The London Korean Film Festival: A cinema lover's dream

Every day at Percy & Warren we work with interesting, smart, and unique people, films and organisations.

And then we get a contract for work every now and then that any film lover would love to win. Signing up to do the PR for the London Korean Film Festival is just that ticket.

Since seeing a screening Bong Joon Ho’s Memories of Murder as a sprightly teenager back in the 2000s I’ve been a lover of Korean cinema. Following Memories of Murder I discovered the incredible The Vengeance Trilogy by Park Chan-wook, which includes a scene from the film Oldboy that has been etched into my brain. I won’t spoil it if you haven’t seen it. But be prepared, it is not pretty.

And then a few years back I found a copy of Save The Green Planet on DVD in a local charity shop. I’d never seen anything like it. It’s screening this year and is set to be remade by Yorgos Lanthimos. I often don’t agree with Western remakes of films. But I think Lanthimos is probably the only director I could see handling a remake like this multi-genre eco comedy/horror. And then to learn that we had access to Jang Joon-hwan, the original director, for interviews – well that’s something the whole team is pretty stoked by.

We all know Korean content is winning fans around the world. But there is still so much for audiences to discover. And through the London Korean Film Festival, they can find some real gems. Below is an outline of what’s on the slate for this year, produced by the brilliant Eunji Lee .

I encourage any film lovers to check the festival out and find some incredible new cinema.

The 19th edition of the London Korean Film Festival (LKFF) is organised by the Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) and supported by the Korean Film Council as part of the 'Connect Korea Campaign', which promotes Korean arts and culture across the UK.

Festival Overview:

This year’s LKFF offers two main strands –?Cinema Now?and?Women’s Voices?– alongside a special programme from?BFI Echoes in Time: Korean Films of the Golden Age and New Cinema.?Notable highlights include the Opening Gala screening of Park Beom-su’s?Victory?and the Closing Gala of E.oni’s?Love in the Big City.?Additionally, there will be a special screening of Choi Dong-hoon’s?Alienoid: Return to the Future.

Park Beom-su’s?Victory?kicks the festival off on 6th November at BFI Southbank, with the director attending. Set in 1999, the film follows two rebellious teenagers who form a cheerleading squad, boosting the spirits of their misfit troupe and their struggling community.

The festival concludes with a screening of?Love in the Big City?by E.oni on 13th November. Based on Park Sang-young’s novel, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022, the film stars Kim Go-eun as Jae-hee, a free-spirited woman who uncovers a secret about Heung-soo (Steve Sanghyun Noh). The two try to deal with the complexities of love and self-discovery in Seoul, making for a subtle exploration of relationships.?

A special screening of Choi Dong-hoon’s?Alienoid: Return to the Future?– the second part of his 2022 film?Alienoid?– will take viewers on a thrilling adventure through time and space. Set in Korea’s Goryeo dynasty of the 1300s, the film follows a quest for a divine sword amidst an alien invasion.

Cinema Now,?curated by Anton Bitel, presents the forefront of contemporary Korean cinema, featuring a wide variety of genres. Among the selections is Kim Se-hwi’s?Following,?a twisted thriller exploring narcissism and voyeurism in the age of social media. Lee Sang-hak’s?Mother’s Kingdom?offers a son’s perspective in a story reminding of Bong Joon-ho’s?Mother?(2009). Kim Tae-yang’s debut?Mimang?spans four years in Seoul, dramatising various meanings of the Korean word ‘mimang.’ Yeon Je-gwang's The Guest?blends horror with a meta-cinematic lens, while Lee Lu-da’s?The Noisy Mansion?follows a woman investigating mysterious nighttime noises in her apartment building. The strand closes with Yoon Eun-kyoung’s dystopian thriller?The Tenants.

Women’s Voices,?curated by Eunji Lee, celebrates 15 years of Korean female filmmakers. Highlights include Boo Ji-young’s?Sisters on the Road?(2008), Jung July’s?A Girl at My Door?(2014), and Lee Kyoung-mi’s?The Truth Beneath?(2015). The programme also features Lee Mi-rang’s adaptation of Kim Hye-jin’s novel?Concerning My Daughter,?and Park Jae-min’s documentary?Sandstorm,?which follows the lives of five female wrestlers over five years. Two directors, Kim Da-min and Kim Hye-young, will participate in a discussion on emerging themes in contemporary Korean cinema, moderated by Professor Jinhee Choi from King’s College London.

The BFI Southbank programme?Echoes in Time: Korean Films of the Golden Age and New Cinema?offers a major season of screenings from October to December, featuring classics like?Aimless Bullet?(Yu Hyun-mok, 1961),?Joint Security Area?(Park Chan-wook, 2000), and?Save the Green Planet!?(Jang Joon-hwan, 2003). Presented in collaboration with the Korean Film Archive (KOFA) for its 50th anniversary, the season includes 12 digital restorations and 5 remastered titles, offering audiences a rare opportunity to experience these seminal films in the UK.

More info on the festival here: https://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/

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