The BFI has announced the full program for Echoes in Time: Korean Films of the Golden Age and New Cinema, a major new season running from 28 October to 31 December at BFI Southbank. Curated by Young Jin Eric Choi and Goran Topalovic, the season spotlights two transformative eras in Korean cinema: the Golden Age of the 1960s and the New Korean Cinema movement (1996–2003). These periods saw groundbreaking technical, stylistic, and thematic innovations, producing seminal works that blended genre thrills with arthouse sensibilities.

Presented in collaboration with the Korean Film Archive (KOFA) — celebrating its 50th anniversary — and in partnership with the Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) and the Korean Film Council, the season features 12 digital restorations, five digital remasters, and rare 35mm prints from KOFA’s archival collection. The KCCUK will also present two special strands at the BFI as part of the London Korean Film Festival, running from 1 to 13 November.

Though South Korean cinema achieved mainstream global recognition with Parasite’s Oscar success and Squid Game on the small screen, it has produced outstanding works for decades. This BFI season offers a comprehensive introduction to the rich legacy of Korean cinema, with many titles being screened for the first time in the UK. Programmed screenings will include in-person introductions by Choi and Topalovic.

Highlights from the programme include:

• Golden Age Cinema: Titles such as Aimless Bullet (Yu Hyun-mok, 1961), The Marines Who Never Returned (Lee Man-hee, 1963), and A Woman Judge (Hong Eun-won, 1962) explore themes of war, societal norms, and survival in the 1960s.
• New Korean Cinema: Critically acclaimed films like Joint Security Area (Park Chan-wook, 2000), Nowhere to Hide (Lee Myung-se, 1999), and Save the Green Planet! (Jang Joon-hwan, 2003) showcase the daring and diverse storytelling that defined the late ’90s and early 2000s.
• Special Screenings: Save the Green Planet! (2003) will feature a Q&A with director Jang Joon-hwan following its screening on 30 October.

The London Korean Film Festival will complement the season with two curated strands:

• Women’s Voices: Celebrating 15 years of work by female directors, including films like Sisters on the Road (Boo Ji-young, 2008), A Girl at My Door (Jung July, 2014), and The Truth Beneath (Lee Kyoung-mi, 2015). Directors Kim Hye-young (It’s Okay!) and Kim Da-min (FAQ) will join a panel discussion on 11 November, exploring the current state of female representation in Korean cinema.
• Cinema Now: Focusing on contemporary filmmakers, this strand will feature some of the most recent works in Korean cinema, including Mother’s Kingdom (Lee Sang-hak, 2023) and Following (Kim Se-hwi, 2023).

ECHOES IN TIME: KOREAN FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE AND NEW CINEMA runs from 28 October – 31 December at BFI Southbank.

_{View of the Arts is an online publication that chiefly deals with films, music, and art, with an emphasis on the Asian entertainment industry. We hope our audience will grow with us as we explore new platforms such as K-pop / K-music, and Asian music in general, and continue to dive into the talented and ever-growing scene of film, music, and arts, worldwide.}