An Astronaut faces death in space and without any ways of communication he farewells his daughter on earth from the distance.

Interview with Cinematographer/Director/Producer Dae Hyun Kim

Watch Faraway on Vimeo

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

I am living 6,000 miles away from my family, friends, and my home country. Oftentimes, how far I am living away from them gives me fear. Fear of not being able to be there when bad things happen even when I want to be, and even if I try to go home in the fastest way it would still take 24 hours to get to them. I fear death and I feel that death is always near, I just choose to ignore the fact, but it can come anytime. It can come to me or it can come to my loved ones. Then the question arises from me: how would you farewell the person you love when you can not see them and not talk to them?

FARAWAY's story started from there. I wanted to show and tell the story of a person who has to farewell the person he loves the most without any communication, what emotions will go into his mind, and what the person would think.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

If you are living far away from your loved ones, and think about the time that you will never see them again, I hope that this film can speak a small piece of thought into your mind.

Or, if you have already had to farewell to the people you love, I hope this film can show what you had to go through when it happened.

Or, I hope that this film can make you think about people you love and guide you to perhaps reach out to them and tell them how much they mean to you.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

We all have loved ones, we all have people who love us. The sad truth is that there will be a time to farewell them, either expectedly or unexpectedly. And we will have our own ways to say goodbye. It will be all different because we are all different. However it's worth thinking about at least once. I don't wanna say 'Live like it's your last day', I think life is more complex and difficult and it's not the correct quote for lots of people to live for.

But maybe thinking about the time you have to farewell to your loved one at least once could change small acts in your daily life. Maybe it will give you a small portion of courage to express how much your loved ones mean to you or maybe it will make you think about calling them to just say hi and that could be enough for them to feel they are special to you.

Whatever it is, we often think and are concerned about things that really don't matter in our life, and we often think too little of things that really matter in our life. However you live, the time will come eventually, and I hope that we can have a beautiful and grateful farewell.

Faraway - BTS with Cinematographer/Director/Producer Dae Hyun Kim

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

The main theme came to my mind really all of a sudden and it stuck with me. I had a rough idea, but I had to think about how I could create a story that could be effectively told within a short time and also with the budget I had.

In order to create the situation of facing death but not being able to communicate with somebody, I thought about astronauts, who are without a doubt probably the farthest you can be from the person you love. Then with the help of my screenwriter friends, Alex Yu and Yancy Wang, we created the script. The script was based on the shots and images that I had in my head. It wasn't the normal process of creating the image from the script, it was describing the image in my head into words and making it more detailed and structured.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

I had good feedback and bad feedback. Lots of my cinematographer friends gave me positive feedback on the images and the look.

I also had bad feedback where the film does not really create emotions that I wanted to evoke from the audience, and I agree with them.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

Having positive feedback on the cinematography and the looks was surprising to me. I challenged myself to create Sci-Fi film with a low budget and I don't think I created a unique look but I thank those who gave me compliments on the cinematography.

About the story itself and how much I can deliver my message to the audience, I knew it would be hard going. And I do not think I was able to succeed the way I wanted it to. Some people got the message and felt something and some didn't, but it's okay that's the film and everyone will take the film and the emotions from it differently.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

I am hoping that more people will know and watch this film when it's publicly released. There is a lot of hard work that went into this film. Not only my work but lots of talented people's work. All the cast and crew worked very hard for the story I created and I am really grateful for that. So I hope people watch and recognize their work.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

Film Festival Directors and journalists who are interested in my film would be great! I hope I get a chance to show this film to more people and also be read by more people. I would like to keep exposing the talented cast and crew's work to many other people.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

The film will impact individuals differently. If you just sit back, relax and watch this film for 3 minutes and you enjoyed it for what it is then that is good for me.

Or, as I mentioned above, if this reminds you of people you love, then that's more than good enough for me.
Whatever feelings you have, I appreciate those who are interested in the film and watch it.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

Did the film do enough to make you think and evoke feelings about your loved one?
What would you do if you were in the astronaut's situation?
What would be your way of saying farewell?

Would you like to add anything else?

The film cannot be made by one man and this film especially could not be possible to make without all the crew that supported my story and was willing to help me out to create this one. No matter how the film turned out, this film is very meaningful to me and I am grateful and thank everyone who was involved in this project for all your time, talent, effort, and help. Thank you all.

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

I am mainly focusing on being a Camera/Steadicam Operator.

I will be working on Commercials, Music Videos, and Narratives in the upcoming months. I truly enjoy operating and I hope I will have more opportunities to work with many talented filmmakers

Interview: July 2021

We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela

Faraway

Length:

3:00

Cinematographer/Producer

Dae Hyun Kim

Director

Dae Hyun Kim, Niko Yingqi Ren

Writer

Dae Hyun Kim, Yancey Wang, Alex Yu

Producer

Julie Pheng

Key cast:

Brett Miller (Lead), Dana Pawl (Supporting)

Looking for:

journalists, film festival directors

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/day_by_dae

Made in association with:

AFI Conservatory