The London Korean Film Festival Turns 21 With a Revenge Road Trip and a Park Hoon-jung Bloodbath
The festival runs in London from 2 to 16 November, opening with The Journey to Gyeong-ju and closing with Park Hoon-jung's Tristes Tropiques.
The Korean Cultural Centre UK has announced the programme for the 21st London Korean Film Festival, which runs from 2 to 16 November. Screenings are spread between BFI Southbank and Ciné Lumière, and the ICA hosts its own run of films from 7 to 14 November.
The opening gala on 2 November at BFI Southbank is the UK premiere of Kim Mi-jo's The Journey to Gyeong-ju. It's a crime drama about a grieving mother and her three adult daughters on a road trip to avenge the murder of the youngest member of the family. Kim and actor Lee Jung-eun, who many will know from Parasite, are doing a Q&A after the screening.
The closing gala on 16 November is Park Hoon-jung's Tristes Tropiques, which the festival describes as a bloodbath set off by the death of a kill-squad leader. Park made New World and The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion, so this is the one for action fans. The film won the Nouveau Genre Grand Prize at the 32nd L'Étrange Festival, and Park is staying for a Q&A as well.
Korean Canadian filmmaker Jerome Yoo's feature debut Mongrels gets its UK premiere, and the festival describes it as turning the diaspora experience into dreamy magical realism. Justin H. Min, of The Umbrella Academy, co-stars in Kim Jin-yu's Journey There, and the director is attending a Q&A. Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love, which won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize in Venice, is also on the programme.
Full listings and booking details are on the festival website.
