The Levers

By Boyoung Kim (S. Korea, U.S.)

Boyoung Kim’s fascinating new short centers on a man who makes a strange discovery after accepting a job offer from a stranger on a street! She says she was inspired by social phenomena from media. In fact, she says sometimes she can get inspired by seeing just one single, random photo. “I think what I love about working in animation is the ability to create a new world that never existed before,” she maintains.

The hand-drawn short, which had a $40,000 budget, took about a year to make. Perhaps that’s why Kim says her biggest challenge was time management. “Sitting at the desk for one year to create a 10 minute project is always challenging, but you have to learn to enjoy it at the same time.”

Kim says there have been too many shorts that have made an impact on her as an animator. But there was this one animated film — the title of which she can’t recall — that really stands out! “It was about a kid hiding dirty socks from his mother. At that time, I was planning to make my first animated short (Replacement, about a boy who is terrified of pulling out his loose tooth) but wasn’t sure if it was worth the time to make a film with such a small story.

“The experience with the film festival inspired me to work on the project and understand that material doesn’t matter if I have a certain message to tell. Animation can make interesting and exciting experiences from small things if you use attentive observation.”

Kim believes that audiences should form different opinions and interpretations after watching an animated short. “It’s another form of creating art” she notes.” I don’t want to interfere in what they got from my film, and I’m willing to hear a diverse range of reviews and interpretations! I just hope people have a good time when they watch it!”