Kim’s Video

Originally run by the enigmatic Yongman Kim out of his East Village dry-cleaning store, his franchise eventually amassed more than 55,000 rental titles. In 2008, facing a changing industry, Mr. Kim closed the business and offered to give away his collection provided that it stay intact and be available to Kim’s Video members.

Kim eventually struck a deal, but not with a local institution, school, business or individual. Instead, he opted to send his entire rental collection over 4,000 miles away to the Italian village of Salemi, Sicily. Enter filmmaker David Redmon, who credits Kim’s Video for his film education. Determined to rent a movie from Kim’s Video in Sicily, Redmon embarks on a bizarre and increasingly obsessive quest that takes him to Salemi, where he becomes entangled in a web of local politics, and to South Korea, where he tracks down the enigmatic Mr. Kim in the hope of influencing the collection’s future. Playing with various filmic forms, from cine-essay and investigative nonfiction to experimental cinema, Kim’s Video is an ode to the love of cinema and will strike a chord with anyone who has ever rented a movie.