SYNOPSIS

“You do not belong to this world!” I encounter people crying out against me and LGBTQ people. It is a time of hatred in South Korea. LGBTQ people are the easy targets for hatred. Being dangerous to nation\'s safety and future, we are branded as \'Pro-North Korean Commies\'. In searching for what makes a marginalized life livable, I embark upon a journey. I encounter a double life of Lee Muk, a 70-year-old Korean “Mr. Pants” and precarious lives of a Japanese lesbian couple, Ten and Non, after 3/11.

Program Note

Korea in 2015 is a period of hatred. In a
 time where there are new ‘hate’ phrases that are coined day after day and
 appear in the media, who are the rebellious, seditious individuals? Lesbian
 documentary director LEE Young ponders on how she should live her life in
 present day Korea. The director starts the off documentary with people who
 express their hatred and antagonism towards the LGBTQ population in public, and
 confronts the unease and restlessness that spreads out like the spokes of a
 wheel amidst a social atmosphere that condemns and oppresses these minorities.
 Homosexuals, laborers and farmers who support of gay rights, human rights
 activists and liberals, many of whom are also proponents of gay rights, and the
 individuals who hold candles in the square and streets of the city. All of
 these individuals are all grouped together and maligned as pro-North Korean
 forces. ‘Those who divide the citizens of Korea, begone, repent.’ It is instead
 the individuals who associate themselves with religious groups are encountered
 on the streets and organizations with slogans that begin with the phrase, ‘The
 Republic of Korea -,‘ who are at the center of and creating social and
 political unrest. The film captures the mentality of the current witch-hunts
 taking place in the public square of Korea, which has gone to radical extremes,
 and asks the question, ‘how we can stand against the criticism and hatred cast
 towards the so-called Troublers and work instead for understanding and
 empathy among all people.

The documentary both starts and ends with
 ‘Mr. Pants,’ Lee Muk. The film’s first shot forcing the audience to follow the
 footsteps of the director, currently on her way to meet ‘Mr. Pants,’ Lee Muk,
 who has returned to his hometown Yeo-su, and the film ends with the director
 facing Lee Muk, who has returned to the city of Yong-in. Perhaps this agonizing
 cycle of hatred can be broken easily, just as in Lee Muk’s words. “Once they
 know us and grow attached to us, the gossip and whispers will disappear. We’re
 not that weird, once you get to know us, you know?” Will they, if ever,
 eventually grow fond of us?