We had the pleasure of interviewing LEE Gahong, director of "Christmas in Summer," which was screened as part of the international short film competition on Friday, November 24 at 14:00 at NTT Credo Hall No. 1.

“Christmas in Summer" is a fantasy story about a bride-to-be, Eunsoo Lim, who travels to Gangneung City to meet her estranged father, whom she has not seen since childhood, and along the way, she meets a cab driver whom she meets by chance.

Director LEE Gahong is a graduate student from the Korea National University of Arts and Sciences, where she also received her Bachelor of Fine Arts. "I Should Have Killed That Bastard" (2018) is a short film which was invited to the "Mijansen Short Film Festival, GREAT Short Film Festival" and "Shodongjin Independent Film Festival."

Gangneung City, the setting of this film, is a complex place with sea, mountains, and city, and is said to be a place that Koreans visit on vacation. Director LEE Gahong said that she chose Gangneung City because she visited the city on a trip and met a mysterious man, and she also used her experience of meeting a friend who was actually struggling with family matters as a motif for this film! The main theme of this work seems to be "parent and child," but a closer look at the film work as a whole reveals that it was also based not just on the relationship between parents and children, but also the currency crisis, and the need for some sort of arrangement or separation in order to start anew at a major turning point in life, such as marriage.

Director LEE Gahong left a message saying, "I feel that the most important thing is the feeling of tears that seem to fall but don't, and I want to continue to make films like that in the future.

In closing, she said, "When I made this film, I never thought I would come to Hiroshima for this film, so I am grateful for the invitation. I have only just arrived, but Hiroshima is a beautiful place. I hope to enjoy Hiroshima as much as I can before I leave.