Shown in the K-Indie section of the 9^th London Korean Film Festival 2014, BITTER, SWEET, SEOUL directed by Park Chan-kyung along with his brother Park Chan-wook had its UK Premiere in London. Both brothers named it as being directed under PARKing CHANce, which mixes both their names in it.

BITTER, SWEET, SEOUL is a crowd sourced film, and was made by the help of 2821 people from around the world who visited Seoul and sent in 11852 video submissions to be put into the documentary, but only 154 videos made it into the documentary. Adding in music, editing them and also putting in a few of the self-shot videos by Park Brothers, they turned the submitted videos into a movie.  All this happened in the duration of 98 days.

This documentary targeted mainly the city of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. It showed different aspects of the city through different people. The people included the locals, the foreigners as well as tourists who were visiting Seoul for a short period of time. Undoubtedly a very difficult task for the Park brothers, they took it upon themselves to make such a documentary that would introduce Seoul to the rest of the world.

The Seoul shown was a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious city. People from nearly all over the world are living in Seoul. Some are there for a brief period of time and some are those who have fallen in love with the city and have made it their own. The documentary showed religious diversity with Christian preachers preaching, Buddhists chanting, a Muslim call to prayers and the secluded Shamans in the mountains.

Rare black and white archive footage is also added in the documentary, blending it with the modern Seoul, showing old and abandoned war torn streets with the modern secluded streets, which still carry an uncanny resemblance of the war times. Abandoned buildings over-looking the new and inhabited city shows how some parts of Seoul have been forgotten with time. An old couple sits and sings a classic song with their guitar, while on the other side a small yet very loud rock concert is taking place and over the river a woman with her band sings a traditional song on a ship. A blend of the sad past along with the happiness of the modern times and the changing of the music scene in Seoul shows how the city has grown up with time.

BITTER, SWEET, SEOUL also compares people of the past with the present times. The black and white video footage shows a child helping her mother wash clothes by taking out water from a very small well, while in the present times the carefree children play in the streets, yet happiness is still present in the faces of the children of the past and the present. The people of the past walk towards what they expect is to be a new beginning in life, while the modern are settled and progressive.

Director Park Chan-kyung was also present at the screening of the documentary. He said that he feels incomplete without his brother Park Chan-wook here on the stage, because he also helped a lot in editing and bringing this documentary to life. It was a very hard task for them both, and they edited continuously. When one would go to sleep, the other would start editing, and vice versa. There would be times when they would think that they have done editing, when suddenly something new and very interesting would come up and they would have to add it in the movie.Director Park Chan-kyung also told the real reason behind the name PARKing CHANce, saying that in Seoul there is so much traffic that no space is found to park the car, and when you do, then that is called parking chance, thus the name.

A great style of documentary making, never heard of before takes us into the soul of the city of Seoul. Director Park Chan-kyung and Park Chan-wook have beautifully brought the world into Seoul. They’ve shown that Seoul is no doubt a city of thousands of souls.

BITTER, SWEET, SEOUL is also available on You Tube to watch freely.