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Song Il-gon’s Dance of Time at the KCC

Song Il-gon month continues this week with Dance of Time. It’s the KCC’s 99th screening. Which means of course that next week’s Song Il-gon at the Apollo it will be the 100th. Be sure to come. And from Dance of Time, expect more dancing by the sea. The first two films this month have been very special. This is the first month that I’m making sure to attend all four screenings.

Dance of Time

Dance of Time (시간의 춤, 2009)

Dance of Time poster7pm, 19th April 2012

Director: Song Il-gon
Cast: DianalysJo Dominguez, Cecilio Pak Kim
Genre: Documentary
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 95 min (ENG Subs)
Venue: The Korean Cultural Centre UK, Grand Buildings 1-3 Strand, London WC2N 5BW

RSVP:
Booking is required, via the KCC website.
Admission is free.

The Film

The 2012 Korean Film Night is proud to present the work of 12 of Korea’s leading Directors with a dynamic selection of weekly screenings throughout the year.

Dance of Time (2009)

Back in 1905, just before the onset of the Japanese military occupation over Joseon (present day Korea) about 300 people fled to Cuba via Mexico. With hopes of returning home wealthy one-day, they worked tenaciously. They established their own Korean schools and sent money back to finance the independence movement against Japan and even eventually partaking in the revolution of Che Guevera. In 2009 their descendants still reside in Cuba, some as well known painters, musicians and ballerinas, never forgetting their ethnic identity- “Coreano.”

Set in Cuba, the home of sensuous Latin music and the Latin Salsa, cha-cha dancing and the country of revolution and passion; this film follows the amazing, but heartbreaking stories of these Koreans. The film explores the idea of hope, love and anxiety; and the deep longing of a people removed from their home.

The Director

Director and Script-writer SONG Il-gon is one of those filmmakers that you’ve probably heard of but whose work almost certainly never seen. Born in 1971, Song studied Fine Arts in Seoul before relocating to Poland to train at their National Film Academy in Lodz. After creating award-winning short films Song moved on to full features. In the last decade he created 6 films as well as other smaller projects, all of which makes him one of the most prolific Directors of his generation. He was also the first Korean Director to receive an award from Cannes and has also proved popular at Festivals in Venice, Busan, Tokyo and Melbourne to name but a few.

Song’s style and technical brilliance is often praised on the Festival circuit along with his ability to create films in the European art-house tradition. However his particular style has also made it harder for him to completely crack the important domestic market. For this reason Song has become something of a known unknown in cinematic circles. However Song’s films are always wonderfully and stylishly made, as Russell Edwards wrote, ‘his craft is undeniable’. It is only in recent years that Song’s works have begun to be accepted by mainstream Korea, in a sense it is only now that the public has caught up with Song. His early films left all that was possible open to interpretation, and when combined with Song’s defining use of nocturnal images we have a body of work that is quite divisive. The same however cannot be said of Song himself, time and time again he has shown himself to be the most inclusive of Directors, capable of directing numerous actors and actresses across a range of genres no matter how subtle or challenging.

Please remember to add us on Twitter.com/koreanfilmfest and tweet us your review of the film to be in with a chance to win a fantastic Korean film DVD. To reserve your place please visit the KCCUK website and click on the film you wish to book. Admission is free.

Please be advised that visitors cannot be admitted after 7.10pm.

For more information please visit:
www.koreanfilm.co.uk/film-nights-and-events
http://www.kccuk.org.uk

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