Coming up this week at BFI Flare, London’s LGBT film festival. It is expected that the director will make an appearance at one of the screenings. Our Love Story (연애담) Director Lee Hyun-ju (2016) Producer Kim Bo-ra With Lee Sang-hee, Ryu Sun-young South Korea 99min Friday 17 March 2017 14:00 NFT3 Buy tickets Saturday 18 March … [Read More]
Category: Festivals (page 22)
Korean designers at London Fashion Week and Int’l Fashion Showcase
Once again there was strong Korean representation at London Fashion Week. As at previous events, Eudon Choi and Jackie JS Lee had catwalk shows, and this time they were joined by Korean-Canadian Edeline Lee. All three were represented in the Designer Showrooms, along with J.Won, Moon Lee Artwear, shoe designer Kim Kwang and the Korean-New … [Read More]
Gallery: Korean Artists at London Art Fair 2017
A quick post to upload some of the photos of the various galleries exhibiting Korean art at this year’s London Art Fair (plus one gallery that I missed). Hanmi Gallery Jaye Moon Jaye Moon’s work had been getting a fair amount of attention – guerrilla-style installations of Lego dotted around the Business Design Centre and … [Read More]
Exhibition news: Korean crafts at Collect 2017
Korean crafts will again be strongly represented at COLLECT this year, with a stall on the ground floor featuring a dozen artists supported by the Korea Craft & Design Foundation, and three independent artists displaying on the top floor. The exhibition is at Saatchi Gallery, 2-6 February. Saatchi Gallery | Duke of York’s HQ | … [Read More]
Art Fair news: Hanmi Gallery presents Jaye Moon, Junebum Park + Joonhong Min at LAF
When you visit London Art Fair this week be sure to look in at the Project space to see Hanmi Gallery’s show. And if you have some spare Lego bricks, bring them along to add to one of the installations. Jaye Moon | Junebum Park | Joonhong Min Hanmi Gallery at London Art Fair 2017, … [Read More]
Korean galleries at London Art Fair 2017
Two galleries will be visiting the London Art Fair from Korea, plus three London-based specialists: Gallery Location Artists Atelier Aki Main G4 Lee Seahyun | Kang Junyoung | Kim Nampyo | Kim Seajoong Do Gallery Proj P29 Shin Yong Il Hanmi Gallery Proj P14 Jaye Moon | Min Joonhong | Park Junebum Skipwiths Main 22 … [Read More]
Festival Film review: Spirits’ Homecoming
Spirits’ Homecoming depicts the abduction and suffering of Korean girls forced into sexual slavery during the Pacific War, interweaving wartime trauma with the present-day lives of survivors. The narrative seeks release from unresolved grief and historical denial through a shamanistic ritual. LKL’s review is informed by a Q&A and panel session with the director. [Read More]
K-music review: Darkness Poomba at The Place, Euston
For the final event of K-Music 2016 we were introduced to the first UK visit of Modern Table headed by the multi-talented Kim Jae-duk, who choreographed the work as well as being an integral member of the dance troupe, though much of the time he was also front of stage singing or playing various wind … [Read More]
Gig review: Asian Chairshot + Danpyunsun and the Sailors @ RichMix
앤서방 reviews the second of 2016’s K-music festival gigs at Rich Mix Each year I look forward to visits from Korean indie musicians to the UK. Starting with ska-punk rabble rousers Crying Nut’s thrilling London show in 2006, over the years we have been treated to some of the most interesting, exciting and original acts: … [Read More]
Festival film review: Yourself and Yours
Hong Sang-soo (홍상수) Yourself and Yours (당신 자신과 당신의 것, 2016) Review by Robert Cottingham. You can tell from the opening titles exactly the kind of film this is going to be. Black Korean calligraphy on a white background suggests an intelligent and possibly artistic film and the lively classical music hints at a sophisticated comedy on … [Read More]
Director Park Hong-min interview: “we were all trying to express our loneliness”
Director Park Hong-min discusses A Fish and Alone, tracing their roots in loneliness, memory, and self-analysis. He addresses the film education system in Korea and the struggles of truly independent filmmaking, and talks about casting choices, shamanism, long takes, handmade 3D and a commitment to personal questions over commercial formulas.Director Park Hong-min discusses A Fish and Alone, tracing their roots in loneliness, memory, and self-analysis. He addresses the film education system in Korea and the struggles of truly independent filmmaking, and talks about casting choices, shamanism, long takes, handmade 3D and a commitment to personal questions over commercial formulas. [Read More]
BFI Festival Film Review: Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing
The Wailing is a punishing, relentlessly tense horror thriller that thrives on ambiguity and sensory overload. Na Hong-jin toys with belief, suspicion and endurance, delivering a prolonged roller-coaster of dread, brutal set pieces and exhausting climaxes that leave viewers shaken, uncertain and deeply unsettled. [Read More]
Rituals, Reflections, and 3D: Director Park Hong-min on A Fish
Director Park Hong-min discusses the shamanistic inspirations behind his debut film, A Fish. He explains his unconventional use of 3D to create a distorted reality, the symbolic role of mirrors and doppelgängers, and the influence of Jindo’s healing rituals. Park also details his collaborative approach to the film’s restrained, atmospheric sound design. [Read More]
Lee Jang-ho interview: censorship, sexuality and resistance in Korean cinema
Lee Jang-ho discusses state censorship from the colonial era through the 1990s, the enforced transformation of Declaration of Idiot, and his turn to sexuality as a tool of anti-establishment expression in the 1980s. He reflects on Shin Sang-ok’s abduction, North Korean filmmaking, and argues that contemporary Korea still harshly penalises social critique. [Read More]
Brief festival film review: Eoh Woo Dong
Lee Chang-ho (이장호) Eoh Woo Dong (어우동, 1985, 110 mins). Review by Robert Cottingham. Eoh Woo Dong translates as “entertainer,” a rough approximation of the duties of 14th-century Korean courtesan Eoh Yoon Chang. After a lifetime “in service,” Eoh Yoon Chang retires to a faraway village. Meanwhile, her powerful father, ashamed of his daughter’s lifestyle, … [Read More]
Actor Baek Yoon-sik interview: career flow, creative choice, defining roles
Actor Baek Yoon-sik reflects on moving between theatre, television, and cinema, returning to film with Save the Green Planet. He discusses choosing challenging roles, respecting scripts, limited improvisation, and working on politically and socially charged films (such as The President’s Last Bang), framing acting as creative labour shaped by history, collaboration, and personal judgment. [Read More]