Korean Films Bookend Udine Film Fest

By Paolo Bertolin
Special Correspondent
UDINE, Italy - Udine, a small town in North Eastern Italy, has fast become the capital of East Asian cinema in the West. The sixth Far East Film Festival (FEFF), the biggest film festival promoting knowledge and appreciation of Asian popular cinema outside of Asia, has in fact become an unmissable middle-spring rendez-vous for European fans of Asian pop culture and a key event in the calendar of Western film critics interested in tracking down the new paths taken by East Asian cinemas.

This year, Korean cinema plays a leading role in the festival's schedule, as both the opening and closing events are marked by international premieres of much-anticipated Korean productions. Park Jung-woo's directorial debut "Param-ui Chonsol ('Dance With The Wind')" had the honor of being the curtain-raiser on Friday, while Kang Je-gyu's all-time box office smash "Taegukgi" will bring it to its official conclusion this coming Friday evening, just prior to the announcing of the Audience Award.

Presenting "Dance With The Wind" to Western audiences along with star Lee Seong-jae, Park, previously known as the scriptwriter behind Kim Sang-jin's hit comedies, acknowledged the pleasure of coming back to Udine and thanked festival organization and audiences for the attention and warm response always offered to his work, as a screenwriter first and as a director now. His film, a quirky comedy telling the story of a ballroom dancer who's being taken as a vulgar gigolo while he awkwardly considers himself as a master-artist of dance, proved quite successful with Italian audiences, though, clocking in at 133 minutes, it actually felt a tad overstretched.

The other Korean film already screened at FEFF was Hong Ki-seon's politically charged "Sontaek" ("The Road Taken"). The restrained yet emotional account of the story of Kim Sun-myung, a political prisoner arrested for his siding with the North during the Korean War (1950-1953) and recognized in 1990 by Amnesty International as the longest-serving political prisoner on earth, impressed and moved Udine's audience for its rigor and sensitivity.

Other Korean titles coming up in the next days include Lee Eon-hee's "...ing", pronounced "I.N.G"., "Yoo Ha"'s "Maljukgori Chanhoksa" (Spirit of Jeet Kune Do: Once Upon A Time In Highschool) and Kwon Chil-in's "Singles".

Korea aside, FEFF offers this year an intriguing look at the most interesting and successful commercial productions of Hong Kong, Japan, Mainland China, Thailand and the Philippines. Among the most eagerly awaited international premieres are Hong Kong's "Infernal Affairs" episodes II and III, the two chapters of Japanese gigantic hit "Bayside Shakedown" and "Gagam Boy", the Filipino version of "Spider Man".

Commenting on the choice of Korean films at this year's festival, Pusan Film Festival Director and Netpac (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) member Kim Dong-ho expressed appreciation for the strong and interesting line-up and admitted his satisfaction with the always receptive and warm welcome of FEFF audiences towards Korean films.

Asked about the recently-announced strong Korean presence at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, both Kim and Darcy Paquet, Korea's correspondent for Screen International and promoter of Korean cinema knowledge in the West, admitted their belief that Park Chan-wook's "Old Boy" has considerable chances of winning the Palme d'Or.

Paolo Bertolin is a writer specializing in Asian films for Cineforum, an Italian film magazine. - ED.