London’s Korean Film Festival is back for its 18th edition, with 40 films on this year’s programme including a spooky debut film from Parasite’s assistant director to an exciting spy thriller set in the Thirties.
Opening this Thursday and running to November 16 in cinemas around central London, this year’s programme includes a special focus series on women’s voices and disability in Korean cinema, and a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Academy of Film Arts, Korea’s leading film school.
There will be panel sessions with leading players in the Korean film industry, screenings of old favourites, and exciting new independent films from a range of new voices.
Here is our pick of the films not to miss this year:
Opening Gala: A Normal Family
In this adaptation of Herman Koch’s 2009 best-seller The Dinner – which has shades of Yasmin Resa’s play God of Carnage from the year before – two wealthy families meet to discuss what to do about a violent altercation between their teenage children. The couples, who are good friends, have different ethical and moral approaches, and as tension at the dinner reaches fever pitch, their relationship comes under real strain. There will be a question and answer session with director Hur Jin-ho after the screening.
BFI Southbank, November 2
Closing Gala: Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman
Dr. Cheon (Gang Dong-won) has built a successful career as an exorcist despite not believing in ghosts. Things go topsy-turvy when he agrees to take on the case of Yoo-kyung (Lee So-young, an actor known by her stage name Esom), which seems to involve a real supernatural situation. The festival’s closing film is the directorial debut of Kim Seong-sik, who worked as an assistant director on both the Oscar-winning Parasite (2019) and Park Chan-wook’s thriller Decision to Leave (2022).
BFI Southbank, November 16
Women’s Voices: A Table for Two
Kim Boram’s A table for Two explores the grief-stricken relationship between real-life mother and daughter Sang-ok and Chae-young. When Chae-young was 15 years old, she was diagnosed with anorexia, which then turned into a decade-long battle with bulimia. The illness became so overwhelming that the pair completely stopped talking about it. A Table for Two follows what happens when Chae-young returns to live with her mother during the pandemic, having left home for Australia.
At LKFF, the moving film, which is tied together with illustrations and clips of Chae-young’s diary, will be followed by a Q&A with cinematographer Kim Min-ju.
Picturehouse Central, November 11
Cinema Now: Phantom
This exciting spy thriller from Lee Hae-young takes audiences back to Gyeongseung (now Seoul) in 1933. Someone from the ranks of the elite, who goes by the moniker Phantom, attempted to assassinate the incoming Japanese Governor-General. Now his chief guard takes five of these suspects to a remote hotel to try and find out who did it.
BFI Southbank, November 4
Special Screening: One Fine Spring Day + Q&A
Hur Jin-ho’s 2001 classic romance follows a sound engineer and a DJ who go on a short work trip together and start to fall in love. The film follows the affair as it changes with the seasons. One Fine Spring Day won a number of prizes upon its release; today it is known in South Korea for introducing the pick up line "Do you want to eat ramyeon?" into popular culture. Director Hur Jin-ho will be giving a Q&A at the screening.
Picturehouse Central, November 3
Special focus, 40th anniversary of KAFA: Ingtoogi: The Battle of Internet Trolls
To celebrate 40 years of the Korean Academy of Film Arts, LKFF is presenting a series of wacky and thought-provoking films from its illustrious alumni, which includes the likes of Bong Joon-ho (Parasite), Hur Jin-ho (Christmas in August, A Normal Family), Choi Dong-hoon (Alienoid), and Jo Sung-hee (Space Sweepers).
One of the films is KAFA alumnus Um Tae-hwa’s directorial debut, Ingtoogi: The Battle of Internet Trolls, is based on the true story of a martial arts competition that was organised by an internet community. In Um’s reimagining, the group are a bunch of losers who talk big online and fail IRL.
Cine Lumiere, November 14
Indie Talent: Flower of Mold
There are four fantastic films in this year’s Indie Talent section, but director Shim Hye-jung’s peculiar romance, Flower of Mold, is a standout. Solitary Jisu (Kim Jae-kyung) has developed the slightly odd habit of sorting through rubbish taken from her buildings’ communal bins to learn intimate details about her neighbours. She starts to grow fond of a neighbour whose rubbish she finds particularly dignified. Happily for Jisu, the two begin a kind of friendship, but her hobby catches up with her.
Cine Lumiere, November 13
Disability in Korean Cinema: Innocent Witness
Debt-ridden human rights lawyer Soon-ho (Jung Woo-sung) gets a big career break after being invited to work at a high profile law firm. His first case is suitably tricky: he is asked to defend a housekeeper who is accused of killing her employer. There is one eye-witness, Ji-woo (Kim Hyang-gi), an autistic teenage girl. Soon-ho decides to befriend the young girl to get to the bottom of the case.
BFI Southbank, November 5
