Hello! It’s been a while so I thought it was time for a quick news update on the site. In case you’ve missed them the recently posted reviews on the site include the stylish The Sword With No Name, the weird and fairly wonderful My Mighty Princess, the classic rom-com My Sassy Girl, and one of Korean blockbusters Secret Reunion. All in all not a bad bunch.
Here’s what’s happening elsewhere:
Hong Sang-soo Season at the NFT
Yesterday (1st September) the BFI opened a season of films from director Hong Sang-soo which will be showing throughout September. Films include (among others) The Day a Pig Fell into the Well, The Power of Kangwon Province, Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Turning Gate, Night and Day and his latest release Hahaha. Tomorrow night (3rd September) the BFI will also be hosting ‘An Evening with Hong Sang-soo‘ – a discussion with the director chaired by Tony Rayns. For tickets any of the screenings or the ‘Evening with’ event contact the BFI at www.bfi.org.uk
Korean Film Festival In Australia
The first Korean Film Festival In Australia (KOFFIA) has been announced and will shortly be launching their full website which can be found at www.koffia.com.au – more news on this event will be posted shortly.
The London Korean Film Festival 2010
So far five titles have been announced for this years London Korean Film Festival 2010:
Blades of Blood (Lee Joon-ik / 2010)
71 – Into The Fire (Lee Jae-han / 2010)
Paju (Park Chan-ok / 2009)
A Little Pond (Lee Sang-woo-III / 2009)
The Housemaid (Im Sang-soo / 2010)
Hopefully more information regarding film titles, the dates of the festival and special guests will be announced soon. The website for The London Korean Film Festival 2010 can be found here www.koreanfilm.co.uk and more news will be posted here as it is announced.
The VCinema Podcast
If listening to podcasts is your thing, then you should be listening to VCinema. Their latest episode ‘The City of Violence‘ discusses Ryoo Seung-Wan’s epic action flick as well as other recent films. Full of good humour and well informed opinion, VCinema’s website – and podcasts – can be found here or you can subscribe to them on iTunes.
Upcoming Korean flicks on UK DVD
Korean film releases in the UK are like buses – you wait for ages for one and then two arrive at the same time.On 20th September Optimum Asia will be releasing Bong Joon-ho’s critically acclaimed Mother – which will be reviewed on the site shortly – while Cine Asia release Kim Yong-gyun’s The Sword With No Name on the same day, the review of which can be found here.
Other DVD releases worth mentioning
On 6th September Optimum Asia release The Legend Of Fong Sai-Yuk – a long overdue appearance of the fantastic Jet Li film in its proper ratio and language after previous a butchered release, while on the 27th September Lu Chuan’s City of Life and Death is released from High Fliers – a review of which can be found here.
It’s not for a while yet – 11th of October to be precise – but Terracotta Distribution will be releasing the contender for ‘film title of the year’: Big Tits Zombie. If the title alone doens’t sell it to you then the trailer can be found here…
Finally…
The obligatory reminder that New Korean Cinema can be found on and so please feel free to come along (well, log on), say hello and join in…
Cheers
Martin
