South Korea, 2022, 65′
by Park Syeyoung
Cast Jung Sumin, Haam Seokyoung, Moon Hyein, Jihyeon Park, Seungki Jung, Oh Jeongyeon
Awards
- Korean Fantastic Best Director / Korean Fantastic Audience Award / Nonghyp Distribution Award – BIFAN
“Do not throw away a mattress recklessly: you never know what might be born from it.” The urban ghost story director Park Syeyoung unfolds here is grotesque, horrible, beautiful and giddy. Mold starts growing on a dumped mattress and a mysterious creature is born from the mold. The creature wanders around Seoul, taking people’s vertebrae. Having displayed his peculiar view of the world and his sense as a visualist through his short films, CASHBAG (2019) and LUXURY STAYCATION (2021), Park Syeyoung strengthens his signature features through THE FIFTH TORACIC VERTEBRA, allowing viewers to fall into his bizarre beauty. The stronger the mold’s vitality becomes, the stranger the film’s energy gets, and the horror of this captivates the viewer so they can’t look away. (JIN Myunghyun)
Born in 1996, Syeyoung Park is a filmmaker based in Seoul, South Korea. He graduated from Korea National University of Arts Film major (BFA) Video Arts major (MFA). His first short film CASHBAG (2019) premiered at the Mise En Scene FF in 2019 where it won Best Editing Award, followed by the short films GODSPEED (2020), THE GOLD KNIFE (2021), LUXURY STAYCATION(2021) and VERTIGO (2021). His first feature film, THE FIFTH THORACIC VERTEBRA (2022) was selected and won three awards at BIFAN.