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Film examines child abuse case1 min read

25 August 2011 < 1 min read

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Film examines child abuse case1 min read

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Life is often stranger than fiction, and both director Hwang Dong-hyeok and actor Gong Yoo were shocked to discover that Gong Ji-young’s bestselling online novel about child sex abuse was based on a true story.

The “Coffee Prince” actor, who read a hard copy of the book while serving in the military, proactively sought a way to turn “Dogani” into a film. Hwang on the other hand greatly hesitated about adapting the 2000-2004 case in which the teachers and principal sexually abused students at a Gwangju school for the hearing impaired.

During a press meeting Monday in Seoul, the director said he deliberated for about a month whether or not he should helm the upcoming film, “The Crucible.”

“I hesitated because it was based on a true story,” said Hwang, who made a critically acclaimed debut with “My Father,” which is based on a true story of a Korean adoptee. “Ironically, though, I decided to go through with it because it dealt with a true incident. It had to be told.”

Hwang explained that he was moved by a line from a news article that the novelist quotes in the book’s epilogue – how when it was announced in sign language that the sexual offenders would stop short of receiving probation and 10-month prison sentences, muffled cries of the hearing impaired children filled the entire court room.

 

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Via The Korea Times

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