Interview with director: Giovani Fumu for his film ABROAD at SBIFF

By Emmanuel Itier in Santa Barbara

After the disappearance of his girlfriend, a foreigner man lost in a hostile land becomes the main suspect and his desperate research for her turns into a fight to stay alive.
Directed by Giovanni Fumu Written by Giovanni Fumu, Maximilian Selim Starring Jang Seong-beom, Lim Young-joo, Chris Carlson, Tony Denman...

Rarely did I see such a captivating and mesmerizing movie! ‘ABROAD’, directed by Giovani Fumu ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14234720 ) is simply a fantastic “tour de force” that will captivate your emotions and your intelligence. I wouldn’t want to let you know what it is truly about, instead, I will let director Giovani Fumu share his vision and convince you this is a “must see” movie when it comes to a theatre near you.

Q: What was the inspiration with creating this film? What were you trying to achieve with ABROAD?

Giovani: This is a co-production with Southern Korea because I have an experience working with this country as I know a company in Korea that has offices there and in the USA.  I spent time in Korea as I directed several commercials over there. I also shot over there a short, ‘Good News’ in 2016 that was in the Venice film festival. It was such an amazing experience and I wanted to re-do something like this. I was the only non-Korean speaking person on the set when I did this short, and it was a fantastic experience. So, the idea came that for ABROAD, I wanted to take Korean actors out of their comfort zone and invite them to film in the USA, where I reside. I live in New York. I, myself, have been living in Paris and then in the USA so I wanted to share this experience with actors and see how they would react if they were thrown into a different environment and a different culture. I thought that such actor put in this situation would have some fears that could affect in mind. I started writing this story with my producer, Maximilian Selim. He is from Minnesota where we filmed ABROAD and after he showed me interesting locations. And so, it all came together. Here we are now!

Q: What various challenges did you face with this film?

Giovani: It’s an independent movie and we had many issues. The first one I can think about was the complication to get the working visa for the main Korean actor who took forever. We were already in production when we got that visa and therefore, I didn’t have much rehearsal time with my actor. Because of this delay we had to redo the shooting schedule and make sure we first shot scene without this character. So, this was a challenge with schedule and re-arrange everything, from locations to the actor being finally available. Also, it was challenging for Jang Sung-Bum who plays the lead, not to be able to speak and understand that well English. It was a tough challenge for him. Thank God to my Korean friend and producer, Kimbo Kim, we were able to have my lead actor communicate with him and make sure that everything, eventually, was going to work out. And it did! It was easier for the female lead, Youngjoo Lim, as she had travelled to the US and her English is quite solid. Another challenge is that the nights where short when we filmed this movie. And it does take place mainly at night. It was challenging to keep the pace and get all the shots we needed, each night of filming. We ended up shooting this movie in 21 days: quite amazing! And very tight.

Q: What is truly this film about for you? The themes of importance?

Giovani: It’s difficult to talk about it without spoiling it. For me, let’s say, it’s about the power of subconscious, in a good way and in a bad way. It’s also about the post pandemic situation with lots of Asian crimes and police brutality. This guy is following his girlfriend, but he didn’t plan this trip himself. Because of your subconscious, all the fears you have in your head become the reality.  But the subconscious can cure reality if you can dig into it and if you can conquer your fears. We both know, as immigrants, as it is sometimes not easy to fit in and to fit into a different reality to the one, we are used to.

Q: What does Santa Barbara Film Festival mean to you? Hope and expectations?

Giovani: I was so happy to get accepted into Santa Barbara. It’s such a great film festival. And I’m so happy to come to a warm place, living in New York. I hope the audience will get it and I hope they will get my movie. I hope they will have a great experience. I hope also someone will want to hire me for my next gig and support my next project. Let’s see what comes next!