Korean Film Night lights up Cannes

by KOFIC

The Korean Film Council in joint with the Busan International Film Festival, Pucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism opened a "Korean Film Night" on May 16 at 9pm during the 64th Cannes Film Festival.

The three-hour event was much more vibrant than previous years, with a total 540 guests including directors, actors, programmers of major international film festivals and film distributors, including director Bong Joon-ho, the president of Camera d'Or jury and director Lee Chang-dong, the co-president of Critic's Week jury at Cannes this year.

Guests were welcomed by the co-hosts; Kim Ui-suk, new chairman of the Korea Film Council (KOFIC); Kim Dong-ho, honorary director of BIFF and Lee Yong-kwan, new director of BIFF; Kim Young-bin, director of PiFan and Kim Gap-soo, director of Cultural Content Industry Office of the Ministry.

Thierry Frémaux, the programmer of Cannes Film Festival programmer and Jérôme Paillard, the executive director of the Cannes Film Market also attended the event, despite a total nine receptions were held at the same time on nearby places including the 50th anniversary of Critic's Week party.

Particularly, distributors that have acquired Korean films, including Europa Cinema, Edko and IFC also participated at the event and showed their continuous attention to Korean films.

Among the Korean filmmakers at this year's Cannes attended Na Hong-jin, the director of Un Certain Regard entry "The Yellow Sea" and Lee Jeong-jin (a.k.a Dahci Ma), the director of Short Competition entry "Ghost - Short".

Two filmmakers who are invited at the Critic's Week with their short films also attended at the event, Lee Tae-ho of "In Front of the House" and Moon Byung-gon of "Finis Operis".

Other Korean guests included Lee Eun, the president of Myung Film who produced "Leafie, A Hen Into The Wild"; Eugene Lee, the president of Zip Cinema who is currently working with Bong Joon-ho for his next film; Oh Jeong-wan, the president of Bom Film Productions who is currently producing actress Jeon Do-yeon's next film "Countdown"; Kang Woo-seok, director of "Moss" and "GLove"; and actor Oh Dal-soo ("Detective K").