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]
Tag: Jirisan partisans
When “going to the valleys” is not a good idea
Many languages have all sorts of euphemisms for death. “He’s gone to meet his maker”, “He’s pushing up the daisies” are a couple of the expressions in English. In Korean, there’s the picturesque phrase “He’s gone to the valleys.” The valleys in question are in the Jirisan region of South Gyeongsang province. Jirisan has always … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #31: Remembering the struggle against the partisans
Sancheong County, nestling at the feet of Jirisan in Gyeongsangnam-do, has two memorial museums to the struggle between the leftist partisans and the Southern military and civilian authorities at the time of the Korean War. The key headlines of the conduct of the Korean War itself are well known: the Northern sweep southwards, the UN … [Read More]
Fallen heroes – two contrasting Korean war films
June last year at the KCC saw the screening of two contrasting Korean War films from the 21st century. This year we saw two contrasting films from the last century, with very different perspectives. Lee Man-hee’s The Marines who Never returned takes a heroic look at the South Korean forces as the allied troops move … [Read More]
Nambugun – the first of two Korean War films this month at the KCC
In the first of two films selected to mark the anniversary of the start of the Korean War on 25 June 1950, the KCC will be screening Jeong Ji-yeong’s Nambugun (North Korean Partisans in South Korea, 남부군) on Thursday 11 June, 7pm. The 1990 film, with screenplay by director Jang Sun-woo, stars Ahn Sung-ki and … [Read More]