50,000 Won Seed Money Blossoms into Success of “Spirits’ Homecoming”

A story of college students majoring in theater donating proceeds from one of their plays to contribute to the production of the movie “Spirits’ Homecoming” was recently revealed to the public. (Image : Yonhap)

ASAN, March 23 (Korea Bizwire) – A story of college students majoring in theater donating proceeds from one of their plays to contribute to the production of the movie “Spirits’ Homecoming” was recently revealed to the public.

According to Hoseo University and a project team called Dandi, students majoring in theater staged the play ‘Homecoming’, which portrays the tragedy of ‘comfort women’, in 2013. The proceeds of the play were 50,000 won.

The hour-long play made the audience cry from the beginning to end. Small donations were gathered to help organizations working to help raise awareness of the ‘comfort women’ issue.

Noh Young-hwan, who directed and acted in the play, found out that movie director Cho Jeong-rae was having financial difficulty preparing for the production of “Spirits’ Homecoming”, which had the same title as their play. Noh donated the 50,000 won then and there.

Another 60,000 won was gathered after the play was staged in Hanoi, Vietnam. The proceeds were also donated to be used in the production of the movie.

After the play was staged at the World Universities Theatre Festival held in Shanghai, and invited to Belgium by the International Society for College Theater, the students also participated in the movie. They made appearances as ‘nameless comfort woman’ and ‘local officer’. The students also worked as production staff members.

Noh, who graduated last year, commented that he feels happy to have contributed to the movie’s success. “When I first read the testimonies of the comfort women, my heart ached so much, I could hardly turn the pages”, he said. “We didn’t think that our donation would be meaningful at all. But I’m happy to have been able to contribute to the movie’s production.”

By Francine Jung (francine.jung@kobizmedia.co.kr)