Event news: My Teacher, Mr. Kim and King of Jokgu are July’s films at the KCC

July brings another opportunity to see The King of Jokgu, which screened at the London Korean Film Festival in 2014. I’m not sure we’ve had a chance to see My Teacher Mr Kim before, but 2003 was a good year for Korean movies.

Reservations as usual via the KCC website.

My Teacher, Mr. Kim (선생 김봉두)

Director: Jang Kyu-sung, 2003, 117mins
14 July 2016, 7pm

A primary school teacher Kim Bong-du (Cha Seung-won) working in Seoul is perhaps not the most devoted and honest teacher; Kim is late for meetings, looks for a bribe from students’ parents, and neglects his teaching duties, often assigning students to study by themselves or to clean up the classroom. One day he is transferred to a primary school located in an extremely rural and impoverished village in Kangwon province, with five students in total. Residents in this area, the parents of the school children, are so innocent and “unsophisticaated” that they offer him not a money envelope, but all kinds of fruit and vegetables. Even more, old man Choe (Byun Hee-bong) asks Kim to teach him how to read and write Korean; in return Choe offers him a few packs of cigarettes. Teacher Kim Bong-du kills time hoping to return back to the city soon. To achieve this aim, Kim plans to persuade all the students and their parents to move to another school. . . Will he succeed in this ambitious plan?

The King of Jokgu (족구왕)

Director: Woo Moon-gi, 2014, 100min
28 July 2016, 7pm

Man-seob (An Jae-hong) used to be the king of Jokgu (a fusion of football and volleyball). He was infamous for his unstoppable foot spike whilst serving in the army. He returns to school after completing his military service only to find that the Jokgu court has been removed. He desperately tries to find a way to reconstruct the court by speaking to the university chancellor and collecting petition signatures but discovers that no one cares. Everyone is too preoccupied with finding a job and their careers to worry about the missing jokgu court, all sense of romantic or fun notions has vanished. Man-seob meets Anna (Hwang Seung-eon), the school queen, with whom he falls in love with at first sight. To win her heart he relies on what he does best thus looks to organise a Jokgu championship.

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