Drawing on interviews and Q&As, this piece reflects on Im Kwon-taek’s vast career, from early genre films to Seopyeonje and beyond, examining tradition, literature, Buddhism, and his lifelong pursuit of cinematic perfection. [Read More]
Event tag: 12 Directors – Im Kwon-taek
Im Kwon-taek and the wounds of the Korean War
The Im Kwon Taek retrospective has given us all a chance to catch up on some of the films of the master that we haven’t seen before, rounding out our picture of Korea’s national director. Im is probably best known nowadays for his films which highlight some of the unique aspects of Korea’s cultural heritage: … [Read More]
Im Kwon-taek interview: tradition, social norms, and a life in Korean cinema
Im Kwon-taek reflects on depicting women’s suffering, Confucian traditions, and communal rituals in Korean society. He discusses pansori and cultural transmission, artistic freedom, life experience as the basis of filmmaking, his long career of 101 films, and his belief that Korean cinema evolves alongside national history. [Read More]
Im Kwon-Taek’s Village in the Mist — affairs on an Anonymous Island
Han Su-ok, a young schoolteacher, arrives in an isolated mountain village to take up her first job in an elementary school. As she gets off the bus, the village initially seems deserted, like a ghost town, hemmed in by the high forbidding walls of the surrounding mountains like a prison. You wonder what sort of … [Read More]
The big London Im Kwon-taek retrospective – confirmed screening dates and times
There’s truly an over-indulgence in K-film over the next few weeks. In between the BFI London Film Festival which features no fewer than six Korean films, and the regular London Korean Film Festival at the beginning of November, we have an Im Kwon-taek retrospective, organised by the KCC in collaboration with the BFI and the … [Read More]