Intangible Asset No. 82

Showing at the Mar del Plata Film Festival: Intangible Asset No. 82, directed by Emma Franz

Synopsis from the festival's website:

Australian Simon Barker, considered one of the best drummers of contemporary jazz, embarks on the search for mythical Kim Seok-chul, the South Korean witchdoctor whose elaborate improvised percussion sets have inspired his art and greatly influenced his ideas about music. The task isn’t easy: even though the Government has awarded him the distinction of “Intangible Asset” (a distinction this Asian country awards its cultural treasures), old Kim doesn’t participate in mundane affairs, and shuts himself away while officiating his intricate liturgy for the communion between the living and the dead. In this way, Barker´s journey becomes a mystical rather than a detective-like investigation; an initiation rite in which he must win the respect of the elusive master and run a race against time to finally find him a few days before his death. A journey through a stunning landscape of mountains, fields and small villages of the Korean rural areas, and a musical tale (that also includes other elements, like when Barker´s guide talks about the difficult times of the military regime) so amazing and different from Western stories, as to contain characters that have lived behind a waterfall for seven years learning to sing.