Lineup Announced For 2017 London Korean Film Festival

Lineup Announced For 2017 London Korean Film Festival

0 comments 📅14 September 2017, 17:00

By Roxy Simons

The Korean Cultural Centre (KCC) have been working tirelessly to promote Korean cinema and their festival throughout the year, showcasing a plethora of films to keep people engaged and up-to-date with the best emerging talent from the South Korean film industry. Now the time has finally come — the full line-up for the 2017 London Korean Film Festival is here!  Announced as part of the centre’s final teaser screening for The Villainess on Monday September 11, festival producer Hyun Jin Cho and Asian cinema expert Tony Raynes took to the stage to reveal the exciting new programme.

Hong Sangsoo’s marital melodrama The Day After was announced as the festival’s opening film. Having released four films this year, Sangsoo’s black-and-white tragedy about a man and the affect his affairs have on three women was said to be his best new production, with Tony Raynes claiming that the festival had “lucked-out” by getting this film. He was equally as excited about Kim Dae-hwan’s second feature film, The First Lap, which will close the main festival on November 8 before the programme goes on tour. The independent film was a hit at Locarno Film Festival, and with its focus on Korean youth and their relationships with their parents it’s likely that it’ll be one to look out for at the festival.

The programme has a number of special focuses this year, and the first of which is a celebration of Korean Noir films. With thirteen films selected as part of this focus, it’s clear that there will be something for everyone with from 1964 with Lee Man-hee’s Black Hair to action auteur Ryoo Seung-wan’s 2000 thriller Die Bad to Byun Sung-hyun’s latest drama The Merciless. As part of the celebration there will also be several Q&A’s held after screenings with Lee Doo-young talking about his film The Last Witness, Kin Sung-soo discussing Dead End, and Oh Seung-ok attending the screening of his film Kilimanjaro.

The best films from 2017 will also be showcased at the festival with six films including Huh Jung’s horror The Mimic and Kang Yun-sung’s indie crime caper Crime City. What we’re really excited about is Lee Dong-eun’s LGBT masterpiece which examines the lives of a gay couple through the eyes of one of their mothers, the intimate family drama is set to be one of the highlights of the festival. Warriors of the Dawn by Chung Yoon-chul also seems like a good bet for the programme, as the Joseon Era period drama was filmed entirely outdoors and seems like an exciting new film to see.

Tony Raynes curated the festival’s Indie Firepower category which, you guessed it, has a special focus on the best independent filmmakers South Korea has to offer.  He speaks highly of one film in particularly, Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno. The gritty documentary about a punk rock band who become entangled in the country’s political protests at the time is a funny yet poetic film about the period. Non-Fiction Diary was also said to be a highlight of the event, as Jung Yoon-suk’s debut documentary was what made a name for him, and has yet to be seen in the UK.

Continuing on from last year’s festival, the programme also includes a special focus on female filmmakers as part of the Women’s Voices subcategory. Kangyu Garam will be in attendance at the festival to support the screening of her documentary Candle Wave Feminists. The politically charged film looks at the discrimination faced during the revolution that led to Park Geun-hye’s impeachment last year. Another film that’s highlighted is Jamsil, the feature debut of Lee Wanmin which examines the transformative relationship between two women following a harrowing break-up.

The work of veteran Korean filmmaker Bae Chang-ho is the subject of this year’s Classics Revisited section. Three of his films, People in the Slum, Whale Hunting, and The Dream will all be presented at the festival, and the director will also be attending the event to talk after the screenings of the first two films mentioned. Dr Mark Morris’ finely curated selection was chosen to highlight the impact he had on the industry, and how his work also supported the ‘People’s Movement’ of the time.

Finally, the festival will also showcase documentaries, animations, short films, and artist videos. Screenings will take place in Picturehouse Central, Regent Street Cinema, ICA, Phoenix, Close-up, LUX, Birkbeck’s Institute of Moving Image, SOAS, Kingston University, National Film & Television School, British Museum and KCCUK before going on tour in Glasgow, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, and Belfast until November 19.

More information about the festival, including where you can get tickets, can be found here.

No Comments

No Comments Yet!

You can be first one to write a comment

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.