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Great news: 94 “lost” films rediscovered

Im Kwon-taek (photo via JoongAng Daily)
Im Kwon-taek (photo via JoongAng Daily)

I’m prepared to trust Im Kwon-taek’s judgement about the quality of his 14th film that is in the batch of lost films just donated to the Korean Film Archive – Battlefield and Mistress as a title doesn’t sound promising. He made similar comments about his early output when he spoke during his London retrospective back in 2012.

But I’m excited that Choi Ha-won’s debut film Trees on a Slope (1968) is also in the batch:

“I felt grief at losing my debut work,” he said. “But now that I can finally see it again, I am so glad and deeply moved. It reminded me of the times when we made movies out of nothing. It was the spirit that led us.”

Other directors whose films have been “rediscovered” include Kim Soo-yong and Jeong Jin-woo. Read the full story in the JoongAng Daily.