“Please bring memories instead of flowers. Bring the last voice you heard from me, the lines I loved, old stories, and light jokes, along with the moments we laughed together.”
The 83-year-old theater actress Park Jeong-ja sent a special invitation to about 150 close acquaintances. The title was ‘Obituary: Park Jeong-ja’s Last Curtain Call’. It will take place on May 25 at 2 PM, at Sunpo Beach, Sindaewol-ri, Sacheon-myeon, Gangneung, Gangwon Province.
According to the film industry on the 14th, this obituary titled ‘Park Jeong-ja’s Last Curtain Call’ was sent directly by Park to her acquaintances.
Park stated, “While talking with director Yoo Jun-sang, we decided to include a scene where a coffin is carried against the backdrop of Sunpo Beach in the film ‘Between Cheongmyeong and Gogu’. We decided to create a theatrical funeral procession.” Instead of mobilizing minor roles, she invited her acquaintances directly for this scene.
Although it is a scene from a movie, since these are Park's actual acquaintances, it can be considered her virtual funeral. Fellow artists from the theater world, such as actors Son Sook, Kang Bu-ja, Song Seung-hwan, director Son Jin-chek, as well as Kim Dong-ho, former executive chairman of the Busan International Film Festival, director Jeong Ji-young, and singer Jang Sa-ik, who have close ties with her, were invited.
Park told Yonhap News, “It felt lonely to go alone. We came to this world and are on our way to the next, and I hoped it would feel like a festival. So, I prepared it like a festival.”
Regarding ‘Between Cheongmyeong and Gogu’, Park explained, “The director thought of me while creating a story about death that he had been contemplating. The message is that life and death coexist.”
She added, “I wanted to show that the living should not find death unfamiliar, and that such a funeral is possible while we are alive. I hope you think of it as a ‘rehearsal’. Because someone who is still organizing their life will eventually face the time of (death).”
