Interview with Young Man Kang, prolific indie filmmaker on his latest pic "Soap Girl"

[INTERVIEWS > Young Man Kang] 12/01/02


"Soap Girl" opens Dec 6, 2002 in Los Angeles.


Interview with Young Man Kang, prolific indie filmmaker on his latest pic "Soap Girl"


This fiercely prolific indie filmmaker Young Man Kang has his roots in studying fine arts at Hong-ik University in Seoul, Korea. In 1994, Kang moved to New York City where he studied film at The New School. In 1996, Kang moved to Los Angeles and continued his film career working as a director for a television commercial production company. Between 2000 and 2002, Kang made four feature films and a documentary. His feature debut, "Cupid's Mistakes," was allegedly made with an invisible budget of US$980 and had a small theatrical in Los Angeles. His second feature, "1st Testament: CIA Vengeance" is an action thriller. "Hatian Slave Children," his documentary, won Best Effort Documentary at 2001 Jamerican International Film Festival and Silver Remi Award at 2002 WorldFest Houston. His third feature is "Death Valley Diary." His fourth and most current feature, "Soap Girl" won an audience award at the 2002 Big Bear Lake International Film Festival. "Soap Girl" will be opening theatrically in Los Angeles starting Friday, December 6, 2002 at Laemmle's Fairfax Cinemas.

iR: When did you decide to be a filmmaker? How did you get started? What or who inspires or has inspired you as a filmmaker? Who are filmmakers you like or you look up to?

My art background is what brought me into filmmaking. I had been drawing a lot of pictures and comic books since I was five years old. I studied hard in high school and finally got into the best art school, Hong-ik University in Korea in 1986. I studied visual design, conceptual design, story boarding, creative idea development, animation, TV commercials and film at that school. The moment that inspired me about moviemaking happened in my third year at the University. I'd watched a lot of films from America, Europe and all over the world. Federico Fellini, Andrea Tarkovsky, Werner Herzog, Stanley Kubrick, John Casavettes, Akira Kurosawa, Alejandro Jodorowsky, etc., especially my favorites Werner Herzog, Akira Kurosawa and John Casavettes. These artists have such a profound impact on their audience. I thought I could create a different world through filmmaking where anything is possible and where I can [share] entire worlds of experience with my audience.

iR: You are incredibly prolific. Since 2000, you have made four features and one documentary. Can you talk a little about each project, and what each means to you as a filmmaker?

As a Korean making movies in the U. S., I try to make films that combine both nations' perspectives into a new style based on bi-cultural and interracial subjects. My first feature "Cupid's Mistake" is a story about interracial dating between a Korean girl and a Japanese guy, as well as a German girl and American guy in Los Angeles, a quadrangle cross-cultural romantic comedy.

My second feature, "1st Testament: CIA Vengeance" was the first independent co-production between a Korean and an African-American [production company] in Los Angeles. "1st Testament" is about a North Korean female spy versus and an African-American CIA agent.

My third feature "Death Valley Diary" was about a confrontation and adventure with nature, a terrifying journey with a racially mixed cast and crew living out their worst fears in Death Valley.

"Haitian Slave Children" the documentary that I shot 100% in Haiti was a challenge in my approach toward a heavily humanist subject about Haitian slave children, for which I got a Best Documentary Award at the 2001 Jamerican International Film Festival and a Silver Award at the 2002 Worldfest in Houston.

My fourth feature, "Soap Girl" is a tale of love between an Asian massage girl and a virgin American poet. I think it's controversial.

iR: I was told that you made your first feature "Cupid's Mistakes" for US$980. Is that true? How did you manage to make it on such a limited budget? How did you get it distributed?

"Cupid's Mistake" broke the world's record for the lowest budget feature film of all time. The budget was $980. As you may have guessed, all of the actors in "Cupid's Mistake" are my friends. I came up with the idea that one character should pursue the other. Three days of crazy filming. No permits, guerrilla shooting, no script, [and] 100% improvised. Handheld shooting with long continuous shots made "Cupid" both cost effective and easy to edit.

In the winter of 1999 we showed "Cupid" at the "Light and Screen Film Festival" held in New York City's celebrated Siberia Bar. We were amazed at the audience's overwhelmingly positive response. Phaedra Cinema, best known for its foreign films "The Terrorist," and "La Separation" had scheduled theatrical releases "Cupid" in Los Angeles and New York.

iR: What inspired you to make "Soap Girl," your fourth and most recent feature? Why does the subject matter appeal to you? What was your vision for the film? Is it just pure entertainment or do you have a message with it? What are you trying to convey to the audience?

The story was pitched to me by the producers Tomiko Lee, Dennis Lee and writer Tony Young, [which was] asically a farce about hijacks at a massage parlor involving geeky male virgins, gangsters and immigrants.

So the story evolved away from the "Pretty Woman/Cinderella" story and into one that plays on the audience's expectations of Asian stereotypes. Maya turns out not to be an immigrant, though everyone in the beginning believes that she is. None of the massage girls are naive, innocent lambs with hearts of gold; [they] are simply trying to survive.

The main theme of the story [is] Maya's evolution from an abused girlfriend to an empowered, more mature woman, in control of her love life and her destiny. The lesson of how people can grow and change is keenly brought to life by actress Kerry Liu.

If there is a lesson here I believe it is that an Asian girl can actually be a protagonist in her own life and that she can have adventures that inspire other people to become survivors as well.

iR: Soap Girl" is essentially a love story. What kind of a love story are you trying to tell? What does the idea of "love" mean to you as a filmmaker?

Love and intimacy can heal the scars that accumulate in people's lives. Maya is scarred by her former boyfriend. Why does she end up working at a massage parlor? Revenge? Jealousy? A desire to become another person? That question is left to the viewer. Why does she fall in love with Harry? Perhaps for many reasons, [and] perhaps [for] none at all. Love knows no logic or rationale.

iR: Can you talk about the process of making "Soap Girl"? Can you also talk about self-distributing the film, and why you have chosen to self-distribute it?

Our total shooting time was twelve days. I shot with a Sony DSR 500, [later] blowing the images up to 35mm. Gilbert Yablon, the technician at Filmout Express, did wonderful job. So far our total budget including self-marketing is about $500,000.

Most distribution companies are afraid to release independent films theatrically because they believe that [the] lack of product identification will make them lose money at the box office. But they have to release independents theatrically in order to create interest for the rental. In this strange environment we decided to create interest in our own movie by taking the bold step of promoting our movie theatrically by ourselves.

iR: "Mist" is your next project. What is it about?

"Mist" is about a Far Eastern female Vixen, a supernatural being from Korean legend battling serial killers to find the modern incarnation of her lover and become human against backdrop of a corrupted modern day city. It's a co-production between the U.S. and South Korea.

iR: What is your dream project? If you can make any movie in the world, what would it be?

While I like a film to be composed of stunning sounds and pictures, I am still basically a humanist. I like to see characters put to test. In the genre of war films a wide variety of interesting people can be hurled together in a way that tests their spirit. Now the film becomes not just a story but an experience to be lived on a variety of levels.

At this time in film history, we have a huge archive of films relating to the Vietnam War. But the Korean War, almost a massive section of Asian American history, has not been told. I feel that the script "Memory of War" that I have created will tell the story of the Korean War as it happened and is experienced by the survivors to this day.