The BFI Southbank programme for late October and November 2024 begins with Echoes in Time: Korean Films of the Golden Age and New Cinema, a major new season running from 28 October to 31 December. Programmed by Young Jin Eric Choi and Goran Topalovic, Echoes in Time will focus on two groundbreaking periods in the … [Read More]
Director: Kim Tae-yong
Queer East Festival: A Korea Focus
Here is a listing of the eight Korean feature films, six shorts and one VR experience that are included in this year’s Queer East film festival. You can find the full press release here. Film descriptions are courtesy of the Queer East website. Time Movie Location Book Thu 20 Apr 9:00pm Peafowl (공작새) Dir: Byun … [Read More]
A review of the Korean cultural year 2019
A review of some of the highlights and trends in the Korean cultural year, primarily in London but also with half an eye to anything we might have seen elsewhere in the UK. The review is a personal one, inevitably skewed towards the events we managed to get to. Introduction This time last year I … [Read More]
Review: Kokdu – a story of guardian angels
The death of a grandmother in remote, rural Jindo becomes dramatically intertwined with a stage performance by dancers, court and folk musicians from the National Gugak Centre as they portray the journey of a soul in the afterlife. The unauthorised purchase of a Jindo puppy by her two grandchildren gets them entangled in the drama … [Read More]
LKFF 2019 Teaser Screening #5: Kokdu, + LKFF Programme Launch
The final teaser screening before the November festival: Kokdu: A Story of Guardian Angels (꼭두 이야기) UK Premiere, plus launch of 2019 London Korean Film Festival programme Director: Kim Tae-yong (2018, 79min) Cast: Kim Sun-an, Choi Go, Cho Hee-bong Monday 16 September 2019, 7pm Regent Street Cinema | 307 Regent Street | London W1B 2HW … [Read More]
Brief review: Crossroads of Youth
Crossroads of Youth, Korea’s earliest surviving feature-length movie, was a great way to start the season of films from Korea’s colonial period. It is a season that could not have taken place 15 years ago, because these films have only recently come to light in the film archives of Beijing, Moscow and Tokyo. Crossroads of … [Read More]
Kim Tae-yong is June’s featured director at the KCC
Two contrasting films from June’s featured director, Kim Tae-yong. The first screening, Family Ties, is preceded by at talk by Mark Morris. As always, registration is required via [email protected]. Family Ties (가족의 탄생, 2006) 11 June, 7pm Director: Kim Tae-yong Cast: Moon So-ri, Ko Doo-sim, Uhm Tae-woong, Kong Hyo-jin, Bong Tae-gyu 113 mins / cert … [Read More]
Looking back at 2014: Entertainment news
In the second of four retrospective articles, we recall some of the entertainment stories that caught our eye in 2014. Good year for: Popular TV drama My Love from the Star had an impact beyond its 21 episode span. The lead female character, played by Jeon Ji-hyun, managed to boost sales of trenchcoats in Korea, … [Read More]
Crossroads of Youth – a constantly-evolving performance of Korea’s earliest silent film
Crossroads of Youth is one of Korea’s earliest silent films, which would have at the time had narration by a byeonsa (the Korean equivalent of the Japanese benshi). The function of the byeonsa was to tell the story in the absence of diagetic dialogue (which in Western cinema was told through intertitles), in addition to … [Read More]
Fribourg Fest honours two K-films
Lee Chang-dong’s “Poetry” and Kim Tae-yong’s “Late Autumn” Lee Man-hee remake win awards at Fribourg Int’l Film Fest http://bit.ly/hHIAXU # “Poetry” won the top award, the Regard d’Or, while “Late Autumn” won the Special Mention of the Jury of the International Federation of Film Societies, and the Ex-Change Award, which is a prize selected by … [Read More]
Chinese buy up tickets for Late Autumn
The Chinese community was out in force tonight to see Tang Wei in Kim Tae-yong’s “Late Autumn” at the Festival. Most audiences have been predominantly European. Tonight it was 95% Chinese. It was completely sold out. [Read More]
Family Ties with Director Q&A at the KCC
Last year the Thames Festival provided the opportunity for a couple of collateral events in the form of concerts by Winterplay and Baramgot. This year, director Kim Tae-yong is over for the screening of the restored silent film Crossroads of Youth, and will stay to answer questions after the KCC’s screening on Monday of his … [Read More]
Crossroads of Youth: Korea’s oldest silent film comes to stage at the Thames Festival
This coming weekend sees the return of The Mayor of London’s Thames Festival, celebrating the diverse range of culture and art that inhabits London. As in previous years, Korea is represented by the Korean Cultural Centre UK hosting fun and exciting events at the OXO Tower. This year the KCCUK and Korean Film Archive are … [Read More]
Family Ties to screen at KCC
The next film to feature at the KCC is Family Ties, also known as Birth of a Family (가족의 탄생), starring one of my favourite actresses, the talented Moon So-ri (below right). Synopsis Mi-ra, who runs a small snack food restaurant, has a trouble-maker brother, Hyung-chul. After being discharged from the military, he goes missing. … [Read More]
London Korean Film Festival 2007 programme details
Here’s the running order. Some commentary to follow tomorrow. Breath (숨) (12A) (2007) Dir Kim Ki-duk (김기덕) 84 min / Opening Gala Special Preview 19:30 / Introduced by special guest Ambassador Dr. Cho Yoon-Je of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea 2 Nov 07 / 19:30 / Cinema 1 The latest film from the … [Read More]
ARCO 2007: a Huge Korean festival in Madrid this February
Just received from the organisers of ARCO 2007 in Madrid. Film, music, dance, literature and of course contemporary art. To call it a feast undersells it. And that’s not all: this is just the stuff they know about already. There’s some other stuff they haven’t finalised. I haven’t taken all this in yet, but I … [Read More]