Vancouver director’s first feature film premieres at VIFF

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Vancouver director Jerome ​​Yoo’s film career is off to a strong start. His film Mongrels will have its world premiere at this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival.

“I think this is a really special moment in my career,” the 30-year-old filmmaker said over Zoom from Korea, where he was visiting family. “VIFF has been a source of inspiration throughout my career. It has given me knowledge. I have seen films on VIFF screens that have shaped this film and who I am as a filmmaker… to have my feature film on those same screens in front of my friends, family and of course, most importantly, the crew that put so much effort into this film, I consider it a privilege and a real highlight for me.”

Mongrels will be screened at VIFF on September 28 at 8:30 p.m. at the Rio Theatre and at International Village 9 on September 30 at 3:00 p.m. It is one of 140 feature films and 81 short films from 72 countries that make up the 43rd edition of the festival, which takes place from September 26 to October 6.

Set in the 1990s, Mongrels of Maple Ridge is a moving and sometimes surreal portrait of a Korean family that recently immigrated to a small Canadian prairie town after the death of their mother. Sonny (Jae-Hyun Kim) and his young daughter Hana (Sein Jin) and teenage son Hajoon (Da-Nu Nam) struggle to cope with their grief in an unfamiliar place.

“Through the eyes of three different (family members) we explore this new world,” said Yoo, who also wrote the film. “They face different realities and experiences, all set against the backdrop of a town full of wild dogs that destroy the farmers’ livelihoods but also become the only creatures the family can relate to.”

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Yoo auditioned for the film in both Canada and Korea, where he was born.

He studied a lot of the kids and discovered the character of Jin, played by Coquitlam, purely by accident when he was looking at photos submitted by men to an open casting call for the role of Sonny.

“I looked at the photo and it was a selfie of him and his two kids. And one of the two kids was the perfect age and look that I had imagined in my head,” Yoo said of Jin, who was then 8. “Her audition was the best of any kid I’ve seen, and I was shocked that she’d never acted or performed before.”

Nam was discovered during a casting call in Seoul.

“I was lucky to find the perfect balance between who I was looking for (to play) the son, and also the balance between the gentleness and fragility and the outward expression of wanting to be a hardened character,” Yoo said.

While in Seoul, Yoo met with numerous actors for the role of Sonny, but none of them, he said, fit his image of the broken, exhausted man.

While talking to a “prominent actor,” Yoo heard about Kim. The actor said his old friend would be ideal, but he had retired years ago, moving to a distant suburb of Seoul. Yoo was excited to connect with Kim, but it would take some work, since the Korean didn’t have a computer or cellphone. Eventually, a producer drove two hours from Seoul to Kim’s house and set up a video call between Kim and Yoo.

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“We just had a long conversation about what the character was, what the story was, and what the actor/director relationship was. And he was on board. I offered him the role right away, just based on one video call,” Yoo said. “I had a feeling he was the right person, he was the character.

“I think it was the same for him. Maybe he found some truth in me and what I was bringing to the table with this story, this character.”

Kim, who last appeared in a stage production in 2018, told Postmedia News in an email that Yoo’s script spoke to him.

“When I first read the script, I felt an inexplicable, visceral, almost animalistic reaction. The dialogue made an impression on me,” Kim said.

This connection is evident on screen as Kim creates a fascinating, complex character who is heartbreaking and captivating one moment as he talks on a dead phone to his dead wife, and equally disappointing and repulsive the next as he drunkenly scolds his son.

“I relate to Sonny because, like him, I’ve had moments where I didn’t fully understand my life or the chaos around it. When I first read the part, I felt his sadness and confusion,” Kim said. “Sonny is constantly fighting that chaos, trying to get through it.”

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Sonny’s problems are compounded by his difficult job as an urban dog hunter.

“Sonny hunts dogs to conform to the views of the townspeople who feed him (and his family), but deep down he doesn’t feel any different from the animals,” Kim said. “Although intellectually he knows this dynamic is part of his survival, his heart tells him it’s wrong. This internal conflict drives him to seek spiritual beliefs to ease his pain and find peace in his actions.

“It brings both sadness and chaos to him, and that resonated with me.”

The existence of many wild dogs adds literal and figurative growling tension to the film. At one point, there were 14 dogs on set.

“I would honestly say that was the most difficult challenge in making this film, having so many dogs,” said Yoo, who added that a significant portion of the film’s $320,000 budget was spent on the dogs and their herders.

Yoo currently doesn’t have a dog, as he’s working on developing his second feature film. But while he’s busy with that project, he agrees that Mongrels’ debut at VIFF is no stranger to him.

“Absolutely,” Yoo said when asked if he was nervous about the VIFF premiere. “I feel like I’m just pouring my heart out there. It’s a sensitive moment. To be with it for 105 minutes, I don’t know, maybe I’ll faint.”

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