We welcomed the strong Korean film line-up at the inaugural SXSW festival earlier this year, and wondered what would be left for the more established festivals in the Autumn. Well, the BFI have secured a couple of good ones: Park Chan-wook’s latest, which has been securing rave reviews since its Venice premiere last week; and the latest of the continuing series of films from Yoon Ga-eun taking a sensitive look at female childhood. There’s also a 14-minute Korean VR animation and, for the open-minded, a UK remake of Save the Green Planet. Details below, extracted from the festival catalogue and, in respect of the VR work, the Venice Biennale website.
The World of Love (세계의 주인)
Tuesday 14 October 12:50, BFI Southbank, NFT2
Sunday 19 October 17:45, Curzon Soho
Sunday 19 October 18:00, Curzon Soho
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Director-screenwriter: Yoon Ga-eun (2025, 119min)
Cast: Seo Su-bin, Chang Hyae-jin, Kim Jeong-sik
A high school student navigates love, friendship and a traumatic past in this delicately woven and quietly powerful drama from South Korean director Yoon Ga-eun.
Jooin is a mischievous, lively and popular student, who lives with her mum and little brother. She is also subject to unexpected fits of rage, revealing childhood trauma she has long tried to bury. Yoon (The World of Us) continues her insightful exploration of childhood in this nuanced and ultimately hopeful portrait of resilience and female friendship. (text: Laure Bonville)
No Other Choice (어쩔 수가 없다)
Wednesday 15 October 20:50, Royal Festival Hall
Thursday 16 October 14:30, Royal Festival Hall
Sunday 19 October 17:25, Prince Charles Cinema
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Director: Park Chan-wook (2025, 139min)
Screenwriters: Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Jahye Lee, Don McKellar
Cast: Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran
One man’s desperation to secure a new job finds him exploring unique ways to eliminate his competitors, in Park Chan-wook’s compelling and madcap thriller.
When paper expert Yoo Man-soo is abruptly laid off, he loses the perfect life he’s worked hard for. So, when a new job comes along, he realises a perfect plan – by getting rid of his competition via any available means. Director Park’s delightfully wicked film features his signature twists, dark humour and exquisite imagery – everything that has made him such a unique cinematic presence. (text: Grace Barber-Plentie)
8pm and the Cat (저녁 8시와 고양이)
Daily 8 – 19 Oct BFI Southbank, Atrium
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Directed and written by: Minhyuk Che (2025, 14min)
Produced by: K-Arts AT Lab Sngmoo Lee & Seungpyo Kang
Through gentle interaction and poetic animation, this moving VR story invites you into a moment suspended in time, in which love, memory and hope quietly unfold.
Cartoonist Haru loses his partner, Mina, in the Itaewon tragedy. Since then, 8 pm — the hour she used to come home — keeps repeating: an ordinary moment in daily life now shadowed by her absence. Within that single hour, different emotional rooms unfold. Images and monologues are generated in real time, shaping singular emotional moments. This generative VR experience invites the audience into Haru’s ongoing process of mourning — through the act of constantly drawing and speaking about her.
Bugonia
Friday 10 October 21:10, Royal Festival Hall
Saturday 11 October 11:30, Royal Festival Hall
Friday 17 October 15:10, BFI Southbank, NFT1
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Director: Yorgos Lanthimos (UK 2025, 120min)
Screenwriter: Will Tracy.
Cast: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, Alicia Silverstone.
Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone are reunited for a fourth time in this gripping, darkly funny and satirical environmental comedy-thriller.
Jesse Plemons is outstanding as a conspiracy-obsessed paranoiac who, with the help of his brother, kidnaps a powerful CEO, believing she is an alien intent on destroying Earth. An inspired take on Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 South Korean satire Save the Green Planet!, Lanthimos’ madcap and uncompromising vision doesn’t disappoint, as events unfold with surprising, sometimes shocking, results. (text: Isabel Moir)