London East Asia Film Festival

LEAFF17 poster landscape

Here you can find news and some reviews of the Korean movies screening at the London East Asia Film Festival. Official website: https://www.leaff.org.uk.

A look back at some of the films of 2018

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by Philip Gowman on 4 January, 2019

in 2018 year-end posts | BFI London Film Festival | Film reviews and comment | London East Asia Film Festival | London Korean Film Festival

A wide variety of genres was presented to the London audience this year, from the return of the romantic melodrama (Be With You) to big budget fantasy (Along with the Gods). We also saw #MeToo beginning to have an impact, not just in the themes of movies such as Land of Seonghye and Testimony but […]

Brief review: Comrade Kim goes Flying

by Philip Gowman 20 October 2018

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The London East Asia Film Festival gives us the second chance this year to see Comrade Kim Goes Flying in the company of two of its directors, Nicholas Bonner and Anja Daelemans. The screening in March was in fact the UK premiere, which came almost six years after its international premiere in Toronto in early September […]

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The film festivals approach – as does the annual battle for our diaries

by Philip Gowman 17 October 2018

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Last year I had a little rant about the hectic and competing schedules of the two overlapping film festivals of interest to the Korean film audience. The London Korean Film Festival has had a long history of packing so many films into their programme that it’s impossible to go to everything you want to see. […]

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London East Asia Film Festival 2018 programme announced

by Events Editor 24 September 2018

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As in previous years, the London East Asia Film Festival has a strong representation of Korean films. Although this year there is a focus on Taiwan and the Nara International Film Festival, there’s also a focus on the work of actor Kim Yoon-seok, who also features in the opening movie, Dark Figure of Crime. At […]

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Movie review double bill: Along with the Gods 1 and 2

by Philip Gowman 16 August 2018

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Somehow, I managed to miss last year’s fantasy blockbuster Along with the Gods. I didn’t spot that it got a brief UK release until it was too late, and the movie didn’t make to any of the UK festivals to my knowledge. I didn’t even read any reviews. But it registered in my brain as […]

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Along with the Gods: Last 49 Days gets UK release

by Events Editor 11 August 2018

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The London East Asia Film Festival presents a special screening of the biggest box office hit in Korea, Along With The Gods: The Last 49 Days as a UK premiere. The pre-fest screening will be presenting a double bill of Along With The Gods – Part 1 and 2. Along with the Gods: The Last […]

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Festival film review: The Mimic

by Philip Gowman 28 October 2017

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I don’t quite know how you go about reviewing a film like The Mimic. As I watched its early sections, enjoying the ride reasonably enough, I nevertheless thought back to some of the Whispering Corridors series (and sadly the weakest of them, Blood Pledge) in which plot is subservient to gratuitous scares. Probably if you […]

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Bahngbek performs at Rich Mix as part of LEAFF

by Events Editor 16 October 2017

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The only time I’ve heard Baik Hyun-jhin perform live he had his head in a fireplace and was making moaning sounds up a chimney. He can make a performance of anything. His bandmate Bang Jun-seok has composed the soundtracks for movies from …ing to Battleship Island. Their 2015 debut album together, Your Hands, is well […]

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LEAFF, LKFF and the battle for our diaries

by Philip Gowman 4 October 2017

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The film festival season is upon us, and this requires some serious diary planning. Fortunately the BFI London Film Festival remains serenely distant from the ignominious tangle caused by the collision of LEAFF and LKFF. With four titles scheduled earlier in the month, including the movie that I’ve been most looking forward to all year […]

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London East Asia Film Festival 2017: full programme details

by Events Editor 13 September 2017

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Yesterday the London East Asia Film Festival released details of the films it would be showing at its 2017 iteration. Plenty of Korean interest, as you might expect, with a focus on the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (last year, if you remember, they had a Jeonju spotlight). The opening gala screening, Hwang Dong-hyuk’s The […]

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Festival Film review: Spirit’s Homecoming

by Philip Gowman 27 December 2016

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With the signing of the Comfort Women “deal” between Japan and South Korea in December 2015 – a deal signed without consulting the victims themselves – the issue of the wartime sex slaves once again came to the fore. While the inter-governmental negotiators were reaching the final stages of their deal-making, Cho Jung-rae’s long-term project […]

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Park Chan-wook talks about Handmaiden, octopuses and more

by Philip Gowman 24 October 2016

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I’ve now lost count of the number of times that Park Chan-wook has come to London. But it’s always nice to see him, especially when there’s his latest film to enjoy as part of a retrospective of his work at the London East Asia Film Festival. We got to see the amazing Handmaiden at the BFI […]

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Korean films in LEAFF’s Competition, Official Selection and Stories of Women sections

by Events Editor 13 October 2016

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The 2016 London East Asia Film Festival has a number of strands. We’ve already posted details of the movies screening in the Park Chan-wook retrospective and the Jeonju International Film Festival Focus. So here are the Korean movies featuring in the other strands, the broader East Asian cinema sections, listed in order of screening at […]

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Brief review: Park Chan-wook’s Handmaiden

by Philip Gowman 9 October 2016

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I’ll leave others to do the detailed review of Park Chan-wook’s Handmaiden (아가씨), which screened at the London Film Festival this week and which will return later in the month at the London East Asia Film Festival. Suffice it to say that it’s gorgeous-looking, both in terms of costume and interiors, great story-telling and totally […]

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LEAFF 2016 focuses on Jeonju film fest

by Events Editor 5 October 2016

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One of the strands to be introduced by the London East Asia Film Festival is a focus on individual festivals in the region. In collaboration with the Institute for Contemporary Arts, who will be screening this strand on Saturday and Sunday mornings during the festival, the focus for the first year is the Jeonju International […]

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Festival news: the first edition of LEAFF announces its programme

by Events Editor 22 September 2016

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The London East Asia Film Festival announced the full programme of its first full “edition” this week, and there is a very strong Korean selection. As already announced, there will be a retrospective of one of Korea’s best known directors, Park Chan-wook, along with a screening of his most recent movie. In addition, there are […]

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Event news: Park Chan-wook retrospective @LEAFF 2016

by Events Editor 4 September 2016

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The London East Asia Film Festival, in its first full outing (20-30 October), hosts a Park Chan-wook retrospective, including a screening of his 2016 movie Handmaiden. The director will be present for that screening, and to introduce a remastering of his Lady Vengeance. It’s nice that a few of his shorts will be screened as […]

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