All language subtitles for Kims.Video.2023.NORDiC.1080p.WEB-DL.H.264.DDP5.1-TWA.en

Hey, do you
know Kim's Video?

Excuse me.

Maybe you know, do
you know Kim's Video?

You got an address?

No, it used to
be here, but it's gone.

Yeah, a lot of things used
to be here and they're gone.

Yeah, we're
seeing that here too.

I just wanna
rent a movie.

And Kim's Video used to be here.

Do you know what
happened to Kim's?

Probably went out of business.

But...

It probably did.

Because nobody rents
videos anymore.

Do you know Kim's Video?

I'm looking for Kim's Video.

It used to be there.

- Yeah?
- Yeah.

Do you know
Kim's Video?

I do.

- Were you a customer?
- I was.

And how was it?

It was great.

Yeah, it was great. Do you know
what happened to Kim's Video?

No, I don't.

Okay, I'm looking... - I'm
trying to figure out what
happened to Kim's Video.

Because I used to be
a member as well.

- Oh really?
- Yeah.

I think it's just
the digital age, right?

Put him out of business.

I grew up not too
far away from Paris, Texas.

In the middle of nowhere.

The fictional setting
for Wim Wenders' movie

in which Travis Henderson
is lost in a desert.

And it was Wenders movie
that sparked my passion

to make my first movie on hands.

My parents were 17 years
old when I was born.

When I was six,
they sent me to live

with my grandparents.

That's when I became
obsessed with movies.

Late at night, voices would
call me to watch movies.

And I would sneak out
of bed to see them.

Like Carol Anne
in "Poltergeist."

I would reach out
and touch the screen.

To feel the static electricity
traveling throughout my body.

Imagining it was ghosts
from the other side.

One night, I turned
on the television

and "Sinbad and the Eye
of the Tiger" was playing.

I remember the terror I felt.

The fear on the
faces of the heroes

who went to faraway lands and
unexpectedly battled monsters.

Movies to me weren't
imaginary, they were real.

And sometimes I
found it difficult

to distinguish between
fiction and reality.

One time I drove all
the way to Austin

to search for the characters

in Richard Linklater's
movie "Slacker."

I wanted to make movies
and also be around them.

But in rural Texas,
the closest place

to find movies was at Walmart.

And I eventually worked there
when I was 15 years old.

Just to be around movies.

One evening my manager,
who resembled the master

in "Manos: The Hands of Fate,"

asked me to sit down for a talk.

To my surprise, he removed
some VHS from a garbage bag

and said, "I found these
movies in our dumpster outside."

He accused me of hiding the
movies in the garbage bag

and making a plan to steal
them later that night.

Similar to "Isle of
Dogs," we had a stand off.

We fought.

I lost.

He told me:

Get out of here
and don't come back.

Years later, I started
hearing voices

that resembled the same
ones in "Clean, Shaven."

And they told me to leave.

You'll have to leave!

I moved to New
York and I lived in Brooklyn.

But my favorite neighborhood
was the East Village.

On my way home one
night, I asked a group

of people hanging out
in front of a club

where I could find movies.

They looked at me
dumbfounded and said,

Kim's Video.

I walked into the store and a
live band was playing music.

And even though
the music was loud,

all sound stopped.

The movies made me calm.

I knew immediately I
had found my new home.

I felt relieved.

Like Diana waking up
from her nightmare.

I immersed myself
in the collection.

The movies made me feel safe.

They had so much stuff that

you couldn't
find anywhere.

You know, and bootlegs of

things that didn't exist.

out on VHS or DVD.

ephemera and stuff from Europe

and the most obscure titles.

It was like a treasure trove.

My favorite
movies I found at Kim's

were made in New York City.

Especially the East Village.

I loved how they transported
me to a place and time

that no longer exists.

At the time, this
is 1987, stepping foot

into this video
store, it was, wow.

I'm stepping into the

gold mine of cool.

We're taking it upstairs.

Without passes, you don't
take nothing upstairs.

We're gonna deliver
that tape right now.

Don't make a move and
you won't get hurt.

- Come on!
- You hear me?

It was just this weird

little headquarters

for a lot of watching and

thinking about movies.

And it was just the place
to get weird movies.

But a lot of these
movies, when you see

the old days in New York
and you see, you know,

all up and down the East Village

it's just so shocking
because it was so dangerous.

And there would be these
weird, bombed out buildings

where they would
be lowering down

these little cans and
people would be lining up

to get their heroin.

And if the police came they
could just sort of scurry

into these buildings
and not be found.

I think that's in "Mixed Blood"

the Paul Morrissey film.

You know, when I watch
"Taxi Driver" now

I don't think, oh
god, that looks scary.

I think, oh damn it, why
isn't like that again?

I miss it so much.

By the time
I got to New York

the East Village
had been gentrified,

boutique stores had replaced
burned out buildings.

Yet, the ghosts of the past

are very much alive
in the present.

Kim's Video was born
out of this history.

It collected these stories.

And it gave them a home.

The owner of Kim's
Video was Yongman Kim.

The 21-year-old Korean immigrant

who arrived in New
York City in 1979

after serving in
the Korean military.

He owned a dry cleaning business

and he had an idea
to place several

bootlegged copies of
VHS in display shelf

for people to rent.

Turned out Mr. Kim's
video rental business

was more successful
than dry cleaning,

so he opened his
first video store.

from Europe and the US.

Kim's Video has more
than 27,000 movies

from 44 countries
all over the world.

The most well
known store was Mondo Kim's

on Saint Marks Place.

Mondo Kim's had more
than 55,000 movies

and 250,000 members.

Mr. Kim sent
employees to different

international film festivals

to search for and find movies
that had never been released.

We are like the
dreamer who dreams

and then lives in the dream.

He grew his
collection by requesting

movies from embassies
in New York City.

He copied their
VHS and then rented

those movies in his store.

Word spread.

Companies complained.

And the FBI raided
Kim's Video in 2003.

We were actively

cultivating rare films.

We were really proud
of those tapes.

The counter was right

in front of the racks

of bootleg VHS tapes.

We would watch
these guys in suits

take out these bags
and clear out rows

and rows of VHS tapes.

About a week or so later Mr. Kim

would come into the store
with one of his staff

and they would
replenish the entire row

with all new bootlegs.

One movie
that Mr. Kim bootlegged

was Godard's
"Histoire du Cinema."

An essay film as a
collage of images.

Show in this scene
with Godard's face

superimposed on paintings.

Jean-Luc
Godard's lawyers

sent a cease and desist letter.

I'm proud that we've made
that available for people.

We felt like we
were above the law.

Like the law said:
ownership mattered.

We said: film
knowledge matters more

than ownership over movies.

I think there will be changes
for video in the future.

Like music, video will not
stay within a single form.

It will be directly
connected via computers.

As physical
media gave way

to digital streaming, Kim's
customers moved online.

The physicality of the
object is now dematerialized.

One by one Mr. Kim closed each
of his seven video stores.

But the final store,
on Saint Marks Place,

had one of the most
eclectic, rare collections

of 55,000 movies anywhere.

Mr. Kim issued a
public announcement

to donate his entire collection.

A small town in Sicily
called Salemi asked

an American sociologist
to write a proposal

and give it to
Mr. Kim in person.

Salemi had lots of

space and was looking

for arts projects and

Kim had a big collection

that needed space.

It was a beautiful building

and they designated it for this
purpose. Well, we were told that
it was designated for this purpose.

Pictures of it went
into the proposal to Kim

that was posted on big
A1 sheets in his shop

to assuage his members that
it was going to a good home.

Had no one else
shared that with you?

No, no one
else shared it with me.

That's really weird.

It's the thing.
It's the promise.

Do you mind
reading some of it?

The City of Salemi
hereby proposes

not only to host the collection,

but also to give it
new life by ensuring

continued growth of
this cultural treasure.

Furthermore, a limited
number of sleeping quarters

are reserved for use by
Kim's visiting members

to ensure a hospitable welcome
at the collection's new home.

The town of Salemi
is planning to launch

the never ending festival,
a nonstop public projection

of Kim's video collection
DVDs in their new home.

Salemi
promised to digitize

the entire collection and
give free access and rentals

to former Kim's Video members.

Then I went to New
York and I sat with Kim

and I talked to him about it.

He had read the proposal,

we shook hands, and he
agreed and that was the deal.

And then I called Italy
from outside his shop

and told them that he was in,

and then we started putting
the wheels in motion

of getting the collection moved.

Just how could anybody

think for a second

that sending this entire

thing to another country,

even though they
say, well any

member who walks
in the door

is welcome to access
the collection.

Just what on earth could
someone have been thinking

that this to them made
more sense than NYU saying,

we will take it.

As legend has it, those were
the options he was faced with.

We had over 40

schools and institutions

apply for the donation to

accommodate to
their places.

And I think it was a good idea

and better idea
to send to Salemi.

The way that I found
out the store closed

was I got into the elevator
to go to the third floor

to work and I
saw a sign that

said that we were closing.

Also having to call all the
customers for their late fees.

And some people had
some insane late fees.

Including the Coen Brothers

who had something
like 600 dollars.

In their
defense, the Coen Brothers

were busy making their
movie, "A Serious Man."

You know, we couldn't get
them on the phone for that.

It's a little embarrassing
now when I think about

how it felt when it left.

Because yeah, it was like

a friend moving away,

but more worse.

Because we knew we'd
never see it again.

We also knew it probably
was gonna just disappear.

The ship would disappear,
something, you know?

Kim's Video
leaving New York reminded me

of Kiarostami's movie, "Where
is the Friend's House?"

In which a small
child wants to settle

an injustice by returning a
notebook to his friend's home.

I felt like his
character, small,

and wanting to change
an unjust situation

but not knowing how.

I would go to the site of
the former Kim's Video store

like a pilgrim who
visits a shrine.

Waiting for Kim's to return.

And that's when I started
hearing voices again.

The voices were
whispering to me,

like a scene from
Fellini's "La Dolce Vita."

Did you ever feel me so close?

And I spoke back.

Where are you?

Can you hear me?

Where are you talking from?

From a far away place,
somewhere in Sicily.

10:00 A.M. July 27th, 2017.

42 miles west of Corleone,

where the fictional movie
"Godfather" was set.

Corleone.

Do you
know Kim's Video?

Kim's Video?

Centro Kim's?

Talk to him. He speaks American.

Centro Kim.

I don't speak English.

Where's Kim's Video?

I don't speak English.

If you speak English
you [can talk with him].

Wait, I will take
a picture of you.

Do any of you speak English and
can understand this guy?
He's lost.

He's looking for
I don't know what.

What?

I think he's looking
for Centro Kim.

Centro Kim?

Yes, the videos Videos big.

Yes, that's Centro Kim.

Yes, but the problem,
at this time, it's closed.

Isn't there anyone here
who speaks English? How is this
possible?

Me? No.

At school they don't
teach English unfortunately.

Okay, I'll take him there
anyway to Centro Kim.

The Centro Kim.

You need a car.

Maybe there's something
he would be interested

in here. There's
something in English here.

We're making a bad impression.

As soon as he gets
back, he'll say Salemi is

a town of ignorance and
no one speaks English.

Here's the English translation.

Yes, okay, but where's
Centro Kim here?

No, this only covers
the historical center.

This is so embarrassing. As
always. This guy doesn't
understand a thing here.

Movies.

Movies.

DVD.

DVD. Centro Kim.

VHS.

But the problem is
Centro Kim is closed.

Anyway, I'll take him there.

Yeah?

Your car?

Yeah, okay, okay.

Who is it?

Is Enrico there?

No, he's at work.

At work where?

At the castle.

Closed?

Whoa.

Ha.

Oh no. They're all wet.

Who came in there?

Uh, Nicole?

No, I am Enrico's wife.
Did you go in there?

Open.

Was it open?

You live here?

I am Enrico's wife.

Trabajo?

I don't understand.

Hold on a second.

Habla Espanol?

No, no parlo.

Habla... uh,
parlez vous Francais?

No English?

No English.

Let me call.

But why was the door open? Wait.

Enrico, someone's here.
They opened the door. Was
the door open?

Where the tapes are.

What do I know?
The alarm went off.

There's a gentleman with
a camera, an American.

You come now, please.

Do you have the key?

Do you speak English?

Eh.

Almost! What should we do?

I have a Kim's Video membership.

Do you understand?

Kim's Video membership.

In New York City.

Yeah, okay, okay, okay.

He's from Kim?

Yes he's an operator
of the movie for Mr. Kim.

Now we figured
out the situation.

Are you calling the mayor?

Yes, now we'll sort things out.

Listen, he was sent by Mr. Kim.

Okay, anyway, I know Mr. Kim.

Oh good! I don't know
nothing about Mr. Kim.

You have the permission
just to come here and...

I met you earlier.

Yes, he was in
the square earlier.

Yes, but anyway
it's a nothing.

No, I...

Okay, wait a moment.

To come here, to do some
reports, you can do that.

You can.

I can?

You can't.

- I can't?
- You can't.

Does he have a key?
How did he get inside?

So you'll give me a tour?

No, no, I give you nothing.

You have no permission
to come here inside.

Oh, but I do.

I have a Kim's Video
collection membership card.

Okay, I hear, I know Mr.
Kim and so on, but...

What is your name?

I am the local
chief of police.

Okay, my name's David. David.

Okay, my name
is Diego Muraca.

Okay, Diego.

And I wrote sometimes

to Mr. Kim

and I know personally

Mr. Kim, too.

Okay, when he came here,

the video, in Salemi.

Okay, anyway you have a paper,

where it's one permission
to come here inside,

because he said immediately

you have the key
from inside too.

No, the door is open.

The door was open.

Listen Enrico! He said
the door was open.

Might be.

That's what he said.

Anyway, you can
do nothing here.

Because here it
must be the mayor.

Just the mayor here can
give you the permission.

No other people.

See?

This is locked.

The door is locked. It could
have been open but it's closed.

It was open?

No, it was closed.
Comandante, it's locked.

It was open and now it's closed?

It's closed!

Close the camera.

And what's your name?

What's
this important for?

I'm just trying
to get to know people

because I'm gonna be here a lot.

I'm gonna be here
for a long time.

It's Kim's Video.

No, anyway, it's
not open to the public.

But it's
supposed to be.

That was the condition--

But anyway...

Where do we go?

Huh?

Where are we going?

I don't know.

Ou est allez?

Yes. Yes, yes.

Music for film.

It's your music?

Yes.

You made this music?

Um... music for
a... for movie.

Yes.

You made it?

Yes.

Presto.

Movie horror?

Okay.

Okay.

You want that I speak?

Yeah, so what's happening?

Okay.

I am the local chief.

The town, I am...

Here, take it again.

Okay

You can cancel.

Okay

We're gonna do this thing.

Okay

Okay, David,
welcome in Salemi.

I am the local chief of police
anyway, from the town.

Or the town hall, anyway.

It's a pleasure to have you,
to be present in Salemi.

Where Mr. Kim came and he
gave us all the videos.

And now our administration
is doing the best

to know, in all the
world, the Mr. Kim videos.

Anyway, you know,
David, the collection

when you came in
Salemi, our mayor,

he received you and really
all the people in Salemi

they are happy about your videos

and we hope in the
future to be always

and to do the best
for your memory.

And when you will be in Salemi,

you are always welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Kim.

That was nice.

That was nice.

And you were
present with Sgarbi?

Right.

When the collection arrived?

Yeah.

What was it like?

When it...

Salemi! Salemi!

Salemi! Salemi!

Salemi!

Vittorio!
Vittorio!

Come on, open it Vittorio.

Let's see which is
the first movie.

A porn movie!

Salemi! Salemi!

Salemi! Salemi!

In 1968
Salemi experienced

a devastating earthquake that
destroyed the entire town.

Its new mayor, Vittorio Sgarbi,

wanted to promote
Kim's Video as part

of a multi-million
dollar renovation project

to turn Salemi into
an artist colony.

Berlusconi, seen in this photo,

appointed Sgarbi as
Undersecretary for Culture

in Italy.

He was Commissioner for
Culture in Milan.

Sgarbi's also a member of
the European Parliament.

What did Sgarbi want with it?

Sgarbi was kind of an
exile from Milano politics,

and he ended up becoming
the mayor of Salemi

as a holding ground
before he could return

to national politics.

There's the story of Salemi,

of a town that was
destroyed by an earthquake

that was trying

to rebuild itself.

It was mobilizing
all that it could

in order to attract
people there.

In all the press
releases from Salemi

they talked about Kim's Video.

That having the
collection, possessing it,

was much more important
than exploiting it.

Having the collection
meant opportunity.

If you had the collection,
you would be able to use it

to leverage money for
doing something with it.

It's a horrible
way to have learned

what due diligence means.

And we didn't do that.

I mean, I really...

I didn't really know who
we were working with.

I didn't know what
we were getting into.

It seemed like we could
do something beautiful

with this beautiful
collection and we didn't.

That sucks.

Now I know why the
voices were speaking to me.

They were leading
me to the collection

so that I would find it.

And just like Jeffrey
in "Blue Velvet"

who unexpectedly finds
something he wasn't looking for,

I found a damaged
collection of movies.

That's leading me on
a journey to find out

who's responsible
for the neglect.

Or similar to Thomas in
Antonioni's "Blow-up"

I convinced myself that I see
things about Kim's Video

that may or may not be there.

I had too many questions
and no answers.

Questions about why the
collection was abandoned.

And so I decided
to pursue Mr. Kim,

to find out if he could
help me learn more

about what happened
to Kim's Video.

I searched in his original
dry cleaning business.

This was his first business.

Yeah, I don't know.

I went to the former Saint Marks

Kim's Video store.

The first floor is Barcade.

The second floor
is a workout gym.

The third and fourth
floor is a karaoke bar.

And no one could
help me find Mr. Kim.

So I decided to talk
to former employees.

I don't think I

ever met Mr. Kim.

I saw him.

He was very tall.

And good looking.

There was like this thing

that he was like,
maybe, like scary.

I've never met
anyone like Mr. Kim.

He seems like one
of the scariest.

He's like super tall.

He looks like he's in the mafia.

There was just a lot of

rumors as to who he was.

We knew almost
nothing about him.

He was still mythical.

Kim was always
like a shadowy guy.

He was always very secretive.

He's definitely
a legend downtown

for that period
that he was in.

You know, Rafik,

Kim's, Jonas Mekas.

You know, Howard Gutenplan.

You know, the big film people.

I knew that Mr. Kim was

friends with Quentin Tarantino

and that they interacted

in some fashion whenever Mr. Kim

was making his feature.

Ah!

Yeah, yeah.

I started
making this movie

knowing nothing about Mr. Kim.

And the more I explored,

the more enigmatic and
mysterious he became.

Yeah.

It seems the myth
of Mr. Kim

is more real than the person.

I watched Mr. Kim's movie,
"One Third."

It's about a monk who spies
on a teenage prostitute.

His movie only
created more intrigue.

And it made me
feel like a voyeur.

I think that air of

mystery is fostered by him

and also by the

terms of the store.

A great dad and church goer.

An upstanding success
story in his community.

To also intersect with
New York counter culture

and underground and the
seedy side of film and art.

That's extraordinary.

I leave
messages for Mr. Kim

with former employees.

And I send emails to
different addresses

asking him to contact me.

Like Jack Terrier in
"Blow Out" I continue

suturing together
different aspects

of the life of Kim's Video.

To understand if it
was deliberately

or accidentally neglected.

Like Harry Caul, I
repeatedly tried to discern

what the voices were telling me.

Find out what
happened to the tapes.

My frustration increases,
because I can't understand

what happened to the collection.

Like Harry Caul,
I become absorbed

by the process of trying to
solve this jigsaw puzzle.

My curiosity takes me to Italy

where I meet a fixer who

gets me access to Sgarbi

so I can ask him questions

about Kim's Video.

He is the director from New York
who came all the way to see you.

We will come later with
you to the presentation.

Sgarbi's a rare European
public intellectual.

He travels across
Italy selling thousands

of tickets to his sold-out shows

of his analysis of art history.

He's a charismatic speaker
and a fantastic showman.

His fans want his time
and his autograph.

He's friendly and affectionate.

He's like a character
from a Fellini movie.

His assistants accommodate
his needs and wants.

He stays out all night visiting
art museums and galleries.

He eats the best food
and drinks the best wine.

He's surrounded constantly by

an entourage of people.

Sgarbi will speak
hours about any topic.

But when I start
asking him questions

about the unfinished project

of Kim's Video in
Salemi, he evades.

Deflects.

Until one day, when
Sgarbi was more relaxed,

I was finally able
to approach him.

David has a curiosity.

Tell me.

How do you feel about the fact

at one point in Salemi
it all ended?

Yeah, Salemi. That
was just one story.

You're right.

It's something you started and
didn't finish.

Are you angry or
disappointed?

No, no. We also made
a publication that explained
everything I've done.

We had contacts with
Tibetans in exile. We had

contacts with the Jewish
world, the Muslim world.

But Salemi What we
had put together, we started

to do the cataloguing.
I think they finished it.

This was the biggest
movie collection in America.

The owner was called Kim.

That was an archive that
didn't exist in Sicily. This

guy, with digitization,
internet, closed a big store.

He had every film in the
world and donated them to us.

It was an important experience.

It's a sore spot.

He left after the phone call.

I followed and I tried
to get into his car.

He told me it's time to leave,

but I pressed anyway.

We go with you?

No, there's no space.

We're getting in his car?

No, he's saying there
is no space.

I left Sgarbi
empty handed

and when I got back to New
York, something eerie happened.

I received an
unexpected text message

in the middle of
watching "Twin Peaks."

In this specific scene...

And then my phone buzzed.

It was Mr. Kim and he
asked me to call him.

All right, here we go.

Yeah.

Hey, Mr. Kim.

Hello?

Who is this?

There's a poor connection.

I don't know if it's
my phone or yours.

Hello?

The connection was lost.

But Mr. Kim sent a

message with an address.

He said I could meet him

to talk about Kim's Video.

I arrive a day early,
and I'm nervous

because of all the rumors
I've heard about Mr. Kim.

And I don't know what to expect.

I start filming night
scenes in Korea.

And testing my sound as
a way to distract me

from my neurosis.

Okay, recording sound.

Now I understand how
Ross McElwee felt

making his documentary,
"Sherman's March."

In which he films his
anxieties in in-between spaces

while trying to
finish his movie.

Morning arrives quickly,

and I receive a text
message from Mr. Kim

asking to meet down the street.

Um.

I get there on time.

But I'm having sound problems.

Should we go?

This entire facility, right,

that used to be like KCIA.

You know what the CIA is?

The Central Intelligence Agency.

Yeah, that's what this
whole facility used to be.

KCIA.

So most members of
this organization,

they don't know me, who I am.

They only know me
as a business man.

So, please keep in your mind,

you don't disclose as
my background

as a filmmaker and
film background.

I saw Charlie Chaplin,
the silent film,

16mm projection when
I was eight years old.

That was the first time
I watched a movie ever.

It was just amazing.

So, that's how I start my
relationship with film.

When I got here
when I was 21,

I started to work

18 to 20 hours a day.

I worked for not only just

for living for myself,

but also for my whole family.

And my two younger
brothers and sister,

they were in the high school.

I was the only one
capable to bring

the income to home.

Then I slowly went
to film school

and I made
Super 8mm film.

I didn't know what
to do with that.

I realized there are
millions of other filmmakers.

They are going to put a lot
of movie in their garage

just to disappear.

That was the motivation
why I started Kim's Video.

Can you talk
about Sgarbi and Salemi?

Yeah, that part I'm a little

regret.

Why?

Because Sgarbi was an
issue, a legal issue there.

A criminal issue.

Why?

I don't know the
insider information.

I don't know.

I don't know what happened.

It's like a movie scene.

A movie scene of Scorsese.

And that comment
by Mr. Kim made me nervous.

I don't wanna be in
a Scorsese movie.

And I was wondering which
scene he was referring to.

Look who's here.

What are you doing,
what happened?

Had I been invited
to dinner with the good fellas?

Jimmy will tell ya.

What happened?
What happened to him?

You have the super
light to spare!

Was I about
to bring back the dead?

Rise up!

Fredrick!

I be obeying!

Or maybe I was inside

Rupert Pupkin's distorted mind.

I had more questions
for Mr. Kim.

But he told me he
couldn't answer them.

We fly back to New York.

Mr. Kim brings me to
his house in New Jersey.

He hands me a VHS
with archival footage

of a man named Falco on it.

Grab that one.

The VHS has
footage of Mr. Kim

visiting his collection for
the first time with Falco.

Oh, this is beautiful.

You did a good job.

It turned out that Falco led

a five year investigation
into mafia ties

in the town of Salemi.

And Kim's Video got
wrapped up in it.

The investigative commission

documented some infiltrations
with the government.

There was a known

person in Salemi
for over 30 years.

His name is Giuseppe Giammarinaro.

In the photos I found,

he looks friendly, approachable.

He has been accused of
being involved in the mafia.

And the majority of his
photos online

are with Sgarbi

Usually side by side.

During press conferences,
Sgarbi denies

any association between
Giammarinaro and the mafia.

Saying Giammarinaro is
in the mafia is like saying

that the government's politics
is influenced by Napoleon.

The mafia in Salemi
does not exist.

Giammarinaro had been

under surveillance
for five years.

He was arrested.

And his assets of 15
million Euros were frozen.

Falco said that Giammarinaro
had illegally benefited

from money that was
supposed to have been used

for public assets.

What's the relationship between
Giammarinaro and Sgarbi?

I would prefer not to answer.

Okay,
no. He can't answer.

Oh.

I can say that the investigation

and police wire
tapping showed that.

Giammarinaro presided
within Sgarbi's council.

He had no title or
authority to do so.

Falco accused Sgarbi

of allowing the mafia to
infiltrate his administration.

And removed him as mayor.

Was Salemi ordinary
or extraordinary?

Extraordinary.

Mafia, mafia, mafia.

And just
before I left,

Falco showed me a box

with the words "Salemi,
Kim's Video" written on it.

He said that many of my
questions would be answered,

but he couldn't speak right now

because the investigation
was still active.

And shortly after
this interview,

Falco died in the
middle of the night.

The investigation into
Giammarinaro stopped

and all charges were dropped.

Possible coincidence,
but most unfortunate.

Part of my
paranoid self wondered

if his death was a coincidence,

or if something more
nefarious happened.

As suggested in the
movie, "Black Dragons."

Nice fella.
I hope you'll be happy.

Goodbye.

You're leaving?

Yes, I must.

How did the
Kim's Video collection

get entangled with the mafia?

Will we see you again?

Who knows, in
this crazy world.

And the only person

who can answer these
questions is no longer here.

Cinema is a record of existence.

It retains traces
of lives lived,

of phantoms, ghosts.

And when it's thoughtfully
organized as an archive,

it's our collective
memory of the living dead.

I turned my attention
to convincing Mr. Kim

to get the collection
out of Salemi

and return it to New York City.

It is really

beautiful here.

Cheers, thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Grazie.

Gracias.

Oh my.

Probably rain from there.

Yeah, rain, right?

Okay.

Alright.

Oh my gosh.

Mr. Kim!

Nice pleasure to meet you.

Nice pleasure.

Our mayor is here.

Oh, the mayor is here?

Do you know him?

Oh no, I don't. I don't know.

Okay, great.

It's our mayor!

Mr. Kim!

How are you?

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Welcome in Salemi.

Thank you very much.

Salemi has the collection,

better than any university
in the world.

I am not sure what kind
of assessment they have

from their perspective.

And I feel very sad
that the collection

is not properly stored.

It's not properly managed.

And it's not
properly maintained.

The place--

It's something that we already started,

however,
I keep on waiting to.

The place was
very moisture.

I only have half hour and
I need to leave. How do you say
at 12pm?

I have a problem because I need
to leave and drop off my
daughter at the airport.

I am the only one who
can. Please tell him

because I don't want
to appear disrespectful.

Our Mayor is
saying that at 12pm

he must take to his
daughter back to the airport

because she must leave.

And they can't stay after 12pm

They must go away at 12pm

Thank you.

I am sorry for the...

Let me just finish a
couple more sentences.

Just ask him.

The moisture is very
bad for the tape

and once the tapes get damaged,

there's no longer a value to
talk about the collection.

It has been 10 years now.

But the collection
is still not using it

for the public and the people.

That makes my feeling very sad.

Would you be willing

to reclaim the
collection because Salemi

violated all the conditions?

And salvage what remains?

In response to your question,

yes.

I am not interested
to claim or to argue

or to reopen all those
conditional issues.

It's gone.

This is beyond my authority.

So, that's it.

That's it.

You know, sadly.

They didn't realize
what they have.

Unfortunately.

That's how I feel about it.

It's sad, but it's
beyond my authorities.

Finished?

Almost.

Okay.

This journey's
not just an obsessive quest

to free the movie collection.

I also care about
the collection,

and I'm angry that
it's been neglected.

I want the collection
to be restored.

I want restitution.

I want the collection to
continue to have a voice

because it helped me
make sense of mine.

I find out that Sgarbi
will be in Salemi,

and I had an idea to
bring him to Kim's Video

so he could see the damage.

I was hoping that he would come

to some sort of
self-realization.

That the movies needed to be
returned to New York City.

But sometimes life
isn't like the movies.

It's even more strange.

Hey!

How are you?

Is everything all right?

Vittorio Sgarbi is just coming.

Oh he's coming now?

You can do something important

for the United States
when you get back.

Oi, how are you?

He's making a
documentary on Kim's.

Sgarbi, we want to
go to Kim's Video, yeah?

Kim's?

Kim's. Centro Kim's.

Sure, we go to.

All right!

This is our Law and Order
workshop. We organize school
visits here.

We managed to screw
Corleone, didn't we?

They're afraid of
the word mafia.

If you create a Museum of Law
and Order nobody would come.

I continue following
Sgarbi everywhere he went.

Even though he pretends
not to know who I am

or why I'm there.

And then I notice another person
was also following Sgarbi.

At first I didn't recognize him.

When I approached him,
I suddenly realized

it was Pino Giammarinaro.

It was a strange
coincidence he was here.

Standing right next to me.

While making this movie,

I tried to reach out
to him repeatedly.

And now I was watching
him watching Sgarbi.

It seemed that we were
both stalking Sgarbi

and we both wanted
something from him.

Pino Giammarinaro
made Sgarbi Mayor.

I grew up with the mythology
of Pino Giammarinaro.

For me, it's as if
he's always been here.

As many of his kind do he uses
his power wherever it's
required.

Giammarinaro, in 2008,
controlled in his budget

a huge project of 800,000 euros

that was supposed to
finance different projects,

not only the digitization
of [Kim's] collection.

Only 30,000 euros were spent
without producing anything.

When the fate of Kim's
collection was decided he
was always there.

I experienced the dismantling
of the [Salemi] Municipality

as an unjust trauma
during my time here.

It was a wicked, violent,
and wrong action against
Pino Giammarinaro.

I believe in doing
politics in the fairest way

for what the politics
were, what they are

and for what they'll
be in this town.

Excuse me. What is your name?

Oh hey!

Are you Giammarinaro?

Yes.

Did you get my message?

Yes, I received your.

But.

But I can't do an interview
because I was not there.

I didn't take care of
the Centro Kim event.

I was not there at all.

If you want to know who took
care of it,
who worked for it, but I

I didn't do anything
for Centro Kim.

I've never even been.

Also for the movies,
absolutely never.

It's not possible that
we'd meet without a camera?

Is it possible to
meet without a camera?

Yes without a camera yes.

Yeah?

Okay.

Alright.

Ok, call me and we'll see.

Are you leaving?

Si.

Let's go to Kim's Video.

Ah.

Come on, Nico.

Tell him--

Am I gonna follow
him in my car to Kim's?

We take our car?

Yes, yes. Your car.

He's going the wrong way.

Kim's Video is the other way.

Why did he say he was
gonna go to Kim's Video

and then just drive
right past it?

I kept following him.

Until his convoy
arrived under a bridge.

Where are we?

Look at this, we're
under the bridge.

We're under a highway.

This is where people
go to get murdered.

Should we be nervous?

I convinced my translator

to go back to Kim's Video

to find a way inside
the collection.

And it was at Kim's when I
realized I had a problem.

I began to ask myself,
why am I staking out

a building full of
neglected movies

in the middle of
the night in Sicily?

My compulsion had
transfixed into obsession.

And the only way
to stop my mania

was to free the collection.

These movies had taken
possession of me.

Similar to "Videodrome."

Come to me now.

They cried out to me.

The movies asked me
to help them escape.

Don't keep me waiting.

I am the
movie collection.

I became the movie collection.

Please.

I go back to New York
and I began watching movies

to help me come up with ideas
on how to free the collection.

And the more movies I watched,

the more I began thinking
about the overlap

between art, crime, and cinema.

And how the fictional
depictions of crime in movies

such as "Bicycle
Thieves," "Rififi,"

and "Thieves' Highway"
influence reality.

I came across a 16mm
documentary called,

"There is a Criminal
Touch to Art."

By the German artist Ulay

and filmed by his partner,
Marina Abramovich.

Ulay steals Hitler's
favorite painting

and gives it to a Turkish
family as a political act.

And that's when I had a thought.

Can committing a crime
be a work of art?

Ulay took one painting
with his getaway driver.

But Kim's Video has more
than 55,000 movies.

I turned to fiction
movies to learn

how to execute a heist.

"Bottle Rocket," "Grand Slam."

But especially, "Argo."

In which the main
character, Tony Mendez,

pulls off a heist and
rescues a group of people

by making a fake movie.

It doesn't matter,
it's a fake movie.

If I'm doing a fake movie,

it's gonna be a fake hit.

I decide
to do the same.

Hire fake actors,
make a fake script.

I get help from
anonymous people.

And the Mayor of Salemi
grants me permission

to make a fiction movie
inside Kim's Video.

784 kilos.

Okay.

Okay.

You are again here?

You can't stop

your visit in Salemi.

Yeah? Salemi's another
world, don't forget.

Because don't
forget the Italian,

we discovered America
in 14th century, '92.

Don't forget, okay?

The origin of the
culture and the world

it's from Sicily.

Especially Salemi.

That makes
you my godfather.

Ha, ha, ha, yes.

Bye, I see you.

It's carnival
season in Sicily.

Salemi has its all
night celebration.

And we show up to
join the party.

I needed help to
pull off my plan.

So on that night, I summoned
the ghosts of cinema.

Okay, come here, David.

You're smiling,
you keep smiling.

Because I'm nervous.

Okay.

What, depends on my answer?

Yeah, it depends
a lot on your answer.

All right.

Well, you know that
the first time

I went to Salemi I broke
into the collection.

You know, the alarm went off.

But you know, and I told
you the movies spoke to me.

Okay.

And I listened to
'em and I promised

the movies that I would
come back one day.

Mm-hm.

And get them out,

because they told me
they wanted to get out.

Okay, they wanted to go home.

Well, I did go back
with a group of people.

And we broke back
into the collection

and we took as many
movies as we could.

And I know before you said
that you weren't interested

in reclaiming the collection,

but I'm hoping now
that you have interest

in getting the rest
of the movies out

and back to New York.

Unbelievable.

This is the reason why you left?

Did they allow you to do so?

That's a good question, um...

I don't know that
they allowed me,

but I had permission to
go into the collection

and make a fiction movie.

But the fiction
movie was a heist.

It was a theft.

You understand?

Unbelievable.

I never thought about this.

This is surreal.

I'm telling you this
is really surreal.

You did it without my
permission either, right.

So you could be a
theft, you know?

You could be a thief.

Unbelievable.

So who did that?

You and Ashley?

Pretty surely.

And uh, we had help.

Like Jim Jarmusch helped.

Charlie Chaplin.

Yeah.

Maya Deren helped.

Alfred Hitchcock.

They all helped you?

Godard.

Godard.

Yep. Agnes Varda.

A lot of filmmakers helped.

No Tarantino?

He might help,

I'm still trying to
reach out to him.

He hasn't gotten back to me.

Oh, that's incredible.

That's incredible.

If Godard, my god,
if he helped you,

I have no objection whatsoever.

And whatever he did,
I believe in,

he did the right things.

So ah...

I have no doubt,
I have no objection

and I just support whatever
his decision made out of.

So...

So, you did the
right thing then.

In the fiction movie,

we took all the boxes.

But in reality

we couldn't fit them all
into the back of the truck.

The actors left Salemi,

and that's when I took the
boxes and hid them in a dumpster

a few miles down the road.

And after midnight,
Ingmar Bergman,

Barbara Loden, and I went back.

And we took the movies.

Salemi contacted me and wanted

to know what happened
to the movies.

I told them, as a former
member of Kim's Video,

I just checked out a few
movies for my friends.

It's part of my fiction script.

And this action set
in motion a series

of complicated negotiations
for the next two years.

Mr. Kim challenged me and
said that if I could find

a new home for the
collection in New York City,

he'd help me get the
rest of the movies.

I hope all this
works out for you.

I spent more
than a year passing

proposals back and
forth to Mr. Kim

and 40 different institutions.

And eventually found
an enthusiastic company

willing to display
the entire collection

with free rentals
in New York City.

Next, Mr. Kim and
I had to work out

a contract with Salemi.

After more than a
year of negotiation,

Domenico came up
with a solution.

I have an idea but turn off
the camera so we can talk.

Domenico wanted to establish

a business relationship
with Mr. Kim

and promote tourism for Salemi

inside Kim's Video
in New York City.

The relationship with Mr. Kim
returns to be central. This is
a very positive fact.

We'd like to conclude
this collaboration and carry

forth a symbolic twinning
between Salemi and New York.

Some of the conditions
in the contract included:

One, no one
will be held accountable

for the missing movies.

Two, Salemi receives an
all expense paid trip

to New York City
for seven nights

in which Mr. Kim
publicly thanks the mayor

for caring for the collection
during a public ceremony.

Three, Salemi receives
free advertising

for the One Euro Home project
inside Kim's Video.

I fly back to New York City

to give Mr. Kim the contract.

And we decide to meet at the
former Kim's Video store.

You wanna go see inside?

I'd love to.

Yeah, let's go and see
how much we can see inside.

While
making this movie,

I noticed the parallels
between Mr. Kim's story

and "Citizen Kane,"
with a twist.

Mr. Kim, a Korean
immigrant who arrived

to New York City and
worked in a fruit stand,

bought a dry cleaning business,

eventually developed an empire

of video stores
in New York City,

and amassed an invaluable
collection of movies

from around the world

and then lost them.

People repeatedly asked,

"Why are you investing so
much time and effort

into freeing this
video collection?

And just like Rosebud,
this question remains

a piece of the Kim's
Video jigsaw puzzle.

Which objects, which movies
are significant to keep?

Mainstream movies?

Obscure movies?

Movies in the film canon?

I ordered a container

and I went back to Salemi
to send the rest of the

collection to New York.

When I arrived to Kim's,
the building was on fire.

And like "Citizen Kane,

I saw smoke from a distance.

And I was afraid the movies
would burn to dust.

We called the fire department
and no one showed up.

The situation reminded me
of "The Mirror.

And finally,

I woke up from a dream

as feverish as the
one in "Dream Demon."

The fire went out on its own.

And when the smoke cleared,
the container arrived.

Okay, okay.

I go back
to New York City

to greet the arrival
of Kim's Video.

And I see the ghosts of
cinema walking the streets,

preparing to enter
their new home.

But what is home for an
itinerate and abandoned

collection of lost
movies on VHS and DVD?

What kind of unknown
voices await me behind

the door of Kim's Video?

Come, come, it's Kim's Video.

Wait, wait.

You have a 600
dollar late fee.

Late fee?

What is late fee?

You owe money
to Kim's Video.

Ah no, this is my brother.

Hold up, hold up.

- Is this everything?
- No.

It's like half.

What?

When we started
talking, and I mean,

don't take this
the wrong way,

but there was a part

of me that felt like,

is this for real?

Or is this like a weird scam?

Honestly, it was a coin toss.

It was like, I really
wanted it to be true,

and then when it was clear
that there was actually

a sea freight container
heading my way,

I was like, holy shit
this is not a joke.

They're just all sitting

there, you know, in boxes

waiting to go through.

We got through 15,000
to 20,000 titles.

So, sorry if I doubted
you initially.

From kinetic,
to performance.

The magical, to
the unbelievable.

Dreams, movies and life
are indistinguishable.

There's a quote by the
filmmaker Jim Jarmusch

that stuck with me
throughout making this movie.

"Steal from anywhere that
resonates with inspiration.

And don't bother
concealing your thievery.

And always remember what
Jean-Luc Godard said,

"It's not where you
take things from,

it's where you take them to.

Yes!

Nobody died and Kim's
Video will live forever!

Alright! Ladies and gentlemen,

a standing ovation for Mr. Kim!

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

I'm so honored to be
here with you all today

here in New York City.

This is where my story began.

To the Mayor of Salemi,

your help in coordination
for the return

of the collection
to New York City

is deeply appreciated.