Searching for Happiness – 2018

Short film, 07:25, 16mm, Super8, Hi8, and digital.

Stars: Jiwoo Shin, Joe Robertson
Music composed by Amber Fenton
Directed by Sae Yong Lee
 
Photos: screenshots from the film

What is happiness? According to Zen Buddhism, it is one of the seven emotional experiences which human mind generates. These experiences are easily influenced by social, physical, and other sensorial interactions, thus comparable to a flag that waves in the direction of the blowing winds.* This short film attempts to capture that susceptible nature of our mind through dramatic storytelling. Its protagonist suffers from delusional bugs gnawing into his stomach, a surreal condition that ruins his romantic relationship. Eventually, the bugs infect the lovers who are desperately in search of the cure. The flies hatching inside the body represent the blowing winds that cause insecurity and the search for cure the happiness. The increasing insanity is reflected in editing tempo which opens up the film with long takes and paces up to staccato cuts towards the end. The film is composed of 16mm, super8, Hi8 video, and digital cinematic techniques to display dreamlike videoscape of human mind.

* Huineng, 638-713. The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. Translated by Philip B. Yampolsky. Columbia University Press,           1978.

Screening History:
- Jury Special Mention Award, Film-ed: International Short Film Festival, Dubai, UAE, 2019.
- Official Selection, Carcosa International Film Festival, 2020.
- Official Selection, Video Sound Archive S7, 2022. (Link)