Dust-Man (2020)

Seoul Station, dust alarms go off regularly. Tae San is homeless here. At first glance, he looks different from other homeless people. With Mr. Kim and Do Joon, they live as a family in underpasses or empty stores. One day, Tae San meets art student Moa and draws a picture with her on a dusty car. Tae San and Moa’s ‘Dust Art’ drawings start becoming widely known through social media. Through the cuts on his arms associated with suicide and the sporadic images, we learn that Tae San received great shock in the past and still has not recovered. Then Tae San starts having a positive outlook on life and becomes free from the trauma through the dust drawings. Through Tae San’s explanation on ‘Tyndall phenomenon’, the film tells us that homeless life and dust art are essentially the same. “Even an invisible being has a story to tell.” DUST-MAN seems to convey a message that art can project a light of hope not only to the world covered with dust but also for the artist themselves.