Haïlji: The Republic of Užupis Translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton Dalkey Archive 2014. 160pp Originally published as 우주피스 공화국, Minumsa, 2009. Imagine what Haruki Murakami might come up with in a collaboration with David Lynch, after watching a few monster-free episodes of Doctor Who, and you might get an inkling of what to expect … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 68)
Two Dalkey titles in the running for international literary award
There’s tough competition, and a longlist of 140 other books including one by JK Rowling, but two Dalkey Archive titles are in the running for the 2015 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. According to the award’s website: Nominations are made by libraries in capital and major cities throughout the world. Participating libraries can nominate up … [Read More]
December events 2014
The focus on North Korea continues into this month, with North Korea Freedom Week commencing 8 December. Talks and seminars 1. North Korea and the Korean peninsula Chatham House hosts a half day conference on Security on the Korean Peninsula on 3 Dec The Daiwa Foundation hosts a session on Dealing with North Korea on … [Read More]
Book review: Kim Joo-young — Stingray
Kim Joo-young: Stingray Dalkey Archive 2013, 124pp Translated by Inrae You Vinciguerra and Louis Vinciguerra. Originally published as 홍어, Munidang, Seoul, 1998 Stingray has the accolade of being allocated #1 in Dalkey Archive‘s set of 10 Korean novels translated into English. It happens to be the third I’ve picked up. The first two were real … [Read More]
Book review: The Birth of Korean Cool
Euny Hong: The Birth of Korean Cool How one nation is conquering the world through pop culture Simon & Schuster UK, 2014, 267pp Euny Hong’s first non-fiction book (we loved her novel) is in turn infuriating, entertaining and informative. Let’s get the infuriating bits done with first. In her approach to Romanization she is cavalier, … [Read More]
Taste of Korea promotion runs in over 60 Tesco stores
Experiment with Korean ingredients at Tesco for the next week or so. Taste of Korea is an annual event for promoting great Korean foods to UK and European markets, which is supported by the South Korean Embassy in the UK and by Korean food distributors and vendors such as Hankook Foods and CJ. The event … [Read More]
Joo Yeon Sir wins Karl Jenkins music performance prize
Congratulations to Joo Yeon Sir for winning The Arts Club Karl Jenkins Classical Music Award in association with Classic FM (and a cheque for £4,000). Joo Yeon will now record a piece of her choice and a short work composed especially by Karl Jenkins, both of which will be broadcast on Classic FM Read more … [Read More]
LKFF 2014: the conversations
The London Korean Film Festival is not just about getting acquainted with the latest in Korean movies. It is also an opportunity to meet some of the people behind those movies – actors, directors and producers. Opportunities for engaging with these film professionals vary: for an ever-growing group of aficionados there is the offer of round-table … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: Hwajang / Revivre
Well, I was right. Ahn Sung-ki confessed in the Q+A which followed the screening of Hwajang that one of his most difficult tasks in portraying Oh Sang-moo, a senior executive in a cosmetics company, was to project certain aspects of being old – of being blocked inside because of the swollen prostate, of being more … [Read More]
Festival film review: Bitter, Sweet, Seoul
Bitter, Sweet, Seoul is an ambitious crowd-sourced project in which people from around the world were invited by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to submit videos which would be made into feature length film. Directors (and brothers) Park Chan-wook and Park Chan-kyong (collectively PARKing CHANce) were commissioned to organise the submissions, attracted to the project by … [Read More]
LKFF2014 – the reviews
This year there have been more reviewers than ever covering the Korean Film Fest. Here are links to some of the reviews, to which I’ll add as and when I spot new ones. Films are listed in the order in which they screened. Title Director Reviews EK = Eastern Kicks | HC = Hangul Celluloid … [Read More]
North Korean artists paint London scenes, on show at the DPRK embassy
Seven years ago, artists from Pyongyang’s Mansudae Studios came to London with a wide range of works in a variety of genres. There were ceramics, oils, chosonhwa, embroidery, and of course the images that caught everyone’s attention: the propaganda posters. The location was opposite the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall. This week, a different … [Read More]
Your at-a-glance guide to the LKFF 2014 schedule
Having trouble making decisions about which films to attend? Finding the LKL online calendar too cluttered? Here’s an easy-to-read downloadable chart showing the London screenings (plus, for good measure, the screening from the KCC’s Year of the Film Professionals programme, which competes for your attention on 13 November). The pdf download is best printed in … [Read More]
Bringing Kim Hoon’s Hwajang to the big screen: How to act a swollen prostate?
Im Kwon-taek set himself quite a challenge when he decided to make a movie of Kim Hoon’s Hwajang. It is a dense, concentrated and rich piece of writing – I hesitate to say “short story”, because really there’s not much narrative flow. Instead, there’s well-balanced contrast; there’s inner thoughts and emotions; there are the human … [Read More]
November events 2014
It’s a busy month. Film: It’s November, so it’s the London Korean Film Festival, starting on 6 November, with many different movies competing for our attention. On Thursday 13 November there are four screenings happening simultaneously – including one from the KCC’s Year of the screen professionals series. I shan’t list all the Festival screenings … [Read More]
Hong Sang-soo season on Film 4
There are still some Korean film fans out there who haven’t seen any Hong Sang-soo yet. There’s a chance to catch his latest at this years London Korean Film Festival. But you can also see some of his recent back catalogue on TV before then. This must be the first occasion that Hong Sang-soo has … [Read More]