In recent years the LKFF programmers have been getting into a groove of scheduling indie, minority interest movies for the closing film of the festival. This year, they turned things upside down by programming the festival’s most appealing film (for me, at least,) to end the fortnight. Yes, the opening movie, Mogadishu, is the top […]
Finding Angel released in UK cinemas
Heart-warming Christmas film Finding Angel from director Kim Seong-jun is coming to Cineworld and Odeon cinemas in the UK from 26th November 2021: Finding Angel (천사는 바이러스) Dir Kim Seong-jun (2017, 114mins) Lee Young-a, Park Sung-il, Chon Moo-song Cineworld: Aberdeen Union Sq| Birmingham Broad Street | Bolton| Cardiff | Didsbury | Edinburgh | Enfield | […]
A look at the closing movies from recent LKFFs
As I left the cinema after Friday’s closing movie of the 2021 London Korean Film Fest, somewhat on a high because it was such a good film and Q+A, I observed to a friend I happened to bump into: “That was the best closing gala for years!” As I said that, the most recent decent […]
Cult of Ya comes to the Kentish Town Forum
Tickets go on sale tomorrow for January’s hip-hop fest: Cult of Ya Fest 2020 Season 1 O2 Forum Kentish Town | 9-17 Highgate Road | London NW5 1JY Friday 14 January 2022, 6:30 pm Tickets: www.cultofya.com with SIK-K | GROOVYROOM | GEMINI | MIRANI | MOON (MOON SUJIN) | SMMT | CO.KR Links: The event’s […]
The Sound of Nature: Dal:um live at Southbank Centre
“Korean traditional instruments contain the sound of nature.” This is the opening line of Ha Suyean’s answer to my question regarding what Dal:um would like their international audience to know about ancient Korean instruments gayageum and geomungo. “For someone coming to these two ancient instruments for the first time, what will they discover?”, I had […]
Festival Film Review: The Singer
As is often the case, I was out of town for the London East Asia Film Festival, so I missed the international premiere of the Director’s Cut of Cho Jungrae’s The Singer. I’m not sure if the previously available version has had a formal international premiere – probably not, given the devastation that Covid has […]
Roundtable: Rewriting the history of culture in 1970s and 1980s South Korea
Two of my favourite essay collections. I’m definitely going to be registering for this University of Edinburgh Asian Studies Roundtable. Rewriting the history of culture in 1970s and 1980s South Korea Wednesday 17 November 2021, 4 – 6 pm (UK time) Dr Youngju Ryu (University of Michigan) and Dr Sunyoung Park (University of Southern California) […]
ATEEZ plays the SSE Arena Wembley
After a two year delay imposed by the pandemic, we can finally welcome ATEEZ back to London. This is the concert originally scheduled for March 2020. ATEEZ: The Fellowship – Beginning of the End Tuesday 15 February 2022, 7:30pm | Doors 6pm The SSE Arena | Arena Square | Engineers Way | Wembley Park | […]
Interview: Cho Jungrae (The Singer, 2020)
I watched Cho Jungrae’s 2020 movie The Singer earlier this year online, after being told by a friend of the director that it was available on Amazon Prime. It struck me as a fresh take on the pansori movie genre: instead of telling a pansori tale more or less straight like Im Kwon-taek’s Chunhyang, it […]
KCC November House Concert Live! Borodin String Qtet #2
A nice piece to round off this year’s series of House Concerts: Rachel Hayoung Woo (Violin) | Serin Baek (Violin) | Jisu Song (Viola) | Angus McCall(Cello) Programme Borodin String Quartet No.2: Allegro moderato | Scherzo | Notturno | Finale Artists Rachel Hayoung Woo (Violin) Born in Korea in 1999, Rachel took up the violin […]
In dreams we gather: Bongsu Park at Gallery Rosenfeld
Bongsu Park returns to Gallery Rosenfeld with the continuing developments of her Dream project. Note also the workshops, symposium and Dream Auction also happening this month. In dreams we gather | Do not be afraid of the brilliant lights 18 November 2021 – 13 February 2022 rosenfeld | 37 Rathbone Street | London W1T 1NZ | […]
Review: Hwang Sok-yong – The Prisoner
How to review the autobiography of one of Korean’s leading novelists, who has won accclaim both sides of the border; who has spent five years in prison as well as being a person of interest to the authorities for much of his professional career? The memoir makes for fascinating reading as literary history: most of […]
Scottish CKS Distinguished Lecture Series: November talks
The Scottish Centre for Korean Studies has announced its November series of lectures. I’ve yet to find a web page where details in good old-fashioned text can be found, but poster images are posted on their Facebook page, where you can also find registration links for the Zoom meetings. This month we have: Wed 10 […]
Review: Kim Bo-young – I’m Waiting for You, and other stories
Genuine question: what was the first work of translated Korean fiction to be released as an audiobook? I don’t know the answer to that one. Browsing the Audible catalogue is not easy, but I suspect Penguin wins the prize. Two popular titles published by Penguin – Kim Ji-young, born 1982 and The Hen who dreamed […]
BLOO plays at the Garage Highbury Corner
Korean rapper BLOO comes to the Garage courtesy of Cult of Ya, supported by Howmini. BLOO: Moon and Back tour Friday 3 December 2021, 20:00-22:00 The Garage | 20-22 Highbury Corner | London N5 1RD | Tickets (Sold out) Links: Cult of Ya on Facebook
Love in the Big City: Sang Young Park in conversation with Anton Hur
November’s literature discussion again features a book which is very hot off the press: Love in the Big City Wednesday 24th November 12:00noon-1:30pm via Zoom The author Sang Young Park and the moderator Anton Hur will join us for a live virtual talk about the novel Love in the Big City. Following the talk, Sang […]