On the White Planet

All colours on the White Planet vanished years ago: everything is black and white, and everyone has white skin. The young boy Choi Min-je is the only one who is different – because of his skin-coloured skin, he is treated as an outcast. No one knows why he is the only one with coloured skin and red blood. What is clear, however, is that on the White Planet with its tyrannical monochromy, anything coloured appears strange and is equated with danger. Choi’s family lives completely isolated from society. One day, driven to despair by her loneliness, the mother kills her husband and then herself. Min-je witnesses the tragedy and concludes that his otherness is to blame. His only wish is to lead as “normal” a life as possible, just like any other. He goes searching for it, but in a colourless, desolate world full of savage violence, discrimination and fear, he is left to his own devices and fights his way through life as an outlaw. The story changes, focusing more on the issue of vengeance taken by those who are socially ostracised and oppressed on the basis of appearance. The stylistically impressive feature debut by Bum-Wook Hur is a dark film about human brutality and racism that gets under one’s skin. Not for the faint-hearted, similar to the two films by the South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho, “King of Pigs” and “The Fake” presented at Fantoche in 2013 and 2014. They, too, deal explicitly with issues concerning violence and oppression, offering a critical view of the system. Hur, born in 1983 in Seoul, studied Animation Film at the Korean Academy for Film Arts (KAFA) and graduated in 2011. Today he is an independent filmmaker. “On the White Planet” was honoured with this year’s Grand Prix Award at the Holland Animation Film Festival in Utrecht and was presented by Fantoche at the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in July. (ja)