www.windsorstar.com/entertainment/Arcand+Dolan+Tierney+screen+titles+upcoming+Toronto+ film/10094805/story.html?__federated=1
http://www.surreyleader.com/national/270321591.html
http://www.therecord.com/whatson-‐story/4740346-‐tiff-‐s-‐canadian-‐lineup-‐shows-‐hunger-‐for-‐films/
http://www.bramptonguardian.com/whatson-‐story/4736599-‐arcand-‐dolan-‐to-‐screen-‐at-‐toronto
TIFF’s L.A. Reception By Sydney Levine – 09.01.2014 http://blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylevine/tiffs-‐la-‐reception-‐ 20140901?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+indieWIRE Fesitvals+(indieWire+Festivals) Canada has the most coproduction treaties of any other nation, and Seoul Korea is the chosen city in this year’s City to City program. The coproduction between Canada and So. Korea, “In Her Place” by writer-‐director Albert Shin, showing in the Discovery Section looks very compelling. Elle Driver is selling this drama about a wealthy couple secretly seeking to adopt the unborn child of an impoverished and troubled rural teenager.
Kaiju Shakedown: Patrick Lung Kong By Grady Hendrix on August 23, 2014 in Film Comment, Kaiju Shakedown
http://www.filmcomment.com/entry/kaiju-‐shakedown-‐patrick-‐lung-‐kong TORONTO PREVIEW EDITION The Toronto Film Festival has announced its lineup, a mixture of the good, the bad, and the befuddling. But any way you slice it, there are a lot of Asian movies here, so let’s dive into the pile. THE REST OF THE FEST In Her Place (Albert Shin, South Korea) The Korean-‐Canadian filmmaker delivers a movie about rich people trying to adopt a baby from a “troubled rural teenager."
York talent abounds at 2014 Toronto International Film Festival 09.03.2014
http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2014/09/03/york-‐talent-‐abounds-‐at-‐2014-‐toronto-‐international-‐film-‐festival/
Discovery program TIFF’s Discovery program presents world premieres of feature films by “directors to watch” from around the world. In Her Place Saturday, Sep 6 : 2pm TIFF Lightbox – Cinema 2 Tuesday, Sep 9 : 3:30pm Scotiabank Theatre – Cinema 4
In Her Place, written and directed by York film grad Albert Shin (BFA Spec. Hons. ’06) and co-‐ produced by Shin and Igor Drljača (BFA Spec. Hons. ’07, MFA ‘011), is hailed as a “subtle and surprising” film. It tells the story of a wealthy couple from Seoul, South Korea who are hoping to adopt the unborn child of a troubled rural teenager. In her preview of In Her Place, TIFF’s Canadian features programmer, York film alumna Agata Smoluch Del Sorbo (MFA ’99), says: “With the discipline and maturity of a veteran director, Shin patiently explores the rhythms and tensions born of the three women’s disparate desires. In Her Place takes you on a sobering, rewarding journey of both great hope and devastating heartbreak, and boldly marks the arrival of a bright new filmmaking talent.”
In Her Place: Secrets and lies
By Linda Barnard – 09.06.2014 http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/tiff/2014/09/06/in_her_place_secrets_and_lies.html
A little eavesdropping in a cafe in South Korea inspired Toronto director Albert Shin’s In Her Place, a deliberately paced and beautifully shot drama about three Korean women, a secret pregnancy and the heartbreak that results. Already earning early attention — including a mention on TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey’s Mission List of 16 worthy films still lacking a theatrical distributor — In Her Place has its world premiere at TIFF Saturday and screens again Sept. 9 and 12. “It was like (this) restaurant, about as loud, and just like this table,” Shin said, gesturing to the busy lunchtime crowd around us at a Bloor St. eatery while describing the “very, very heated” debate he overheard in South Korea a few years ago. The topic was a woman they all knew. One group insisted she was pregnant. The others said that was impossible.
“Whatever I could gather from what they were talking about through osmosis, it was like, oh, this is one of those secret adoption situations,” Shin recalled. “It’s taboo because they put such (emphasis) on bloodlines in Korea,” explained Shin. “If you adopt a child, or the child is not of your flesh and blood, you are kind of seen as … a defective person that can’t give birth,” he said. Adopted children “grow up marginalized or even bullied because you were ‘abandoned’ as a child; your parents aren’t your real parents. That’s the stigma.” From that exchange came the inspiration for the micro-‐budget, Korean-‐language Canadian film that the 30-‐year-‐old York University film school grad spent years planning and about nine months shooting on a “borrowed” farm in South Korea. He serves as director, co-‐writer (with Pearl Ball-‐Harding) and co-‐producer. It’s his second feature film, following Krivina, which he made with producing partner and fellow York grad Igor Drljaca. That film, which Drljaca directed, had its world premiere at TIFF 2012. With In Her Place, Yoon Da-‐Kyung stars as a wealthy Seoul woman who, desperate to have a child, arrives at an isolated farm where a struggling widow (Hae-‐yeon Kil) hopes her teenage daughter’s pregnancy can be transformed from a shameful accident into a beneficial situation. The woman moves in with the mother and daughter to wait out the birth. She tells friends she is pregnant and explains her absence by telling them she and her husband decided she’ll have the child in the United States. Untrained actress Ahn Ji Hye plays the morose and rebellious pregnant teen, who clearly has her own emotional problems. “I didn’t want to make a film that was about a cultural topic per se; I wanted it to be about the characters and the individual people,” said Shin. “I didn’t want it to be a soapbox film, where I talk about what I’m trying to hammer people over the head about. This is not right or this is wrong; I didn’t want to pass judgment.” Shin wanted especially to avoid passing judgment on issues surrounding adoption. He was more interested in the dramatic potential. “I thought the characters were fascinating — the moral ambiguity, and these characters that, in one way, are coming together for a purpose where everybody wins, sort of, if everything goes as planned.” he explained. “I was exploring that.” Shin, who said his Korean fluency is “about 75 to 85 per cent,” found he needed a writing partner, not to help with language but rather to ensure “that I didn’t stray from having a … female perspective, making sure I’m not just going off on my own fantasy world.” Enter Ball-‐Harding, who helped Shin with problems he had “cracking the code, so to speak.” Shin, who has wanted to be a filmmaker since childhood, used to watch the live TV feeds of TIFF press conferences as a youngster growing up in Newmarket. He said “it’s incredible” to have his movie premiere in Toronto. “As a kid I dreamed of being a filmmaker, but also making films that could play at the Toronto Film Festival, making this a career,” he said. “I hope to be doing this 30 years from now. So it’s obviously having TIFF support the movie and selected for its world premiere is a dream come true.”
Canadian film talent to watch out for at TIFF 09.04.2014 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/awards-‐and-‐festivals/tiff/canadian-‐talent-‐to-‐watch-‐out-‐ for-‐at-‐tiff/article20344259/ Meet the Canadians whose work will take centre stage at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Albert Shin, director
“I wanted to see if I could make something that worked like a slow burn,” says Albert Shin of his sophomore feature In Her Place, about a big-‐city couple who have decamped to a farmhouse in the South Korean countryside for reasons that the Ottawa-‐born filmmaker is very careful to keep vague for as long as possible. “This movie is trying to sneak up on you a bit,” explains the York University graduate, who previously produced the award-‐winning comedy short Day of John and directed a micro-‐budget feature called Point Traverse (2009), which he jokingly describes as “very Canadian, [with] a lot of desolate, snowy landscapes.” With In Her Place, Shin has not only taken a step forward in his storytelling and craftsmanship, but he’s also gone back to his parents’ home country; Shin’s family emigrated to Canada from South Korea and he shot the film at a farm previously owned by his aunt and uncle. “I sort of walk between these two worlds,” he says. “And that’s what I’m hoping to explore in my filmmaking.” – Adam Nayman
TIFF 2014 // In Her Place 09.04.2014 http://www.chch.com/tiff-‐2014-‐place/
In Her Place is a family drama written and directed by Albert Shin. The film is his second feature and third film to be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. From the film’s synopsis: An affluent city woman arrives at a desolate South Korean farm where a pregnant teenaged girl and her mother have agreed to let her secretly adopt the girl’s unborn child. As the pregnancy progresses and the three women fall into a new rhythm of life together, their business arrangement becomes more than they bargained for. Albert stopped by our studio to tell us about the film and the challenges of writing for women as a man. In Her Place screens at the festival on September 6th and 9th.
Popcorn Panel: When Daniel Radcliffe met Toronto in The F Word http://arts.nationalpost.com/2014/09/05/popcorn-‐panel-‐when-‐daniel-‐radcliffe-‐met-‐toronto-‐in-‐ the-‐f-‐word/
This week’s panel: • Craig Courtice is the Popcorn Panel’s Abu Dhabi correspondent. • Craig Silliphant is a Western Canadian film and music critic and Editor of TheFeedbackSociety.com. • Stacey Donen is a longtime film programmer and a new father. He often passes for Steven Spielberg. Unpopped Kernels: The F Word was released at the Toronto International Film Festival a year ago. The panel takes a look at the state of Canadian film a year later. Stacey: It’s still not easy getting a film financed in this country but I believe it’s significant that there are 10 Canadian filmmakers with their debut films at the festival this year. That’s huge — I doubt it’s ever happened before. A few to watch out for are Albert Shin (In Her Place), Jeffrey St. Jules (Bang Bang Baby) and Mathieu Denis (Corbo).
Four Fresh Toronto Faces at TIFF 2014 By Jason Anderson – 09.01.2014 http://torontoist.com/2014/09/four-‐fresh-‐toronto-‐faces-‐at-‐tiff-‐2014/ With all the hype and hysteria that accompanies the arrival of even the most marginal celebrities at TIFF (and I say this as someone who still talks about seeing Sinbad jaywalk across Bloor Street in 1992) it’s easy to forget how significant the festival is to people in the local film scene. In short: it’s a big deal. So here’s what TIFF means to four actors and filmmakers who live in Toronto—all of whom will be heading into the festival fray to support first or second features that made the cut for the Discovery program—and what they hope (and fear) will happen at their big premieres. Why they’re here… Albert Shin: co-‐writer, editor, and director of In Her Place, premiering September 6, 2 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox. (He previously produced Krivina, a TIFF 2012 entry by his York University classmate Igor Drljaca.) Pat Mills: actor, writer, and director of Guidance, premiering Sept. 5, 6:30 p.m. at Scotiabank Theatre. (A Ryerson University grad, he had two shorts at TIFF and won the Telefilm Canada Pitch This! contest in 2008.) Missy Peregrym: lead actor in Backcountry, premiering Sept. 8, 9 p.m. at Scotiabank Theatre. (She may be familiar from lead roles TV’s Reaper and Rookie Blue and the film Stick It.) Jeffrey St. Jules: writer and director of Bang Bang Baby, premiering Sept. 8, 7:15 p.m. at Scotiabank Theatre. (He’s already had three short films appear at TIFF.) The biggest reason their friends and neighbours need to see their handiwork… Shin: It’s good to support the local guy. Mills: I tuck my dick like Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. Peregrym: I don’t know that they need to see it but it’s a thriller that’s a pretty intense ride. Bear attacks happen more often than we think or are told about and it definitely will make you think twice about camping. St. Jules: Jane Levy is really, really good in it. The most exciting and/or most intimidating thing about presenting their handiwork at TIFF…
Shin: The whole film world descends to the festival and it’s an amazing opportunity to raise awareness for the film and myself as a filmmaker. However, I feel most comfortable being behind the camera and hidden from view. Mills: I tuck my dick like Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs—and my parents will be there. Peregrym: I’ve never had a film at TIFF or have done the independent route so I have my eyes wide open to the experience. I’m nervous, for sure. It’s one thing to make a film or project—it’s another to share it with others. St. Jules: Exciting because this is the first time showing an audience this film I’ve been working on for 10 years. Intimidating because this is the first time showing an audience this film I’ve been working on for 10 years. Best-‐case scenario for the big premiere… Shin: The whole film world embraces the film and I’m inundated with boatloads of money and offers to shoot my next film. Mills: Everyone sneaks booze into the cinema, gets drunk and laughs at my expense. Peregrym: Well, I guess I would love it if the people connected to the experience and enjoyed the film. That’s all I ever hope for, that people feel connected. St. Jules: The audience will group-‐hug me. Worst-‐case scenario for the big premiere… Shin: I’m pelted with rotten tomatoes during my Q-‐and-‐A from utter outrage and disappointment from the audience. Mills: We all get arrested for sneaking booze into the cinema and/or public indecency. Peregrym: A bear attacks everyone in the theatre. St. Jules: The audience will beat me up.
Tiff Film Tuesday September 9, 2014 http://www.cbc.ca/metromorning/episodes/2014/09/09/tiff-‐film/ Matt Galloway spoke with Albert Shin. He is the director and co-‐writer of "In Her Place" Listen (runs 5:23)
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Korean-‐Canadian Director Albert Shin's "In Her Place" 09.08.2014 http://www.arirangkorea.ca/news-‐reports/0908543
Korean-‐Canadian Director Albert Shin's "In Her Place" had its world premiere at this year's Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, September 6th. The film is a compelling drama that centers around the building tension between the film's characters, and will be screening in the festival's Discovery Programme. "The secret at the centre of Albert Shin's beautifully restrained In Her Place unfolds slowly and subtly over the course of the film's opening scenes. An affluent couple from Seoul arrives at a desolate farm in the South Korean countryside, where a pregnant teenager and her mother have agreed to let them adopt the girl's unborn child. As part of the arrangement, the wife will stay at the farm until the child is born." Shin was born in Ottawa to first generation Korean parents and studied film and video production at York University. He has produced the short film Day of John (05) and the feature Krivina (12), both of which screened at the Festival. He has directed the short films Pin Doctor (06) and Kai's Place (08), and the feature Point Traverse (10). In Her Place (14) is his second feature which was also co-‐written and edited by Shin.
Albert Shin & Igor Drljaca Interview -‐ In Her Place By Heather McIntosh – 09.08.2014 http://www.tribute.ca/tiff/index.php/2014/09/07/albert-‐shin-‐igor-‐drljaca-‐interview-‐in-‐her-‐ place/#.VA8kcV6mDSO
Secret adoption lies at the center of Albert Shin's compelling drama In Her Place. Set in a remote town in South Korea, the story follows the lives of a couple and the unborn child they are going to adopt from a rural teenager. Canadian director Albert Shin and Producer Igor Drljaca sit down with tribute.ca to discuss the film and their pleasant surprise collaborating and filming in South Korea.
Interview: Albert Shin “In Her Place” Posted on September 9, 2014 http://www.reelasian.com/general/interview-‐albert-‐shin-‐in-‐her-‐place/
A few days ago, Reel Asian Marketing Committee Members Ramlah Marvi and Stephanie Cheung, had the honour of sitting down with Korean Canadian director Albert Shin to discuss about his first Korean language film In Her Place. This is Albert’s second feature film about an affluent couple from Seoul, South Korea who seeks to secretly adopt an unborn child from a rural and troubled teenage girl. Shin portrays several themes including, family relations, alienation, identity and he directed the film in a calculated pace to illustrate the characters’ emotions and anticipation of the impending birth. In Her Place held its world premiere over the weekend the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and you can catch the second screening on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 at 3:30pm. More info
Interviewer: First of all, we want to know more about your background in filmmaking. What inspired you to be a film maker? Albert: Well I think I fell in love with movies at a really young age. I guess maybe I was those typical kind of immigrant children stories that my parents had to work a lot. They kind of left me to my devices a lot and I guess I gravitated towards movies. Even though I was 4-‐5 years old, I would rent 3-‐4 VHS movies and started watching them and then I really fell in love with filmmaking as I got older. I transitioned from watching as a fan, to watching it as how these things are made, and I guess that kind of love never went away. It just kept growing and it still grows today. So it’s one of those things I definitely want to do.
Interviewer: Why did you choose this script In Her Place over other scripts? Albert: I’m based in Toronto even though I am Korean Canadian born in Canada and I was raised in the GTA. So I made a lot of films that happened here in Canada, but I still grew up in a very Korean household with a very Korean name. I didn’t want to reject that side of myself either. I thought that Korea is a vibrant culture and it’s of culture influx. There are a lot of things, lots of tension, a lot of energy there, so I really wanted to make a film there. So I thought about trying to make a movie in Korea. I started off that and I defined a story and it took many years. I wrote this film in 3 or 4 years so it took a very long time to do, but something about the story and I found this location and fell in love with it and this is the perfect place to shoot a film so I really wanted to do it. I don’t know what it was about the story itself, but it really spoke to me, even if it took a really long time to write it. I kept thinking that this is what I want to do. These characters are really important to me and I really wanted to bring these people alive. So it kind of kept me going time after time over and over again in these years. Finally I figured out how to do it, so here we are. Interviewer: You are the director and the editor for the movie and I thought that was interesting. I was wondering what did you enjoy more? Albert: When I was in school, I kind of started doing editing and I transitioned into directing, producing and some of the other stuff. So my brain is always wired as an editor still, even though I really love directing. Directing is my number one love I’d say, but I can’t help but think in how to cut the films even when I’m shooting and writing, how to edit the film is always embedded in my mind. You know there’s a saying that a director shouldn’t edit their own film because they’re too close to the material. You need someone with a different kind of perspective to kind of help then. But for this film in particular, it was interesting, I had to edit it because it’s a Korean film and I had to edit here in Canada. I couldn’t find a Korean editor that understood the language; it was kind of up to me to do it. Being an editor, knowing how to edit saves times because we’re making really small independent films and small independent films always never have enough money, not enough time. So not shooting stuff frivolously and not spending too much time on shoots you don’t need is very important. When you have a sense of how editing is supposed to go, you don’t end up spending time on things you’re not going to need and spend the time on what you actually need. So it was very helpful. It was a very small budget film, was kind of me having to plan how to shoot the film but also how I wanted to edit the film was very important because then it would help be like, okay this isn’t working, so we can edit it like this and just figure it out. Interviewer: I wanted to ask was there any interesting or funny stories you could share while you were filming this movie. Albert: Yeah there were a lot of interesting stories. When you make movies, you know the crew usually comes together and it becomes family-‐oriented in the sense because we’re all stuck together for so long, that even if you don’t like the person, you kind of have to fight and love everything together. But this film in particular was interesting because we were so far away from the city and everyone was secluded in this tiny little village. My Korean isn’t perfect, so I was kind of like that unknown factor to all the crew members because they were all like “Well this Korean Canadian who wants to shoot a movie in Korean and it’s dealing with women, pregnancies and things like that. Like why does he want to make this film?” To kind of break the ice, I started making up my own kind of Korean slang and basically making things up, it helped break the ice. And they were like wow it’s a very heavy movie but behind the scenes it was very joyous and it was a really fun experience to make it. So it offset the heaviness of the actual film itself. It
was kind of fun to be with these people. By the end of the film, we had our own kind of weird half-‐ English, half-‐Korean language going on which only the people in the crew would understand. It was fun and it was kind of us going kooky being so stuck far away from everybody. Interviewer: What did you do for the casting of the film because usually the casting is usually the most daunting part of the process? Albert: Casting for this film was really hard. We casted for almost a year and I just couldn’t find the right actor, so it was really tough, at a certain point I thought maybe I wouldn’t find the right actor. I tried different avenues, amateur actors who are actually more like this person, trying seasoned professional actors to bring something to the table. It was just really hard in particular with the younger girl, I must have looked at hundreds of people, and it was just non-‐stop looking at people. I thought we looked at every Korean actress of that age in Korea. It was really kind of tough, but I was able to find these actors that I thought were just perfect for the role. It took a lot of time but it was worth it and there were some times I thought “you know what this person is good enough” but I’m glad I kept pushing my crew in Korea to find them. Like there’s gotta be more people, more actors and not only the people I found were perfect for the film, but they understood what I wanted to do with the film. Not just the actors but the crew that were looking to do something different. Obviously a Korean Canadian filmmaker coming in from Canada trying to make a film is kind of different then the way they make films. It was something definitely different for them. It kind of rejuvenated their creative juices and I was looking to do something different as well. Like putting myself in a foreign environment to make a movie, which is hard to do, even if you’re in your own backyard. So it was very fun, it was a fun collaboration; it was a really interesting give and take. Interviewer: As a filmmaker do you feel the responsibility to make a film with a strong message? Albert: I do! I don’t want to makes films which does not have an idea or does not have anything to say. I like to play in the grey zone where it’s very ambiguous. I want to pack my film with subtext…where it’s not clear. I don’t want to tell them how to think about the film. I want the film to stir their own kind of feelings and argue things and maybe self-‐reflect. Because this is what best cinema does… it makes you think. Whether I make a comedy or anything, I want it to have a message. Interviewer: What are your thoughts about Reel Asian Unsung voices program? Albert: I think it’s an amazing program. It’s a great program to get one started. Filmmaking is creative expression that everyone wants to do, but since it’s technical not many people know how to. Reel Asian has created an avenue where youth can explore and challenge themselves to work with this creative expression. Interviewer: What message would you give to aspiring filmmakers? Albert: Go and make movies. Many people like movies but not everyone likes making them. Some realize it is boring or too slow for them. Go and make movies and make sure you have something to say and you know how to say it. Interviewer: What is the one film every filmmaker should watch? Albert: There are two actually. Godfather 1 and 2.
TIFF14: INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR ALBERT SHIN OF IN HER PLACE By Sonya – 09.02.2014 http://www.aznmodern.com/2014/09/02/tiff14-‐director-‐albert-‐shin-‐in-‐her-‐place/
In Her Place is making its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. Written and directed by Albert Shin, the film is about a wealthy city woman who arrives at a remote South Korean farmer where a pregnant teenaged girl and her mother have agreed to let her secretly adopt the girl’s unborn child. As the pregnancy progresses and the three women fall into a new rhythm of life together, their business arrangement becomes more than they bargained for. I had a chance to chat with director Albert Shin about this film as he gets ready for its premiere during TIFF… So, WOW! Where did the did the story idea come from?
The main location in the film was a family farm that belong to my extended family and had always intrigued me as a setting for a film. It used to be a bustling dairy farm back when I was a kid, but had sort of been abandoned at some point and wasting away. I spent years thinking about a story idea that I could set there, but wasn’t making any breakthroughs. Finally, a few years ago I was at a restaurant in Korea when I overheard a large family in the midst of a heated debate regarding the legitimacy of an absent family member’s pregnancy. Half the table thought she was pregnant and the other half thought she was faking it. Their discussion brought back memories of my own family gossiping about how so-‐and-‐so not the real child of so-‐and-‐so. I then started to do more research on secret adoptions in Korea, and found it was something that used to be extremely prevalent in their culture and still happens today. I knew I had finally found the story idea to match my location. The title of this film “In Her Place” has landed in so many different ways for me, personally, but what does it mean to you? The title seemed to communicate the essence of the film so succinctly, that once I settled on it, it was a no-‐brainer; however, we actually didn’t have an official title until the film was all edited. There are some obvious meanings suggested in the title, but the one that speaks strongest to me is how it alludes to the film’s emphasis on character point of view and perspective. Can you tell us about the cast, particularly the teen and the adopting mother, and why you had selected them? I had an amazing cast of very experienced and highly regarded actors from both the screen and stage and I feel extremely lucky that they would agree to work with a young and unknown Korean-‐Canadian director. Yoon Da Kyung, who played the city woman who comes to the farm, was somebody that read the script and immediately responded to it. Right from our first meeting, we were on the same page. However, for the teen, I was having trouble casting the part after auditioning potential actresses for months. Then Ahn Ji Hye came to a casting call without much acting experience and completely blew me away. She has the rare ability to communicate more by doing less and her take on the character was really different and fresh. What’s the film industry like in Canada? Just like any artistic industry, I think you have to look for ways to open doors for yourself and not wait for the industry to magically open doors for you. In this day in age, making films on your own has gotten much easier to do with the access to better and cheaper equipment; literally anybody can make a film with a group of friends. That’s how I started out and if you stick with it and can prove yourself, hopefully the industry takes notice and it gets easier to continue to do it. What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you about the industry? Chalk every road block and rejection as a form of character-‐building. What do you love about TIFF? Being a Torontonian, TIFF has always been a wonderful avenue to discover new and exciting films and artistic voices over the years. it really does rejuvenate my love of cinema and filmmaking. What causes the most stress for you about TIFF? World premiering a new film in such a high profile venue can be quite frightening. But deciding what to wear for events seems to stress me out much more than it should. The audience participation at TIFF has always been a very cool feature, what was the strangest (or craziest, or best) question you’ve ever had to answer? I once did a press line for a film I produced when I quickly realized the journalist asking me questions was confusing me with somebody else. Not sure why I didn’t correct them, but I proceeded to do the interview anyway as this other person, vaguely answering questions about a film I knew nothing about. What’s next for you? I’m producing the feature film, “The Waiting Room” directed by Igor Drljaca through our production company, TimeLapse Pictures.
Okay…how about a few fun questions? Do you listen to K-‐Pop? Any favourites? Despite my Korean background, I couldn’t name you two K-‐Pop songs or artists. Okay, this film was pretty intense, so what do you do to decompress? I go for long aimless drives. Your favourite movie of all time? Schindler’s List If you could work with any actor, who would that be? Michael Shannon. The most amazing location you’ve filmed? The main farm location in “In Her Place”. No doubt! Your mantra? Just go for it! What do you have on repeat? The Boss (Bruce Springsteen) When I crave Korean food in Toronto, I go to . A hole in the wall Korean restaurant on Bloor St. Koreatown. I’m not even sure it has an English name. It might just be called Seoul Restaurant. Love this place. Describe yourself in three words. Nervous energy galore. For screening schedule and tickets for IN HER PLACE, visit tiff.net Here is the official trailer…
TIFF Interview: Albert Shin, director of In Her Place By Cindy Zimmer – 09.07.2014 http://atkmagazine.com/2014/09/07/tiff-‐interview-‐albert-‐shin-‐director-‐of-‐in-‐her-‐place/
We were lucky to interview Korean-‐Canadian director of In Her Place, Albert Shin, before its world premiere. It’s a powerful film so check it out at the Toronto International Film Festival if you have the chance (our review will be out shortly)! Keep reading to find out what Albert had to say to our questions. Interview with Albert Shin I read in another interview that you filmed In Her Place on a farm in Korea that had connections to your family. What effect did shooting there have on you? Well, I guess on a practical basis it was a location I intrinsically understood. So even though I was writing a lot of the film in Canada and I was trying to figure out how I wanted to shoot it, I knew what the location looked like so it actually helped me formulate how I wanted to shoot it. How I could use the potential of the location.
It was a very small budget film and we didn’t have a lot of money. But I didn’t want to limit that, I didn’t want that to be a limitation of the film. I didn’t want it to be an excuse as to maybe why the film doesn’t look very good or anything like that. Because I had the location and I knew it, it was kind of freeing in a way. I knew I could work within the parameters, and really craft a story that fit the location pretty much. So it was actually very good. And on an emotional level, it’s obviously a place I know very well and I have all these fond memories from. But it’s a tale of not exactly fond memories. So it was kind of interesting to kind of marry those two feelings I guess. In Her Place is your second feature film but the first set in Korea. What were the differences filming in Korea versus filming in Canada? There were a lot of differences but in the end, it was kind of like making movies is making movies. I was actually really worried about that, being a Korean-‐Canadian. I speak Korean and all that but my Korean is not as strong as my English. I was really self-‐conscious and kind of nervous about “Should I do this? Am I allowed to do this? Will they hate me for doing it?” Those kinds of questions. Once I got there and found a cast and crew that were into what I was trying to do. It was actually kind of fun, collaborating with their style and my style. I was looking for something different and I think the cast and crew I found, they were looking for something different. So it was actually really kind of joyous. The film is kind of a heavy movie but making the film was anything but. It was very exciting, kind of electric kind of thing. Everyone was learning something new, I was learning from them and they were learning something from me. It was really fun. We were all kind of stuck together in the middle of nowhere. So if we didn’t get along it would have been very stressful probably. The three main characters in In Her Place are female. What were the challenges and/or benefits of writing a female character-‐driven film as a guy? There were a lot of challenges, particularly in the writing stages. That’s one of the reasons the film took so long to write because it’s a film I don’t have any personal connection with in terms of I don’t have children, I’m not a woman, and I don’t have sisters. I don’t know where it came from to be honest. So it was very, very tough to write. I had a co-‐writer that really helped me. She’s not Korean but she’s a woman. She really made sure and kept me on the right track that I was making proper three-‐ dimensional, real flesh and blood characters, which was really quite important to me. I wanted to make a film that had really strong female characters. You don’t see very much because obviously most of the films are mainly male dominated and the female roles are often supporting the male protagonists. But half the world is not male and there are a lot of stories to be told. I don’t know why it works this way but I felt that this was a story that I wanted to tell. A lot of ideas came and went over the years but this one was really strong in the forefront. It never kind of waned or went away so my passion for the project stayed. I’m not sure where it came from but it was there so I kept pursuing it. You mentioned that it took a while, how long did it take to write and film In Her Place? The film took, I would say that once I had the idea, it took about three years to write it and then to make it. But wanting to make a film there, it was over ten years old but working on this specific project probably working on this specific project, it’s probably about three to four years. Our first day of shooting was September 5, 2013 and we’re going to premiere the film on September 6, 2014 so I we’re going unveil the film exactly a year after we started filming. It was probably a five-‐year process all together. What was the most memorable thing that happened during the filming of In Her Place? The most memorable, I don’t know if there was one particular event or episode. But the actual filming of the film was definitely the most memorable. Like I said before, I had a lot of self-‐doubt maybe at first
about whether or not they would take me seriously or if people would get under what I was trying to do and come with me for the ride. And like I said before, my Korean isn’t perfect so I was using a lot of interesting slang, I can’t even remember but I used to use a lot of Konglish to make it kind of light. And then all of sudden everyone else on the film started taking it and running with it. So by the end of the film I think we kind of had our own language; a combination of Korean and English and maybe some weird hybrid. Something like English phrases that were directly translated into Korean which kind of sound a little funny or goofy. I guess a lot of the cast and crew thought it was kind of endearing so we kind of ran with it. It was really a fun experience, surprisingly, given the subject matter and all of the kinds of different situations or things that could have gone well. That’s definitely what I remember about it. When the audience is watching In Her Place, what do you want them to take from it? How did you want the audience to react? I want them to watch it. It’s a film that plays a lot with perspective and point of view. I really tried to make a film where nobody is right or wrong. It’s just people in different situations or circumstances, and having to make the best of whatever they have going on. Hopefully, people will kind of sympathize or empathize with all the characters. Even if they like one person over the other or maybe they don’t like anyone, just understanding that even though it’s a very specific film in a very specific place and a very specific culture. Hopefully they see the universal aspects of the film. Which is what I ultimately wanted to do, I wanted to make a film that would work for people in Korea or for people in Norway or anywhere else in the world. So hopefully, they take something emotional from the film, ultimately. What advice can you give, from personal experience, to aspiring filmmakers? I would say, just do it. At this point, with the way technology is, if you really want to make films, there is nothing stopping you from doing it. No one is going to ask you to make a movie or tell you to make a movie, or give you money to make one at first. You have to just do it if you love it. Are you working on any new projects at the moment? Yeah, actually my next immediate thing is I’m going to be producing a film for my producing partner, Igor Drljača. I produced his last film and he helped me produce this one. It’s not intentional but we’ve been kind of switching on and off. I direct one and he produces it, he directs one and I produce it. We’re gearing up to shoot his film in the next couple of months. I’m working on a couple of projects right now for my own films. I have a Korean film and an English film that I’m kind of working on at the same time. We’ll see which one wins the race and I’ll see if I can make that one happen. And finally, how can fans stay connected to you and your films? Are you on social media or a website? Yeah, our production company, Time Lapse Pictures, has a Twitter that we’re always updating people on that. It’s @TimeLapsePics. We also have a Facebook and a website. We’re constantly making sure it’s up-‐ to-‐date and letting people know what’s happening. We’re happy to have Toronto for our world premiere. And hopefully we’ll have a lot of film festivals coming up over the next year, so hopefully people around the round can see it. We have Canadian distribution; we just got it at the festival so hopefully we’ll be releasing the film theatrically sometime in the near future. So people who can’t see it at TIFF can see it, hopefully in Vancouver or Montreal or Toronto or anywhere around the country. Thanks so much to Albert Shin, director of In Her Place, for taking the time to chat with us and for the lovely long answers to our questions. Editor’s Note: My apologies, for some reason there was some audio problems with my recording of the first three questions which are not included as I wasn’t able to reliably transcribe Albert’s answers. I do apologize as they were great answers!
Daniel Garber talks to Albert Shim and Igor Drljaca about their new film In Her Place at TIFF14
Daniel Garber -‐ 09.05.2014 https://danielgarber.wordpress.com/tag/in-‐her-‐place/ Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM. Three women come together in a run-‐down farm in rural South Korea: A beleaguered single mother struggling financially; a troubled daughter with an unwanted pregnancy; and a rich woman from Seoul. She’s moving in with them for awhile. And what brings them together? The unborn foetus. The mother wants it to go away. The daughter is struggling with internal conflicts. And the rich woman wants to take the future baby In Her Place. IN HER PLACE is also the name of a new dramatic feature about family, names, orders and chaos, gain and loss. It’s made by Toronto writer/director Albert Shim and producer and collaborator Igor Drljaca. Their films have played internationally and garnered awards and critical praise. This movie is having its world premier at the Toronto International Film Festival. I spoke with Albert and Igor, in studio, to find out more.
Stars from The Judge, Cut Snake on day two at our TIFF suite http://www.tribute.ca/tiff/index.php/2014/09/06/stars-‐from-‐the-‐judge-‐cut-‐snake-‐on-‐day-‐two-‐at-‐our-‐ tiff-‐suite/#.VCSOoCtdVpH The suite was buzzing on day two with actors, directors and producers eager to discuss their new films. Take a moment to look through our gallery of all the guests that came by our suite to promote films such as In Her Place, a Korean film about a wealthy couple trying to adopt a troubled teen's unborn child, Life in a Fishbowl, a multi-‐narrative story set in Iceland, following the lives of three very different people whose lives begin to intersect, and many more.
Igor Drljaca and Albert Shin
TIFF 2014 Interview: Albert Shin By Elizabeth Hughes Belzil -‐ 09.15.2014 http://www.showbizmonkeys.com/features.php?id=2892
In a small patio nestled in a high-‐rise apartment building in downtown Toronto, I sit across from Albert Shin. Despite the periodic sounds of honking from below and the roar of planes from above, the spot is peaceful, illuminated by the mid-‐morning sun. The young Canadian writer-‐director is friendly and informal, with a boyish face and irrepressible grin. One would hardly guess that he helmed the spectacular In Her Place which played as part of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival's Discovery program ASME Y14.5 . The level of mastery displayed in the film appears more the work of a veteran filmmaker than a second feature shot on a micro-‐ budget. In Her Place is the story of three women: a rich woman from the Seoul, a rural single mother and her pregnant teenage daughter. On a remote farm in the South Korean countryside, the women conspire in a secret adoption that leads to a horrifying conclusion. As a boy, Shin visited relatives who lived on the land where the film is set -‐-‐ it was a boy's bucolic paradise with cows and a working farm. When he returned as an adult "they'd abandoned it so it was there just rotting away. However, it was a very evocative location. I guess I had a personal attachment to the place. . . As an independent film director you have to be creative (in regards to budget)." Shin mulled over various ideas for several years before an overheard conversation at a restaurant regarding a secret adoption inspired the film's plotline.
While adoption in all cultures is fraught with difficulties, the pains the wealthy woman takes to conceal the origin of her baby are dramatic. She hides in the country at the home of the pregnant teenage girl whose baby she plans to adopt, using a foreign cell phone in order to maintain an elaborate ruse that she is giving birth in America. "There is a serious stigma attached to adoption in Korea . . . It's this idea of pure bloodlines. If you can't bear children you are perceived as defective in some way," explained Shin. Adopted children are seen as "castaways, like your real parents didn't want you" and thus "secret adoptions are rampant in Korea." Because of the social pressures to have children infertile couples will "fake their pregnancy and then move to a different town, make new friends and raise the child." What intrigued Shin was the "old, archaic kind of thinking that's been passed down but is still there today in this very modern country." On the surface, the story is simple; however, the film's structure is a marvel. The point of view shifts to three separate characters with seamless continuity: first the rich woman from the city, then the teenage girl, and finally her mother. "I wanted to play with people's emotions or allegiances to a certain character," Shin commented. On paper these shifts in perspective sound like a gimmick, a trick. However, if there is a trick, it is that at no point it feels like a trick. I asked him about the execution of this. "It was very difficult to achieve. I didn't want to make it a vignette film where it's three different small movies, like an omnibus movie. I wanted to make a cohesive film from beginning to end." He set a rule that the point of view would remain with one character at a time in order to capture their perspective completely which, in turn, evokes the acute feelings of claustrophobia and loneliness experienced by each. This is so effective "some people don't even realize the perspective changes they just watch it and it's just a movie-‐-‐I kind of like that as well." The changing viewpoints allow a range of interpretations. The film could be viewed as a well-‐observed character study of three lonely women, or as an allegory for class-‐based oppression or even as a horror story of one woman taking possession of another like a parasite. "I was really keen on this idea of making this film that wasn't one thing," said Shin. "I wanted to play with perspective and point of view." He stuck with the story so long because he "could put all those elements in the subtext and hopefully they would just spurt out." In Her Place can be as big or as small as the viewer desires-‐-‐nothing feels contrived, preachy or obvious. Shin doesn't want to seem like he's "pulling the strings." He continued, "The only films I end up pursuing all the way through are those that take on a life of their own-‐-‐that start to lead me as opposed to me leading it." I pride myself on not doling out undeserved praise: I assure the reader that accolades are well deserved. When I spoke to Shin the film had just garnered Canadian distribution. I anxiously await his next work as I see a major talent on the rise.
TIFF14: Interview With In Her Place Director Albert Shin By Sonya – 09.08.2014 http://urbanmoms.ca/entertainment/tiff14-‐interview-‐with-‐in-‐her-‐place-‐director-‐albert-‐shin/
The Toronto International Film Festival is in full swing now with many opportunities to catch some terrific films.The Festival is almost like a big teaser for when some of the films come out in the theatres. You may have seen and heard the buzz about the heavyweight contenders that are pulling out all the stops with well-‐ known celebrities in attendance, but many film lovers I know also find the real gems in TIFF’s Discovery programming which focuses on the future of cinema and films by “Directors to Watch.” In Her Place caught my attention this year and is gaining a lot of attention. It is a compelling drama about a wealthy woman who seek to secretly adopt an unborn child of an poor and troubled rural teenager. What unfolds is a bold and simmering story about the relationship between the woman, the teen and her mom. I had the opportunity to interview director, Albert Shin as he gets ready for the world premiere. Albert was born in Ottawa and studied film and video production at York University. He has produced several shorts and in 2012 screened his feature Krivina at TIFF.In Her Place is his second feature. So, WOW! Where did the story idea come from? The main location in the film was a family farm that belong to my extended family and had always intrigued me as a setting for a film. It used to be a bustling dairy farm back when I was a kid, but had sort of been abandoned at some point and was wasting away. I spent years thinking about a story idea that I could set there, but wasn’t making any breakthroughs. Finally, a few years ago I was at a restaurant in Korea when I overheard a large family in the midst of a heated debate regarding the legitimacy of an absent family member’s pregnancy. Half the table thought she was pregnant and the other half thought she was faking it. Their discussion brought back memories of my own family gossiping about how so-‐and-‐so was not the real child of so-‐and-‐so. I then started to do more research on secret adoptions in Korea, and found it was something that used to be extremely prevalent in their culture and still happens today. I knew I had finally found the story idea to match my location.
The title of this film “In Her Place” has landed in so many different ways for me, personally, but what does it mean to you? The title seemed to communicate the essence of the film so succinctly, that once I settled on it, it was a no-‐brainer; however, we actually didn’t have an official title until the film was all edited. There are some obvious meanings suggested in the title, but the one that speaks strongest to me is how it alludes to the film’s emphasis on character point of view and perspective. Can you tell us about the cast, particularly the teen and the adopting mother? I had an amazing cast of very experienced and highly regarded actors from both the screen and stage and I feel extremely lucky that they would agree to work with a young and unknown Korean-‐Canadian director. Yoon Da Kyung, who played the city woman who comes to the farm, was somebody that read the script and immediately responded to it. Right from our first meeting, we were on the same page. However, for the teen, I was having trouble casting the part after auditioning potential actresses for months. Then Ahn Ji Hye came to a casting call without much acting experience and completely blew me away. She has the rare ability to communicate more by doing less and her take on the character was really different and fresh. What’s the film industry like in Canada? Just like any artistic industry, I think you have to look for ways to open doors for yourself and not wait for the industry to magically open doors for you. In this day in age, making films on your own has gotten much easier to do with the access to better and cheaper equipment; literally anybody can make a film with a group of friends. That’s how I started out and if you stick with it and can prove yourself, hopefully the industry takes notice and it gets easier to continue to do it. What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you about the industry? Chalk every road block and rejection as a form of character-‐building. What do you love about TIFF? Being a Torontonian, TIFF has always been a wonderful avenue to discover new and exciting films and artistic voices over the years. it really does rejuvenate my love of cinema and filmmaking. What causes the most stress for you during TIFF? World premiering a new film in such a high profile venue can be quite frightening. But deciding what to wear for events seems to stress me out much more than it should. The audience participation at TIFF has always been a very cool feature, what was the strangest (or craziest, or b est) question you’ve ever had to answer? I once did a press line for a film I produced when I quickly realized the journalist asking me questions was confusing me with somebody else. Not sure why I didn’t correct them, but I proceeded to do the interview anyway as this other person, vaguely answering questions about a film I knew nothing about. What’s next for you? I’m producing the feature film, The Waiting Room, directed by Igor Drljaca through our production company, TimeLapse Pictures. Okay, this film was pretty intense, so what do you do to decompress? I go for long aimless drives. Your favourite movie of all time? Schindler’s List If you could work with any actor, who would that be? Michael Shannon. The most amazing location you’ve filmed? The main farm location in In Her Place. No doubt! Your mantra? Just go for it! Describe yourself in three words. Nervous energy galore. IN HER PLACE is screening during the Toronto International Film Festival 2014. For more information visit tiff.net
TIFF 2014 EDITION of 21 QUESTIONS 09.09.2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFxDjxW3b1U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i6GQy5k1oY
TIFF 2014: 10 must-‐see Canadian films people are sure to be talking about 08.21.2014 http://tiff.ca.hellomagazine.com/film-‐festival-‐2014/0201408219217/tiff-‐2014-‐10-‐must-‐see-‐ canadian-‐films-‐people-‐are-‐sure-‐to-‐be-‐talking-‐about
In Her Place Director Albert Shin tells the story of a wealthy couple seeking to secretly adopt the unborn child of an impoverished and troubled rural teenager.
TIFF 2014 movie reviews: 50 and counting
IN HER PLACE ALBERT SHIN http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/tiff/2014/08/28/tiff_2014_movie_reviews.html
FILM INFORMATION Star rating: 3.5 stars (out of 4) PRINCIPAL CAST Yoon Da Kyung, Ahn Ji Hye, Kil Hae Yeon, Kim Sung Cheol, Kim Chang Hwan, Kim Kyung Ik SHOWTIMES Sat, Sep 6 2:00pm TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 Tue, Sep 9 3:30pm Scotiabank Theatre Scotiabank 4 REVIEW Toronto filmmaker Albert Shin explores deep ethical questions in his carefully constructed story of three very different South Korean women brought together: a wealthy Seoul wife’s desperate desire to have a child, a poor rural mother and her morose, possibly unstable teenage daughter who can give it to her. But at what cost? Beautifully shot, the peaceful country setting and deliberate pacing are at odds with something dark brewing, which yanks the audience into a new and shocking reality. A stunning film. L.B.
IN HER PLACE
By RADHEYAN SIMONPILLAI -‐ 09.04.2014 http://tiff.nowtoronto.com/2014/film-‐detail.cfm?film=2128&ref=reviews
Review By RADHEYAN SIMONPILLAI NOW Rating: NNNN
Canadian director Shin's sophomore feature is an expertly plotted drama that packs a paralyzing, emotional gut punch. In rural South Korea, a well-‐to-‐do city woman (Yoon) moves in with an elderly farm woman (Kil Hae-‐yeon) and her pregnant teen (Ahn) with the secret intention of adopting the child. While various other figures pass through, In Her Place is essentially a slow-‐burning three-‐hander, and our sympathies are skilfully rotated between the three nameless women. Societal demands and class differences are just two of the factors that cause a rift in their arrangement and stir this dramatic pressure cooker.
TIFF 2014: A-‐Z guide to the festival By Jim Slotek – 08.26.2014 http://www.torontosun.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival Can’t wait for the Toronto International Film Festival? Here’s our A-‐Z guide to TIFF 2014. K-‐ Korean. A language it would be great to know, considering how South Korea continues to produce films with violence and sexual license on par with ’70s Hollywood. In a twist this year one of them is Canadian — the haunting drama In Her Place, shot in Seoul by York grad Albert Shin. This article also ran in the following outlets:
http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/2014/08/26/21899801.html
-‐ 24 hrs Vancouver http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ St. Thomas Times Journal http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Nipawin Journal http://www.nipawinjournal.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Edmonton Examiner http://www.edmontonexaminer.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Brockville Recorder http://www.recorder.ca/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Cochrane Times http://www.cochranetimes.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Timmins Press http://www.timminspress.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Kenora Daily Miner and News http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Stratford Beacon Herald http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ St. Catharines Standard http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Daily Herald Tribune http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ The Barrie Examiner http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Fort McMurray Today http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Kingston Whig-‐Standard http://www.thewhig.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ The Sarnia Observer http://www.theobserver.ca/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Chathan Daily News http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Northumberland Today http://www.northumberlandtoday.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ The Enterprise Bulletin http://www.theenterprisebulletin.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Strathmore Standard http://www.strathmorestandard.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ Welland Tribune http://www.wellandtribune.ca/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
-‐ The Sudbury Star http://www.thesudburystar.com/2014/08/26/tiff-‐2014-‐a-‐z-‐guide-‐to-‐the-‐festival
TIFF 2014: Our preview of the festival's must-‐sees By Bruce Kirkland – 08.29.2014 http://www.torontosun.com/2014/08/27/tiff-‐2014-‐our-‐preview-‐of-‐the-‐festivals-‐must-‐sees In Her Place: This is the second film from Korean-‐Canadian director Albert Shin, whom programmer Agata Smoluch del Sorbo calls “a bright new filmmaking talent.” Set in a bucolic landscape in rural South Korea, the story concerns a city couple who want to adopt the unborn daughter of a pregnant teenager. But there are secrets to reveal. This article also ran in the following outlets:
-‐ Winnipeg Sun http://www.winnipegsun.com/2014/08/27/tiff-‐2014-‐our-‐preview-‐of-‐the-‐festivals-‐must-‐sees
-‐ Edmonton Sun http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/08/27/tiff-‐2014-‐our-‐preview-‐of-‐the-‐festivals-‐must-‐sees
-‐ Calgary Sun http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/08/27/tiff-‐2014-‐our-‐preview-‐of-‐the-‐festivals-‐must-‐sees
-‐ Ottawa Sun http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/08/27/tiff-‐2014-‐our-‐preview-‐of-‐the-‐festivals-‐must-‐sees
Read 'em, rate 'em, sort 'em: The Globe review guide to TIFF 2014 movies
09.02.2014 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/awards-‐and-‐festivals/tiff/read-‐em-‐rate-‐em-‐sort-‐em-‐ the-‐globe-‐review-‐guide-‐to-‐tiff-‐2014-‐movies/article20154938/ In Her Place Directed by: Albert Shin Starring: Yoon Da-‐kyung, Ahn Ji-‐hye Genre: Drama Year: 2014 Country: Canada/South Korea Language: Korea There’s an enigma at the centre of Canadian director Albert Shin’s Korean-‐set debut about a city couple who descend upon a rural farm with clouded motives; once it’s revealed, In Her Place transforms from a promisingly elliptical debut into a more or less straightforward – though still relatively well-‐turned – drama. The film is very nicely shot and acted, but it finally lacks excitement: it’s a little too muted for its own good. Sept. 6, 2 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox 2; Sept. 9, 3:30 p.m., Scotiabank 4; Sept. 12, 8:45 p.m., Scotiabank 4. – Adam Nayman
TIFF 2014: Reviews of 'Foxcatcher'. 'Nightcrawler' and more http://www.torontosun.com/2014/09/08/tiff-‐2014-‐reviews-‐are-‐in IN HER PLACE COUNTRIES Canada/South Korea DIRECTOR Albert Shin REVIEW Young Korean-‐Canadian Albert Shin goes to Seoul to shoot a remarkably sure-‐handed and moving drama about an infertile young urban professional (Yoon Da Kyung) who travels to the country to live with the terminally-‐depressed teenage surrogate (Ahn Ji Hye) who’s carrying the baby she hopes to adopt. It’s all fake smiles from the girl’s mother (Kil Hae Yeon), as she tries to emotionally paper over the dysfunctional mess. But each character’s backstory soon begins to peel like an onion. Technically categorized as a Canadian movie, it may be the absolute best in that category this year. HHHH Jim Slotek This article also ran in the following media outlet:
http://m.calgarysun.com/2014/09/08/tiff-‐2014-‐reviews-‐are-‐in
TIFF 2014 REVIEW: IN HER PLACE By William Brownridge – 09.05.2014 http://thetfs.ca/2014/09/05/tiff-‐2014-‐review-‐place/#.VAyzUF6mDSN
A wealthy couple, who have struggled to have a child decide to adopt the unborn child of a poor teenage girl (Ahn Ji Hye). The couple stay with the girl and her mother (Kil Hae Yeon) so their family will be unaware that they are adopting, and the close contact begins to expose some problems for all involved. Secret adoptions used to be quite common in Korea and director Albert Shin can recall hearing this kind of gossip from his childhood. The idea began to expand and In Her Place is the final result. The dramatic film maintains a very uncomfortable atmosphere, leaving viewers with a nagging suspicion that something very wrong is going on. The film also takes a strong look at love, relationships, and family. The wealthy couple seems disconnected from each other, but they’re ready to adopt this child to begin their family. The young girl carrying their child is madly in love with the father of her child, but he’s being kept away from her. The arrangement has more to do with money than it does with love. As the film nears the end, the suspicion of something going wrong becomes more clear and threatens the arrangement between the couple and the young girl. Is In Her Place essential festival viewing? Albert Shin’s film is a beautiful look at love and family, and how the circumstances surrounding us can so greatly impact our search for those very things. A must see film for anybody looking for something more dramatic. In Her Place screening times: Saturday, September 6, 2014 – 2:00 pm – TIFF Bell Lightbox | Tuesday, September 9, 2014 – 3:30 pm – Scotiabank
TIFF 2014 Review: In Her Place By Charles Trapunski – 09.01.2014 http://scenecreek.com/tiff/tiff-‐2014-‐review-‐in-‐her-‐place/
If a single word were used to describe Canadian director Albert Shin’s work In Her Place, it would be ‘unsettling’. The film, shot on location in rural South Korea, is about a childless city couple trying to arrange a secret adoption from a family on a farm, and specifically, adopting a young girl. The course of adoption does not run smoothly though, and many complications are encountered, especially when the father of the b aby reemerges into the life of the young soon-‐to-‐be mother.
Going back to the idea of unsettling, the characters are not given names, and as we spend time viewing the situations differently from the point-‐of-‐view of the lead characters, Shin’s direction actively takes on new perspectives, as we go from wider shots to forced close-‐ups, revealing an almost debilitating sense of intimacy without having to rely on Xavier Dolan-‐like tricks of shrinking and expanding the aspect ratios. In fact, Shin’s deft direction remains a strength throughout In Her Place, as the focus remains steady throughout the changes in perspective, and the rendering of the farm greatly adds to just how unsettling the experience is becoming. If two more words were used to describe the film, they would be ‘look closer’. The casual viewer will try to look solely to the larger frame of In Her Place. The dedicated and patient filmgoer, the one that can get past the unsettling nature, and truly, look closer, may have come to the right place.
TIFF 2014: In Her Place Review
By Andrew Parker – 09.02.2014 http://dorkshelf.com/2014/09/02/tiff-‐2014-‐in-‐her-‐place-‐review/ In Her Place Discovery
Elegantly mounted and austere at the same time, Albert Shin’s debut feature (co-‐produced by long time filmmaking partner Igor Drljaca, director of Canadian festival favourite Krivina) looks at three generations of women bound by South Korean customs to a terrible situation.
A woman seeks to secretly adopt the soon to be born out of wedlock child of a rural teenager. The woman seeks to save face as she can’t have children of her own with her husband and keep the blood line going, while the teen’s mother is openly appalled and emotionally abusive towards her child. All the characters are nameless and all the events take place at the same farmhouse in rural South Korea. Shin wisely pushes the men into the background to show the burden women face in a society that has never seen them as equals. The generational scars are real, and still ongoing, making a tragic story feel even more vital the more one learns about these women. It’s harrowing stuff, and it comes with a shocking climax that will be one of the most talked about at the festival this year. (Andrew Parker) Screens Saturday, September 6th, 2:00pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 Tuesday, September 9th, 3:30pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
TIFF: The Underground, Life In a Fishbowl and In Her Place Reviews By Jacqueline Valencia – 09.02.2014
http://nextprojection.com/2014/09/02/tiff-‐underground-‐life-‐fishbowl-‐place-‐reviews/
In Her Place (2014) Dir. Albert Shin There’s a quietness that permeates Albert Shin’s In Her Place. It’s the silence inherent in thought, regret, fear, and in the jarring isolation associated with doubt. In the film an affluent couple arrive at the home of a poor single mother and her young pregnant daughter in hopes of adopting her unborn child. It’s a situation fraught with uncertainty and possible betrayal. Yoon Da-‐Kyung plays the potential adoptive mother with worry in her every step and suspicion in her eyes. Ahn Ji Hye’s performance though is the highlight of the film. Her physical responses to her character’s complicated condition are painfully explicit. In turn, director Albert Shin captures the women’s intertwined emotions of loss and peril with a weathered palette of browns, yellows and reds, denoting common situations that can become insurmountable in an instant. Landscape shots of rural South Korea are lush, but are colored with desolation in the sounds of nature unaware of the troubles that house these characters. In Her Place is a slow moving, but heart wrenching drama, yet the meditations it creates will stay with you long after you’ve left the theatre.
TIFF 2014 Review – In Her Place (2014) By Trevor Hogg – 09.03.2014 http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2014/09/tiff-‐2014-‐review-‐place-‐2014.html In Her Place, 2014 Directed by Albert Shin Starring: Yoon Da Kyung, Ahn Ji Hye, Kil Hae Yeon, Kim Sung Cheol, Kim Chang Hwan, and Kim Kyung Ik. SYNOPSIS: A wealthy couple seeks to secretly adopt the unborn child of an impoverished and troubled rural teenager.
A luxury car drives up a dirt road to a farm in desperate need of repair; a well-‐attired young South Korean couple steps out of the vehicle to meet with a mother and her teenage daughter who is of particular interest to them. The poor agricultural family was hit hard by Mad Cow disease which decimated their herd of cattle and by the death of the patriarch. Something secretive is taking place as an American cellphone left with the wife as her husband needs to return to work. A dress is given to the teenage girl from the female visitor which quietly reveals that fact that she is pregnant. The mother is determined to make sure that baby adoption transaction takes place with the eating habits of her daughter being a big concern. Phone calls fill in some of the narrative gaps. The confrontation of the boyfriend of the teenager makes the woman who expects to be an adoptive parent uneasy as she is becoming more immersed in the lives of her hosts. Simplicity reigns as the action comes to the camera, shots are allowed to linger and natural light subtly illuminates the carefully composed imagery. The score stays in the background and at times scenes are absent of music. Windows play a big part in framing the action of the various characters who express their emotions more through their body language and facial expressions than in words. The slow pacing emphasizes the fact that In Her Place is meant to be a character study rather than a plot-‐drive tale. As in life, filmmaker Albert Shin (Point Traverse) who co-‐ wrote the screenplay and edited the drama has chosen not to go for a tidy ending but one that feels rather bitter sweet. Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★★★/ Movie: ★★★
TIFF Sat Sept 6: Sex vengeance, Nordic malcontents and more By Robin D. Laws – 09.07.2014 http://robin-‐d-‐laws.blogspot.ca/2014/09/tiff-‐sat-‐sept-‐6-‐sex-‐vengeance-‐nordic.html In Her Place [South Korea/Canada, Albert Shin, 4] Well-‐off woman goes to the country to live with the family of the girl pregnant with the baby she has arranged to adopt, so she can pass it off as her biological child. Naturalistic social drama from first time director with the assurance to bring out the issues strictly through character behavior. Though shot in Korea, the director is from Toronto. Hence the combination of Korean cultural detail with the classic Canadian social drama.
TIFF 2014: In Her Place By Jennifer Reynolds – 09.05.2014 http://prettycleverfilms.com/movie-‐reviews/modern-‐times/tiff-‐2014-‐in-‐her-‐ place/#.VAy3FV6mDSN
A derelict farm owned by a widowed woman (Hae-‐yeon Kil) and her quiet, compulsive teenage daughter (Ahn Ji Hye) sets the scene for Albert Shin’s In Her Place. Simplicity is key here, and the entire film takes place on or around the farm, save for a handful of scenes involving the daughter’s boyfriend. For the most part, In Her Place is a character study between Kil, Hye and the wealthy woman (Yoon Da-‐Kyung) who comes to stay with them. She’s there to adopt the girl’s unborn baby to cover up her own secret and as part of the deal she’ll stay with the family until it’s born. What starts as a series of very formal and almost stand-‐offish interactions slowly evolve into a much deeper relationship as the three can’t help but become involved in each other’s lives. In Her Place is deliberately paced with little action but a slow, subtle build-‐up to emotional but satisfying reveals. It doesn’t have an attention-‐grabbing splash of action but if you invest in it, it will pay off. Shin sets up almost everything you’ll need to know about the film in its first few minutes. Nothing is an accident, nothing is unimportant. Da-‐Kyung’s husband’s (Kyung-‐Ik Kim) insistence that she use his American cell phone teases the
larger truth about the adoption; questions about Hye’s eating habits hint that it’s of much more concern than Shin first shows. With three female leads, each with her own motivations and desires, In Her Place builds to its only logical conclusion. That’s not to say it wraps up neatly or comfortably, but when taken as a whole as In Her Place is meant to be, it fits. Watch the In Her Place Trailer
Screening Times for In Her Place Sat, Sep 6 2:00pm TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 2 Tue, Sep 9 3:30pm Scotiabank Theatre Scotiabank 4 FILM INFORMATION Director(s): Albert Shin Country: Canada/South Korea Year: 2014 Language: Korean Premiere Status: World Premiere Runtime: 115 minutes Rating: 14A CAST & CREDITS Producer: Yoon Hyun Chan, Albert Shin, Igor Drljaca Production Company: TimeLapse Pictures
Principal Cast: Yoon Da Kyung, Ahn Ji Hye, Kil Hae Yeon, Kim Sung Cheol, Kim Chang Hwan, Kim Kyung Ik Screenplay: Albert Shin, Pearl Ball-‐Harding Cinematographer: Moon Myoung Hwan Editor: Albert Shin Sound: Matthew Chan, J.R. Fountain, Shaun Kim Music: Alexandre Klinke Production Designer: Heo Seo Hyung, Choi Young Mi CONTACT INFORMATION US Sales Agent: Elle Driver International Sales Agent: Elle Driver
IN HER PLACE -‐ TIFF 2014 (TIFF Discovery) -‐ Review By Greg Klymkiw
By Greg Klymkiw – 09.01.2014
http://klymkiwfilmcorner.blogspot.ca/2014/09/in-‐her-‐place-‐tiff-‐2014-‐tiff-‐discovery.html
In Her Place (2014) Dir. Albert Shin Script: Shin & Pearl Ball-‐Harding Prods. Igor Drljaca, Yoon Hyun Chan & Shin Starring: Yoon Da Kyung, Ahn Ji Hye, Kil Hae Yeon, Kim Sung Cheol, Kim Chang Hwan, Kim Kyung Ik Now and again, I find myself seeing a movie that feels so perfect, so lacking in anything resembling a single false note and so affecting on every level that I'm compelled to constantly pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. In Her Place, enjoying its World Premiere at the 2014 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival is a dream, but most decidedly of the dream-‐come-‐true variety. This is exactly the sort of film that restores my faith in the poetic properties of cinema and how the simplest of tales, at their surface, allow its artists to dig deep and yield the treasures inherent in the picture's soul. When a film is imbued with an inner spirit as this one is, you know you're watching something that hasn't been machine-‐tooled strictly for ephemeral needs. In Her Place is a film about yearning, love and the extraordinary tears and magic that are borne out of the company and shared experience of women. And, it is exquisite. A childless couple nearing the early stages of middle-‐age, cut a private deal to adopt outside the purview of an official agency, which, they're convinced, will be the ideal no-‐ muss-‐no-‐fuss arrangement. The Wife (Yoon Da-‐kyung), having been previously afflicted with serious health issues, especially wants the world to think she's the biological birth-‐ mother of the adopted newborn. She and her Husband (Kim Kyung Ik) concoct a cover for friends and family that she's waiting out her pregnancy in America instead of Seoul. In reality, she's not left South Korea at all and is staying on an isolated farm. Her hosts are The Mother (Kil Hae-‐yeon), widowed and forced to run the sprawling acreage on her own and her daughter, a shy, pregnant teenage Girl (Ahn Ji-‐hye). For a substantial sum, this financially needy rural family agrees to give up the baby to the well-‐to-‐do couple from the big city. The Wife stays in modest digs originally meant for onsite farmhands while her Husband returns to Seoul to work. From here, she can maintain the optics of being away from home during pregnancy but also take an active role in nurturing the young lady carrying "her" child. The arrangement seems too good to be true and sure enough, complications slowly surface and threaten to scuttle an otherwise perfect plan. In Her Place is director Albert Shin's stunning sophomore feature-‐length outing. Working with co-‐writer Pearl Ball-‐Harding and co-‐producer Igor Drljaca (director of 2012's dazzling Krivina and Shin's old York University film school pal and partner in their company TimeLapse Pictures), Shin and Drljaca seem to have pulled off another miracle in the relatively short life of their seemingly perfect partnership. Evocatively photographed by Moon Myoung Hwan, wrenchingly and beautifully scored by
Alexandre Klinke, featuring a cast as perfect as any director (or audience) would want and edited by Shin himself with the pace and deep sensitivity that's reminiscent of a Robert Bresson film, you'll experience as haunting and touching a film as any of the very best that have been wrought. This is great filmmaking, pure and simple. What I love about this movie, aside from its emotional content, is just how Shin trusts in the beautiful writing and employs a mise-‐en-‐scène that allows his actors to inhabit the frame (always perfectly composed) for the kind of maximum impact that can come from holding steady on narrative action and only cutting when absolutely necessary to spin things forward in subtle ways -‐ parcelling out information so that we are allowed to take in both information and the affecting layers of very palpable impression and subtext. A perfect example of Shin's assured direction occurs right off the top. The film opens with a fade up from black into a perfectly composed fixed shot of a well-‐worn gravel road. Flanked by lush, green trees, an unassuming, slightly worn farmhouse sits deep in the centre background, while a car makes its way into the frame and moves with purpose onto the property. All is swathed in a strange grey light from the overcast sky and as the car reaches a halfway point on the road, Shin cuts to place us in a reverse as the vehicle comes even closer to the house. It's as if the point of view was not so much from that of a character, or even from the inanimate house as if it were personified, but rather taking the perspective of an omnipresent observer. This won't be the first time Shin delivers such a POV. From this point and onwards, he allows us, the audience to participate with a kind of fly-‐on-‐ the-‐wall scrutiny. This second shot of the film is masterful on several important fronts. In both the writing and staging, the camera lets action play out in the time it takes and in so doing, always keeps us guessing (in all the right ways) as to who is in the car, who the people are once we meet them as they exit the vehicle, get an immediate sense of character from how the two people are positioned in the frame and also by their actions and finally, a very subtle dolly back as the two characters move forward and encounter a sweet, friendly, but sad-‐eyed dog, chained next to an empty food bowl as it observes the visitors. This image of a chained dog resonates incalculably as the film progresses. Another important element here is that these two people become identifiable as a married couple because the shot takes its time and is so perfectly blocked. Even more extraordinarily, the shot allows enough time for one of the people to notice something in the distance and move towards it before the next cut. This entire shot is a brave and bold stroke so early in the proceedings. The shot lasts for two minutes of screen time, setting the mood, tone and pace of how the tale will unfold, but also establishing how we, as viewers, are observers. And we are not passive viewers. It's as if we were actually in the frame, unseen by the characters, but participants in the narrative nevertheless, almost complicit in the actions of the story. Complicity is indeed a key thematic element at play in the film and Shin does not let us off the hook. Finally, though, the shot also gives us the sense that this will be the story of The Husband. He is, after all, the most active half of the couple. This is essential at this point, especially since we soon find ourselves within an interior shot set back from a table where the Husband, his back to us, continues to be the most active character in terms of his domination of the conversation and by his declarative statements regarding the heat and stuffiness of the interior. The notion of being able to breathe, to feel the sort of freedom this natural, rural environment should inspire, to not be hemmed in by circumstance, a lack of communication and/or connection to the outside world is also an element that is established and will reverberate throughout the film with great force. The other vital component here is that the position of the camera allows us to see all three women very clearly. Though their interaction seems tentative compared to that of the husband, the very length of the shot allows Shin to establish trinity between these women and we're soon plunged into their story -‐ which ultimately, the film is. The Husband seems a mere appendage or, if you will, the chauffeur. He gets his wife there, he even gets us there, but when his job is done, he's dispensed with save for a few key moments later on wherein he still, strangely, feels more like an instrument of mere conveyance. The dynamic between these three women is so powerful, so telling and finally, so devastating, that Shin's subtle control of his film is at once invisible and yet always present because we are where we have to be for every single emotional and narrative beat. In Her Place so quietly rips our hearts to shreds. We are included in the emotional journeys of a daughter whose child can never
be hers, a mother whose daughter is everything to her but comes to this realization when it's too late and a woman who has come between them because her own desire to love and nurture is so strong and true. Finally, it's all about a baby -‐ a new life that binds all three women for what will be an eternity. This is a great picture. See it. THE FILM CORNER RATING: ***** 5-‐Stars In Her Place enjoys its World Premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. For tickets, dates, venues and showtimes, be sure to visit the TIFF website HERE.
#TIFF14 Reviews: The Price We Pay, In Her Place, The Valley Below, We Were Wolves By John Corrado -‐09.04.2014 http://onemoviefiveviews.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/tiff14-‐reviews-‐the-‐price-‐we-‐pay-‐in-‐her-‐ place-‐the-‐valley-‐below-‐we-‐were-‐wolves/ In Her Place: The characters in Canadian director Albert Shin’s South Korean drama In Her Place are nameless, and the majority of the story takes place at a rural farmhouse, but the complex situation at the centre of the story is compelling to watch unfold. The film opens with a husband (Kim Kyung-‐Ik) and wife (Yoon Da-‐Kyung) arriving at the countryside property of a woman (Kil Hae-‐Yeon) and her teenaged daughter (Ahn Ji-‐Hye). We slowly discover that the girl is pregnant, and the couple plans to secretly adopt the unborn child, shamefully hiding the fact that they can’t have a child of their own. But this already unique situation, involving three women bound by strict tradition, grows increasingly more layered and complex throughout the very well acted In Her Place. The result is a transfixing drama that unfolds with a quietly simmering sense of intensity, building towards a shocking and disturbing conclusion. Saturday, September 6th – 2:00 PM @ TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 Tuesday, September 9th – 3:30 PM @ Scotiabank Theatre
TIFF 2014: A Special Place Addison Wylie – 09.05.2014 http://wyliewrites.com/tiff-‐2014-‐in-‐her-‐place/#more-‐3891
At TIFF ’12, a cold film named Krivina made its mark on the circuit. Directed by Igor Drljaca and produced by Albert Shin, Krivina was a film with a strong, silent lead. It tested my patience with meandering stretches, but halfheartedly won me back with a shocking twist I didn’t see coming. Smashcut to present day and the roles have switched with In Her Place – Shin is now the writer/director and Drljaca is a co-‐executive producer. Now, this is more like it! If Krivina showed audiences what sort of filmmaking Shin and Drljaca are interested in, In Her Place shows movie goers how their approach gains more momentum when the story and the characters are expressive. Shin’s screenplay keeps matters vague with slivers of dialogue making all the difference. The story of a humble, slightly downtrodden wife (played remarkably by Yoon Da-‐kyung) collectively waiting to adopt a newborn has us hanging on with her through every wavering step. There’s a lot to pay attention to with the pregnant teen (played by Ahn Ji-‐hye) having the tendency to act out while her mother’s strict parenting pushes forward. The mother is skillfully played by Kil Hae-‐ yeon. Rarely do we feel the actors are playing up their emotions. Shin – like Drljaca – is a fan of letting each character “feel the moment”. Shin’s careful direction allows his cast to respectfully soak up every bit of it. The on-‐screen chemistry between everyone is spot-‐on too. In Her Place starts dragging its feet when the tone becomes too sombre and the story evolves into something more psychological. But, up until those dry spells, In Her Place is a well made character study about how a seeming miracle can counter define another’s struggles.
In Her Place – Film Review TIFF 2014
By Karen Makedon -‐ 09.12.2014 http://tmakworld.com/2014/09/in-‐her-‐place.html
In Her Place is a brilliantly-‐captured drama. It begins with a wealthy city couple arriving at the rural farm of a struggling widow (Hae-‐yeon Kil) and her young, pregnant daughter (Ahn Ji Hye). The couple are there to adopt the girl’s unborn child and the wife (Yoon Da-‐Kyung) moves in with the mother and daughter until the child is born. The girl’s mother is pleased with the arrangement as it transforms the family’s embarrassing situation into an opportunity for a new beginning. The wife has her own personal issues. Having recently miscarried her own child, she leads her family and friends into believing that she is pregnant and living overseas with her husband until she can return with babe in arms. The girl on the other hand is shy and withdrawn. Detained at home, where her pregnancy can be shielded from the prying eye of outsiders, she spends endless hours alone in her room. The wife takes notice and starts to keep a watchful eye over the girl, concerned about her poor diet and her odd behavior. Desperately in love with the baby’s teenage father, the girl longs to spend time with him. When the boy’s visits and love notes mysteriously cease, the girl’s bizarre behavior intensifies, escalating to a point of cinematic gruesomeness. Canadian writer-‐director Albert Shin wonderfully weaves together a story set in the midst of personal desperation. Each character clings onto a hope for new beginnings, precariously put at risk as the movie unfolds. Verdict: 4/5 -‐ In Her Place takes you on a wild journey of intense emotion and painful outcomes. At only 30 years old, Shin is a director to watch. Commendable performance by untrained talent Ahn Ji Hye.
TIFF ’14: In Her Place
By J.B. – 09.07.2014 http://jbspins.blogspot.ca/2014/09/tiff-‐14-‐in-‐her-‐place.html It is one of the few relationships Hallmark has yet to crack. It is hard to define just what this
moody teen represents to her well-‐heeled visitor, aside from being the mother of her future baby. The two women will share intimate moments, but there will always be a wall dividing them in Korean-‐Canadian filmmaker Albert Shin’s In Her Place (trailer here), which screens during the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. It is safe to say the Girl is troubled. Frankly, her swelling stomach is only one of her problems, but it is the most conspicuous one. For her Mother, the Woman from Seoul is a Godsend. She will help out during the final months of pregnancy, footing all the bills and providing enough additional money for the Mother to get the run down farm back on its feet again. In exchange, she will leave with the baby, claiming it as her own. This being Korea, social conventions demand they keep everything hush-‐hush. However, the Girl is the wild card in their best laid plans.
Not surprisingly, boys are a point of contention with her, but she has even deeper issues regarding self-‐esteem and abandonment. The Woman from Seoul partly understands this, but not fully so. She will take the time to get to know the Girl (as well as the kind of-‐sort of boyfriend who is quite surprised to learn of her condition), but the management-‐labor dynamic is hard to shake. A vibe of foreboding hangs over IHP right from the start and the third act is a bit protracted, yet the film’s ultimate tragedy still hits viewers with the force of a locomotive traveling at full steam. Credit goes to the three principle women, who are each truly devastating, but in a very different ways. Ahn Ji-‐hye is clearly a young breakout star of the future, who maintains viewer sympathy and credibility despite all her painfully self-‐destructive acting out. She could easily be the next Kim Go-‐eun (sort of the reigning Jennifer Lawrence of Korean Cinema) While many American indie filmmakers would be tempted to portray the Woman from Seoul as a one-‐ percent exploiter, Shin and co-‐writer Pearl Ball-‐Harding take great effort to humanize and explain her. She is a complicated character, whose past pain and disappointments are subtly but powerfully conveyed by Yoon Da-‐kyung. Yet, it is Kil Hae-‐yeon’s Mother who really sneaks up on the audience and rips everyone’s guts out. In all fairness, it should also be noted two of the guys (Kim Chang-‐hwan as the clueless Boy and Kim Seung-‐cheol as the Mother’s farmhand-‐crony) are also very good, but they are doomed to be overshadowed by the women. After watching IHP you need a couple days to make peace with it, but in all honesty, it is rare to find films that get under the skin in such a fashion. It is also an usually quiet film that adeptly captures the stark silence and loneliness of its rural setting. Cinematographer Moon Myoung Hwan truly transports us to that hardscrabble locale. It is a demanding film, but it constitutes impressive work all the way around. Recommended for discerning audiences, In Her Place screens again this Tuesday (9/9) as part of this year’s TIFF.
MEDIA IMPACT: HOW FEMALE NARRATIVES ARE DOMINATING TIFF’S CANADIAN FEATURES By Prerana Das – 09.10.2014 http://thetfs.ca/2014/09/10/media-‐impact-‐how-‐female-‐narratives-‐are-‐dominating-‐tiffs-‐ canadian-‐features/#.VBCVxF6mDSM
One of the reasons that TIFF’s Canadian Features programme is unique is because of a noticeable trend towards strong female-‐driven narratives. Several of these films revolve around one or more complex female characters, and others are made by female directors with distinct, inspiring voices. Smoluch Del Sorbo also highlights another female-‐driven narrative from the lineup – In Her Place. “This film is amazing,” she says. “it’s set and shot in South Korea and it tells the story of a woman who travels from Seoul to the South Korean countryside to secretly adopt a baby from a troubled teenage girl. As part of the arrangement, the woman lives with the teenage girl and her mother until the baby is born. So the film focuses on the rhythm of life these three women fall into and the secrets that are revealed along the way. It’s a really subtle, beautifully made film.” In Her Place not only deals with issues particularly relevant to females, such as childbirth, but it also explores the different circumstances which arise in complicated situations (such as secret adoptions) and the role that wealth or lack thereof can have upon people’s lives.
Toronto Showcases Wide Range of Asian Films SEPTEMBER 7, 2014 | 05:34PM PT | Patrick Frater | Asia Bureau Chief http://variety.com/2014/film/features/toronto-‐showcases-‐wide-‐range-‐of-‐asian-‐films-‐ 1201300307/ More than any festival outside the Asian region, Toronto serves up the widest range of contemporary Asian cinema each year. …. Playing alongside these are Canadian-‐Korean psychological drama “In Her Place,” by Albert Shin, and one of the most anticipated Korean films of the year, “Haemoo” (aka “Seafog”). This article also ran in the following media outlet:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-‐rt-‐variety-‐entertainmemt1vrt1201300307-‐ 20140907-‐story.html#page=1
TIFF Dispatch: The 39th Toronto International Film Festival underway by BRANDON WEE on Sep 4, 2014 • 4:45 pm
http://ricepapermagazine.ca/2014/09/tiff-‐dispatch-‐the-‐39th-‐toronto-‐international-‐film-‐festival-‐ underway/
Toronto’s 39th edition runs 4-‐14 September 2014 and packs about 400 feature films and short films from 79 countries across 16 programs. East Asian content dominates the festival’s Asian selection overall, with an average of ten films each from Greater China, Japan and South Korea. ….. South Korea In Her Place (Albert Shin, Canada/South Korea 2014) – Discovery
Toronto 2014: veel zwangerschap, baby’s en borderliners http://www.nrc.nl/breedbeeld/2014/09/11/toronto-‐2014-‐veel-‐zwangerschap-‐babys-‐en-‐borderliners/ ZWARTGALLIGE ZWANGERSCHAP Net als in A Second Chance is de film nogal afhankelijk van plotwendingen. Maar een aantal nachtmerrieachtige momenten stuwen de film naar zijn onvermijdelijke einde. Iets dergelijks is ook aan de hand in de tweede film van Albert Shin. In In Her Place draait het om een welgesteld echtpaar uit Seoul dat naar het platteland trekt om de baby van een ongewenst zwanger tienermeisje te adopteren. In afwachting van de geboorte trekt de vrouw bij het meisje en haar moeder in en moet met lede ogen toezien dat het meisje zich naarmate de zwangerschap vordert steeds vreemder begint te gedragen.
TIFF 2014: What were the major themes of this year’s festival? By Will Perkins -‐ 09.12.2014 https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/blogs/wide-‐screen/tiff-‐2014-‐-‐what-‐were-‐the-‐major-‐themes Some of TIFF's most talked about films this year were female-‐centric stories starring some of Hollywood’s most talented actresses. "Wild," "Maps to the Stars," “A Little Chaos,” “Laggies,” and "Still Alice" -‐ all movies about women -‐ were given the top-‐tier Gala premiere treatment at TIFF, representing about a quarter of all the Gala presentations at the 2014 fest. A range of other high profile films about women, including "Clouds of Sils Maria," “Shelter,” “Coming Home,” "The Keeping Room," and "In Her Place" were also given top billing in the festival’s other programmes. As a whole, these films represent some of the most well-‐reviewed movies appearing at Toronto this year, and feature some of 2014’s most acclaimed performances (see: Reese Witherspoon in “Wild” and Julianne Moore in both “Maps” and “Still Alice”). However, these female-‐led tales are still a rarity, both at TIFF and in the film industry in general. The fantastic showing by women at TIFF 2014 is sure to help change that though.
Rave reviews: York U grads do well at 2014 TIFF http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2014/09/23/york-‐u-‐well-‐represented-‐at-‐2014-‐tiff/ The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) may have rolled up the red carpet, but many film buffs are still reeling from the excitement of sharing the limelight with Hollywood’s glitterati. With York University once again well represented across the screening rooms, the festival has become an unofficial reunion for many of York’s film alumni. One of the feature films showcased this year was Albert Shin’s In Her Place. Written and directed by Shin (BFA ’06) and co-‐produced by Shin and Igor Drljača (BFA ’07, MFA ’11), In Her Place tells the story of a wealthy couple from Seoul, South Korea hoping to adopt the unborn child of a troubled rural teenager. After several years of developing the story and crowdfunding for the film, Shin spent 24 days shooting in Korea with a Korean cast. “I was nervous about shooting in Korea, because I didn’t really know the Korean film industry. I didn’t know anyone there and I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” he recalls. “As a result, I went there with the mindset to experiment with something new, something different. It was a joyous time.” This was not Shin’s first time at TIFF. Along with Drljača, who met Shin during frosh week at York, the two friends co-‐founded the production company Timelapse Pictures, which produced In Her Place and several films directed by Drljača that previously screened at TIFF. However, it was Shin’s first time coming to TIFF as a director. “As a director, you are exposing more emotional and intellectual side of you on stage,” the Newmarket native says. “It’s been more nerve-‐racking. TIFF is a behemoth and because it’s not my first rodeo, I’ve been able to maximize my experience a bit. It’s been a very humbling and welcoming experience. The reviews and audience response have been overwhelming. It has been an amazing journey.”
Liam Lacey’s TIFF Diary: The big story is that there’s no big story By Liam Lacey -‐ 9.11.2014 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/awards-‐and-‐festivals/tiff/liam-‐laceys-‐tiff-‐diary-‐the-‐big-‐ story-‐is-‐that-‐theres-‐no-‐big-‐story/article20570749/
‘What’s the buzz?” everyone asks me at the Toronto International Film Festival. Do I look like a honeybee or a hornet? At best, maybe a red-‐eyed house fly, smacking against movie screens and celebrity fishbowls. A critic may be the last person one should ask for any aerial perspective on the festival’s 284 feature films. We spend too much time in the movie theatres, or hotel corridors for interviews, or offices, typing at computers, expressing our own opinions rather than tapping into the festival’s hive mind. …. In Canadian film, one of the most encouraging trends is the high quality of work from relatively young directors, including Albert Shin’s Korea-‐set In Her Place, Kyle Thomas’s small-‐town anthology The Valley Below, and Mathieu Denis’s FLQ drama Corbo.
'Imitation Game' Takes People's Choice Award at Toronto By Pat Mullen -‐ 9.14.2014 http://www.cinemablographer.com/2014/09/imitation-‐game-‐takes-‐peoples-‐ choice.html#sthash.Gqo0ECtd.dpuf
Other winners that I caught are the doc champ Beats of the Antonov and the Canadian short The Weatherman & theShadowdancer. Both films are worthy choices with the latter being especially so. (Weatherman is far and away the best short at the Festival.) Canadian winner Felix and Meira is the big surprise among the winners (I didn’t see it), since folks at the Fest were all a-‐chatter over Mommy and In Her Place. Bang Bang Baby nabs the prize for Best Canadian First Feature, which makes me happy because it’s the one Canadian film that I really wanted to see but missed. (I had penned it into my schedule but had to drop it due to an interview time.) Hope a distributor nabs it!
Xavier Dolan's Mommy to represent Canada at Oscars The Canadian Press Published Friday, September 19, 2014 7:37AM EDT http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/xavier-‐dolan-‐s-‐mommy-‐to-‐represent-‐canada-‐at-‐oscars-‐ 1.2014506#ixzz3EMhJY24t Albert Shin's In Her Place was the subject of Oscar chatter at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, which is considered a key event in the lead-‐up to Oscar lobbying season. This article also ran in the following media outlets:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/canada-‐s-‐oscar-‐contender-‐announced-‐today-‐in-‐montreal-‐ 1.2771425
http://www.surreyleader.com/national/275734241.html
http://lethbridgeherald.com/entertainment/entertainment-‐news/2014/09/19/canadas-‐oscar-‐ contender-‐to-‐be-‐announced-‐in-‐montreal/
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