Sharjah24: Korean drama, Paper Flower, a poignant and heartwarming tale about dignity in death and hope in life, marked the sixth and final ‘Green Carpet’ screening of the 9th Sharjah International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFF) as curtains came down on the 6-day festival yesterday evening at Al Jawahar Reception and Convention Centre, Sharjah.
Paper Flower, directed by Hoon Koh, and starring Ahn Sung-Ki and Eugene, which had its Middle East Premiere at SIFF 2022, portrays an undertaker’s dilemma about sending off the dead with dignity – which includes the Korean tradition of placing paper flowers in the coffin. The film explores how he is forced to adapt and give up on the practice when he joins a corporate funeral company.
Paper Flower, despite the underlying gloom inherent in its plot, is about finding hope in the midst of despair.
In a discussion with SIFF audience following the film’s Green Carpet screening, director Koh said the film depicts the changes brought about by modernisation in Korean society, including in its values and funeral practices.
He described how he was inspired to make the movie after reading in the newspaper about a funeral director at a time when he was going through personal hardships and spent his time reading and watching movies.
Like the protagonist’s observation that the coffin of the rich as well as the poor will rot away, Koh gave an interesting perspective about the depiction of rain in the film. “Whether you are rich or poor, you experience the same rain,” he said, elaborating on why the movie concludes with the rain pouring down in different parts of the city - where its three main characters feel and experience the same rain.
Regarding its open ending, the director told the audience: “What you feel is the message.”
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