On April 3, 1948, Jeju Island became the site of a coordinated armed uprising as communist guerrillas launched pre-planned attacks on police stations, officials, and civilians. In the early hours, hundreds of insurgents struck multiple targets, killing officers, destroying homes, and using fear to deter participation in the May 10 elections that would lead to…
Category: Korean Cinema
28th Far East Film Festival: “The World of Love” Review
Yoon Ga-eun has long been recognised for her work in capturing the emotional world of young people with rare honesty. From her early short films Guest (2011) and Sprout (2013) to her acclaimed features The World of Us and The House of Us, she has consistently explored childhood and the often complicated journey toward adulthood….
“Success, for Me, Is Freedom”: Jang Theo on Acting, Modelling and Choosing His Own Path – Exclusive Interview
“I don’t define success as money or fame. Success, for me, is freedom – the freedom to express my world exactly the way I see it.” This is what Jang Theo says when asked about the success and it clarifies the logic behind every decision that has guided his career so far. What impressed me…
20th London Korean Film Festival: “Frosted Window” Review
Kim Jong-kwan is surely one of a kind as a filmmaker. His work reveals a keen sensitivity to the human condition. His cinema has always been a dialogue between isolation and empathy, often exploring how people drift in and out of each other’s lives, guided by memory and the delicate tremour of feeling. From Worst…
20th London Korean Film Festival: “The Land of Morning Calm” Review
Set against the subdued beauty of a Korean fishing village, The Land of Morning Calm, written and directed by Park Ri-woong, is a restrained and moving exploration of displacement and the tensions beneath everyday life. This is not a story about national identity or grand political themes; it is about people: ordinary and flawed. The Land…
20th London Korean Film Festival: In Conversation with Kim Jong-kwan, Director of “Frosted Window”
Within the subtle intimacy of Kim Jong-kwan’s films lies an entire universe. His cinema captures the delicate spaces between people; the brief moments of longing, love, hesitation, and loss. The South Korean filmmaker, a graduate of the Seoul Institute of the Arts, has built a reputation for making films of profound emotional delicacy. From his…
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2025
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF) 2025, the largest biennial festival focusing on documentary in Asia, gathers outstanding works from 2023 to 2025 to navigate the observance from intimate family matters to the turbulence of our living world. This year, the witness of diverse ‘home(land)’ in chaos enshrines the perseverance within people, from Palestine to…
30th Busan International Film Festival: In Conversation with Frederik Sølberg, Director of “Hana Korea”
Frederik Sølberg is a Danish filmmaker whose work connects the worlds of documentary and narrative cinema, exploring stories that illuminate human identity and belonging. He is known for his careful attention to detail and for bringing real-life experiences to the screen. Fifteen years ago, a first visit to South Korea left an impression on Sølberg….
30th Busan International Film Festival: “Hana Korea” Review
For many North Korean defectors, crossing the border is not the end of a story but the start of another kind of struggle. Frederik Sølberg’s Hana Korea, co-written with Sharon Choi, goes straight into that fraught second chapter. The film is a great story of adaptation and loss: how the comforts of a new country…
78th Locarno Film Festival: In Conversation with Park Syeyoung, Director of “The Fin”
Seoul-based Syeyoung Park is an interesting independent filmmaker. A graduate of the Korea National University of Arts, with a BFA in Film and an MFA in Video Arts, Park made his feature debut with The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra, which earned him awards at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Seoul Independent Film Festival, and Fantasia,…
78th Locarno Film Festival: “The Fin” Review
Korean cinema continues to prove its global dominance not just through streaming platforms, but through visionary films that challenge and expand the very language of cinema. With The Fin, director Park Syeyoung delivers a haunting work, an unsettling look at control and survival in the aftermath of ideology. Set in a post-unification, ecologically devastated Korea,…
Park Chan-wook Returns with “No Other Choice”, Opening the 30th Busan International Film Festival
Three years after his critically acclaimed Decision to Leave (2022), director Park Chan-wook makes a powerful return to the screen with No Other Choice, a gripping drama centered on a man’s desperate fight to protect everything he holds dear. The story follows Man-su (Lee Byung Hun), a once-proud man whose stable life is suddenly upended…
“Xohee Loved Ones”: Han So-hee’s First European Fan Meeting to Take Place in Frankfurt, London, Paris and Berlin
Han So-hee is, without a doubt, one of the most compelling and sought-after talents in the Korean entertainment industry today. With an acting journey that began humbly, from appearing in music videos and taking on supporting roles in series like Money Flower (2017), 100 Days My Prince (2018), and Abyss (2019), Han’s rise to fame has been quite impressive. Her breakout…
In Conversation with Yang Hee-kyung of “The Land of Morning Calm”
Yang Hee-kyung is a celebrated South Korean actress who began her career in theatre before expanding into television and film. She earned early acclaim with a Best Actress win at the 19th Seoul Theater Festival in 1995. Known for her natural charisma, Yang consistently delivers powerful performances, and her role in The Land of Morning…
