To complement their coverage of the winter Olympics, the BBC is screening what looks like an interesting documentary covering things you might not often see in coverage of the peninsula. With plenty of Korean experts advising and behind the camera, this should be well worth a watch. South Korea – Earth’s Hidden Wilderness BBC2, 8:00pm … [Read More]
Category: Documentaries (page 6)
Kim Hong-joon: Two or Three Things I Know About Kim Ki-young
Kim Hong-joon knows many more than two or three things about Kim Ki-young. Do not miss this talk. Two or Three Things I Know About Kim Ki-young, with Kim Hong-joon Thursday 22 February, 7pm Korean Cultural Centre UK | 1-3 Strand | London WC2N 5BW Register via Eventbrite The 5th of February marks the 20th anniversary … [Read More]
Made in Korea – the video
Kay Aplin of the Ceramic House in Brighton, who masterminded the Korea-UK Made in Korea ceramic collaboration last year, has completed a 20-minute video documentary of the project. Well worth a viewing in full: Please browse Kay’s blog of the whole project including the reciprocal exhibition at the Mullae Art Factory in Seoul. In England, … [Read More]
Becoming Who I Was gets brief theatrical release – catch it while you can!
Jeon Jin’s and Moon Chang-yong’s documentary Becoming Who I Was screened at the London Film Festival back in October. I wasn’t expecting much from it, but it made quite an impression on me, and it ended up being one of my films of the year. My brief review is here. Do try and catch this … [Read More]
Documentary: the Jangmadang Generation
In January last year Sokeel Park from the NGO Liberty in North Korea gave a talk at Chatham House about the younger generation of entrepreneurs in North Korea, and other ways in which society is inexorably changing. Somewhere I’ve still got my notes and the handout from that talk – which I probably won’t get … [Read More]
Festival film review double bill: Two Doors / The Remnants
As part of the Documentary strand of the 2017 London Korean Film Festival Lee Hyuk-sang of the activist documentary makers PINKS presented a pair of films on the Yongsan tragedy. The context of the tragedy was the plan to redevelop the Yongsan area as the US army prepared to move to their new base in … [Read More]
Festival film review: Becoming who I was
Nine years ago Moon Chang-yong and Jeon Jin were in Ladakh, Kashmir – a mountainous region 100 miles or so northeast of where the Dalai Lama lives, and less than 50 miles from Tibet’s westernmost extremity. They were filming a documentary about practitioners of traditional medicine in the various regions of Asia. Their subject was … [Read More]
The Yongsan tragedy featured in two LKFF documentaries
Those of you who have read and love Han Kang’s Human Acts will know that is is inspired not only by the Gwangju uprising but also the Yongsan tragedy. Hwang Jung-eun’s One Hundred Shadows is even more directly inspired by the same tragedy. It was a news event that was little reported in the Western … [Read More]
Film review double bill: Bamseom Pirates and Criminal Conspiracy
This weekend gave us the opportunity to watch two very different documentaries which cast their critical eye over contemporary Korean society and recent political history. Part of the fascination of both of them for UK-based Korea-watchers is the way they resonate: they provide, in the one case, a laser-like dissection of an issue of which … [Read More]
Screening: Criminal Conspiracy
News of a free documentary screenings courtesy of the Birkbeck International Documentary Society: Criminal Conspiracy 공범자들 Dir: Choi Seung-ho (2017, 105 mins) Birkbeck Cinema | 43 Gordon Square | London WC1H 0PD 7 October 2pm | Event’s Facebook page During the Lee Myung-Bak presidency Public Broadcasting in South Korea came under heavy government control and … [Read More]
Screening and discussion: Village vs Empire — Jeju and Gangjeong
A free screening (a premiere) and discussion relating to Jeju Island and the US naval base. Planetary Poetics Workshop: Village versus Empire (2016) Premiere and Panel Discussion 23 September 2017, 6pm – 8pm Darwin Lecture Theatre (LT40) | Darwin Building | UCL | Gower Street | London WC1E 6XA Please register here. As part of our … [Read More]
Korean films at the 2017 BFI London Film Fest
As far as I can see there are four Korean movies at the 2017 BFI London Film Festival: two very contrasting documentaries; the movie from festival favourite Hong Sang-soo that won Kim Min-hee the Silver Bear for best actress in Berlin this year; and an adaptation of a novel by Kim Young-ha by Won Shin-yeon, … [Read More]
Kim Jong-nam assassination examined in BBC documentary
Tonight’s documentary on the assassination of Kim Jong-nam is well worth a watch. In its 59 minutes there was hardly any padding and I didn’t notice any of the usual platitudes. It was full of content, and while I would have liked a bit more time on the China angle, that would have pushed it … [Read More]
Documentary screening: My Brothers and Sisters in the North
I was unable to post about this earlier as I was travelling in Korea, but this documentary made by a South Korean / German film-maker is still screening near Russell Square, until 17 May: My Brothers and Sisters in the North Dir: Sung-Hyung Cho Germany / 2016 / 109min Bertha DocHouse Screen | Curzon Bloomsbury | The … [Read More]
Event news: Short films by UK based Korean directors
All sorts of good things seem to happen at the Deptford Cinema. Don’t forget the screening of the Sewol documentary on Tuesday and The Journals of Musan on Wednesday, but tomorrow night, there’s this: Short films by UK based Korean directors Deptford Cinema | 39 Deptford Broadway | London SE8 4PQ | deptfordcinema.org Monday, April 24, 2017, … [Read More]
Event news: Channel 4 documentary + discussion — North Korea’s Reality TV Stars
This Wednesday’s talk at the Frontline Club, originally billed as focusing on the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, will now be an opportunity to preview and discuss the Channel 4 Unreported World documentary on the subject of the South Korean TV panel show starring North Korean migrants – “Now on My Way to Meet You” (이제 … [Read More]