Come Back Alive Baby

Filmed in locations such as Chernobyl, Buchenwald memorial, Yubari, Japan, massacre sites in South Korea, and the Wéris megaliths in Belgium, Sanghee Song’s new work Come Back Alive Baby deals with the end of the world, salvation, with the apocalyptic condition, but also with the energy of new formation.
It is based on the Korean folktale of “Baby Commander,” a story of an extraordinary baby that was murdered by its parents, by neighbors, and by soldiers, but always revived itself from its grave. Repeating the baby’s birth-murder revival the film follows the structure of this folktale. Through video, drawing, and text, Song presents variations of a new life force rising even from extreme situations of despair and extinction, such as one in which individuals are sacrificed for the stability of a country or a group; a great famine and the bankruptcy of a local government; or ruins due to the worst nuclear power plant accident in history.