By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
This weekend in Seoul, movie buffs can re-watch a handful of contemporary classics of Korean cinema on the big screen and meet directors:
Hong Sang-soo and
Song Il-gon.
The Korean Film Archive is hosting a retrospective of 10 films by the minimal realist Hong through Jan. 24 at Cinematheque KOFA, Sangam-dong, Seoul, while "
The Magicians", by artsy experimentalist Song, will reopen Sunday in Daehango.
Hong has established an international reputation as a unique minimalist with video journal-style movies reminiscent of the late Eric Rohmer. The retrospective lineup includes his 1996 directorial debut piece, "...
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By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Song Il-gon's mise-en-scene is admired for its poeticism and arresting imagination, and his trademark qualities prevail in his first feature documentary, "
Dance of Time".
He brings a gem of a film that, though rooted in reality, gives full bloom to romanticism, reading more like a love letter to Cubans rather than a historical account of a unique branch of the Korean Diaspora.
"I've always wanted to travel to Cuba", the 38-year-old cineaste told The Korea Times over a shot of espresso, in a small cafe in downtown Seoul last week.
He had his heart set on the Caribbean country as the backdrop of a new love story. But when Cuba's national baseball team visited Korea last year, he met a local interpreter and was surprised to learn about fifth- and sixth-generation "Coreanos".
A century ago a group of Joseon (1392-1910) laborers set sail for Cuba in hopes of returning with a fortune. But they were forced to toil away on henequen farms, never making enough money for the trip back. They would nevertheless go on to build Korean schools and even fund Kim Gu's resistance movement against colonial Japan (1910-45). They be...
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International film festival favorite
Song Il-gon returns with another small scale film. This time he tries his hand at documentary making. "Dance of Tiime" features Koreans whose parents left for Cuba in the Joseon era.
They always dreamed of returning to Korean soil, but none of them ever fulfilled that desire. SONG interviews the Korean-Cubans whose Cuban side is partly reflected in their passion for Latin dances. The documentary will be released on 3 December.
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MoreA number of high-profile Korean features will have their World Premiere at the 14th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) including opening film "
Good Morning President" by writer-director
Jang Jin. It stars top Korean actor
Jang Dong-gun, who is expected to greet the opening night crowd when the fest kick offs October 8 for a 9-day run.
Making it's Gala World Premiere is "
The Fair Love" by director
Shin Yeon-shick, a drama starring veteran lead
Ahn Seong-gi about an unstoppable romance between an old bachelor in his 50s and a college girl in her 20s. Also in the Gala program is "In My End Is My Beginning" by
Min Gyoo-dong, the director of "All for Love" ...
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Korean-American director
Kim So-yong's sophomore feature "
Treeless Mountain" captured a Special Jury prize at the 9th Tokyo Filmex, held Nov 22 – 30. It shared the prize along with Chinese director Yu Guang-yi's documentary, . Both films will receive US $4000 each in color negative film supplied by award sponsor Kodak.
KIM's
Treeless Mountain was selected in the 2005 Pusan Promotion Plan, and had its world premiere at the 2008 Toronto Int'l Film Festival. It screened in the Korean Cinema Today section at this year's Pusan Int'l Fil...
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