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Berlin Enjoys the First Korean Cinema Festival

Berlin Enjoys the First Korean Cinema Festival Intriguing Glimpses of Korean Society through Movies/The Korea Foundation hosted a Korean film festival in Berlin, the first ever in Germany, on May 3-13, in cooperation with the House of World Cultures (Haus der Kulturen der Welt, HKW) and the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). Under the theme of “Korean Cinema Today,” the festival presente 11 internationally acclaimed Korean films. They impressed local viewers by providing insightful and dramatic interpretations of today’s Korean society, its realities and taboos, with refined cinematic artistry.


Milestone Korean Film Event in Germany

KOREAN CINEMA TODAAY The “Korean Cinema Today” festival was organized to showcase outstanding Korean films and bring together creative filmmakers and movie audiences in the metropolis of Berlin. The festival opened in a ceremony followed by a screening of “Poetry” at the HKW auditorium, with the participation of about 600 guests. Then, HKW director Bernd M. Scherer and BIFF director Lee Yong-kwan, along with Choi Jae-jin, director of the Korea Foundation Berlin Office, invited the audience to the trendy restaurant, Kimchi Princess, located in the Kreuzberg district, to enjoy Korean food amid music presented by DJ Hunee.

The screenings of the other films and discussion sessions with Korean directors attracted large audiences, who reveled in the rare opportunity to watch Korean movies and exchange views with their directors. Lee Yong-kwan, festival director of the BIFF since 2011, and Hong Hyo-sook, co-programmer of BIFF, attended the opening events along with the directors Lee Hyuk-sang (“Miracle on Jongno Street”), Park Jung-bum (“The Journals of Musan”), Yang Ik-june (“Breathless”) and Yoon Sung-hyun (“Bleak Night”) The festival drew a total of some 2,500 viewers, of whom about 85 percent were Germans.

Up-and-Coming Cinematic Artists

The festival highlighted works by young directors seeking to capture the realities of contemporary Korean society from insightful perspectives. All of the 11 films had been shown at the Busan International Film Festival in 2010 and 2011, representing major trends in Korean cinema today. The Korean film industryhas been enjoying unprecedented international acclaim in recent years for high quality, cross-genre works characterized by sensitively portrayed, nuanced characters and finely written storylines.

The 11 films were presented in three sections: “The Border,” “Love on Detours,” and “Young Korean Directors.” “The Border” section, which highlighted relations between North and South Korea, featured “The Journals of Musan” directed by Park Jung-bum and “Poongsan” directed by Juhn Jai-hong. The section for “Young Korean Directors” explored the meaning of friendship from various viewpoints through the films “Bleak Night” directed by Yoon Sung-hyun, “Miracle on Jongno Street” directed by Lee Hyuk-sang, and “Breathless” directed by Yang Ik-june. Two versions of “The Housemaid,” a 2010 remake directed by Im Sang-soo and the 1960 original by Kim Ki-young, and “Ha Ha Ha” directed by Hong Sang-soo were presented in the section “Love on Detours.”

A children’s and teenager’s program, kids&teens@hkw, had parallel screenings in German and Korean of “Leafie, A Hen in the Wild,” an animation feature that broke all box office records in the genre in Korea.

BIFF director Lee Yong-kwan, in his lecture on “Korean Cinema Today: A Conversation with the Past,” compared the two versions of “The Housemaid” to illustrate his view of the development of Korean cinema. His lecture led to a lively discussion on Korean film with the audience.

Cultural Exchange of Epochal Significance

Doris Hegner, program coordinator of the HKW Department of Visual Arts, expressed her appreciation for the high artistic and narrative standards of Korean films, emphasizing the importance of the festival as an innovative event for cultural exchange between Germany and Korea. “Not only the members of the Korean community but also local residents of all age groups who are interested in Korea and cinema took part in this festival. The German viewers were highly impressed by the artistic quality of Korean films. Moreover, they appreciated that the Korean directors took the time to participate in discussions with the audience. Although movie fans around the globe have been enjoying Korean films for sometime now, it is difficult to see such works in Germany. This festival has helped to change that; it was a great success.”Hegner also expressed her desire to continue to present Korean film festivals in the coming years through collaboration between HKW and the BIFF and Korea Foundation and the BIFF.

Films Shown at ‘Korean Cinema Today’/“Poetry” (Director: Lee Chang-dong)/“The Journals of Musan” (Director: Park Jung-bum) /“Poongsan” (Director: Juhn Jai-hong)/“The Housemaid” (Director: Kim Ki-young)/“The Housemaid” (Director: Im Sang-soo)/“Ha Ha Ha” (Director: Hong Sang-soo)/“Leafie, A Hen into the Wild” (Director: Oh Seong-yun) /“Bleak Night” (Director: Yoon Sung-hyun) /“Dance Town” (Director: Jeon Kyu-hwan)/“Miracle on Jongno Street” (Director: Lee Hyuk-sang)/“Breathless” (Director: Yang Ik-june)

Sin Su-younKorea Foundation Berlin Office

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