Korean film event in London next month to honor late actor Kang

The 17th London Korean Film Festival will be held in the British capital from Nov. 3-27.

The Korean Cultural Centre (KCC) in London on Oct. 6 said this year’s festival will feature 44 films from a variety of genres like horror, documentaries, indie and short films to be shown at nine theaters in London and others in Manchester and Glasgow, Scotland.

The opening film is “Alienoid” (2022) directed by ‎Choi Dong-hoon and the closing film “Hansan: Rising Dragon” (2022) directed by Kim Han-min.

This year’s event will screen five films of the late actor Kang Soo-yeon, who died in May this year, in the Special Focus section. The works include director Im Kwon-taek’s “The Surrogate Woman” (1987), which earned her Best Actress award at the 44th Venice International Film Festival; Im’s “Come Come Come Upward” (1989), which landed her the Best Actress award at the 1989 Moscow International Film Festival; and director Jang Sun-woo’s “Road to the Racetrack” (1991).

Attending the festival’s special forum on Kang include the founder and former chairman of the Busan International Film Festival Kim Dong-ho, Korean Film Archive Director Kim Hong-joon, the London festival’s programmer Mark Morris and Darcy Paquet, who translated the English-language subtitles of the Oscar-winning film “Parasite.” They will reflect on Kang’s legacy on the history of Korean cinema.

The Cinema Now section offers a range of acclaimed films from the past year as selected by British film critic Anton Bitel. The six selected works include “Return to Seoul” (2022), which was directed by Davy Chou and premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section; “The Anchor” (2022) by director Jeong Ji-yeon; and “Hot Blooded” (2022) by director Cheon Myeong-kwan.

The Special Screening section will have the U.K. premiere of director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s movie “Broker” (2022), which earned Song Kang-ho the Best Actor award at this year’s Cannes festival.

The Indie Talents section will feature four movies selected by Paquet including director Lee Ji-eun’s “The Hill of Secrets” (2022), which was invited to the Generation Kplus section at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

The London festival this year will also allow audiences to speak to directors of films released this year like ‎Choi of “Alienoid,” Kim of “Hansan: Rising Dragon,” Jeong of “The Anchor” and Kim Jung-eun of “Gyeong-ah’s Daughter.” The four directors will also hold master classes at film schools in London, including the London Film Academy.

As part of the program, Choi’s “The Thieves” (2012) will be screened at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the world’s largest for decorative arts and design and host of the ongoing exhibition “Hallyu, the Korean Wave.”

More information on the festival is available through the official homepage:(www.koreanfilm.co.uk).

Lee Jungwoo, director of the KCC in London, told Yonhap News in an interview, “At this year’s film festival, we organized a meaningful special exhibition and forum to commemorate the late actor Kang Su-yeon, who was the first ‘world star’ in Korean film history, and honor the deceased’s achievements.”

“In particular, the focus this year was spreading Korean cinema in the U.K. by expanding the scale of invitations and screenings and maximizing audience participation through dialogues with them.”

Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

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