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Lee Song Hee-il trilogy to screen at the BFI

Last year at the London Korean Film Festival we were scheduled to see White Night by Lee Song Hee-il (이송희일), but at the last minute the film was pulled so that it could have its European debut at the Berlin Festival in 2013. But now in compensation we are to see the film, together with two other by the same director, all on the theme of male desire, at the 27th BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

Click on the headings below to be taken to the relevant page of the BFI website where you can book tickets.

First, the screening of the 75 minute film White Night.

White Night (백야 2012)

NFT1 Mar 16, 2013 6:30 PM
Studio Mar 17, 2013 5:50 PM
NFT1 Mar 18, 2013 2:00 PM

White Night

With Won Tae-hee, Yi Yi-kyung, Hyun-Sung
75 min

Returning to South Korea for the first time since a painful experience drove him away two years previously, enigmatic flight attendant Won-Gyu reunites with his ex-boyfriend one cold winter’s evening. Frustrated by the encounter, Won-Gyu departs into the night, in search of a one-night stand. He meets Tae-Jun, a courier looking for some fun, but instead the two embark on an unexpected journey over the course of a long night, during which Won-Gyu must face the demons of his past and deal with his anger. An elegiac tale of a man struggling with his past, White Night continues to prove Leesong Hee-il (No Regret, LLGFF 2007) as one of Korea’s most exciting queer filmmakers, inventively blending various styles from noirish mystery to subdued melodrama to hauntingly beautiful effect. (Michael Blyth)

And next, the double bill of two shorter films.

Double Bill

NFT1 Mar 22, 2013 8:45 PM
NFT2 Mar 24, 2013 6:20 PM

A strange and melancholic road movie, and the conclusion of the director’s trilogy on male desire:

Going South (남쪽으로 간다, 2012)

Going South

With Kim Jae-heung, Chun Shin-hwan
45 min

Driving back to military camp, Jun-Young sits in uncomfortable silence with Gi-tae, a junior recruit who is planning to terminate his service. Stopping for a coffee, Gi-tae puts a sleeping pill into Jun-Young’s drink, and heads south whilst his companion is unconscious. A strange and melancholic road movie, filled with stifled desire and fraught emotional tension.

Suddenly, Last Summer (지난여름, 갑자기, 2012)

Suddenly Last Summer

With Kim Young-jae, Han Joo-wan
37 min

Concluding Leesong Hee-il’s new trilogy of films detailing male desire, Suddenly, Last Summer tells the enigmatic story of a teacher desperately trying to resist the temptation of his insistent student.

(All synopses from Michael Blyth, BFI Website)

(automatically generated) Read LKL’s review of this event here.

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