Writer-director Anders Walter’s Ivalu is a somber story about childhood trauma. Having made his mark with Helium, which won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film in 2014, the 45-year-old Danish filmmaker is now competing for the award once again with his latest short film. The Greenlandic-language film is adapted from an award-winning graphic…
Category: Film events and festivals
“Joyland” Review
Should a film that’s groundbreaking for its LGBTQ depiction within its own country be held up to more progressive standards when reviewed by international audiences? This is the central dilemma which comes with assessing the various merits of Joyland, the first Pakistani feature to premiere at Cannes and make the Academy Awards shortlist for Best…
“Broker” Review
Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda has long claimed his biggest directorial influence is that of the British social realist master Ken Loach, even though the similarities between the pair prove superficial when examined beyond the surface. Both are most renowned for their humanist dramas that explore the struggles of those living on society’s margins, although their…
“My life had been leading me down a path designed to help me become the actor I am today.” – In Conversation with Jung Ryeo-won
Jung Ryeo-won never really thought of becoming an actress, but fate had other ideas. Korean-Australian Ryeo-won spent her teenage years in Australia, where she graduated from Griffith University with a major in International Business. One day, while visiting Korea, she was picked by a talent agent and relatively quickly became a part of a K-pop…
“I had such good help on this project. I feel incredibly blessed.” – In Conversation with Christine Ko, Director of “The Woman in the White Car”
Although there has been some visible progress over the past few years, female filmmakers still remain largely unseen either in front of the camera or behind it. While pushing through a world that is dominated by men, female filmmakers have shown that there are still countless stories to tell, stories that the opposite gender might…
17th London Korean Film Festival: “Stellar: A Magical Ride” Review
There’s something inherently comforting about the road trip movie. Always following the same narrative formula, with little room to innovate due to its constraints, a film within this subgenre is always about a journey both literal and metaphorical – the lead character experiencing emotional growth, whilst ticking off all the expected beats you’d expect on…
17th London Korean Film Festival: “Alienoid” Review
Some films require patience to watch and some require energy. Writer-director Choi Dong-hoon’s Alienoid belongs to the latter camp for its hyperactivity. An ambitious mashup of multiple genres – sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, action, thriller, you name it – Choi’s sixth feature is, in a sense, a culmination of his filmography and much more. Alienoid does…
17th London Korean Film Festival: In Conversation with Choi Dong-hoon, Director of “Alienoid”
In 2015, during the BFI London Film Festival, I had my first conversation with South Korean filmmaker Choi Dong-hoon as he promoted his espionage action film Assassination. Several years later, he finished the script for Alienoid, a sci-fi fantasy action film. Starring a top-notch assemble of actors, including Kim Tae-ri, Kim Woo-bin, Ryu Jun-yeol, Lee…
7th London East Asia Film Festival: In Conversation with Kim Se-in, Director of “The Apartment with Two Women”
Kim Se-in, a South Korean filmmaker, began her journey in the film industry as a screenplay writer and editor. She directed a few shorts, including Hamster (2016), Playing with Fire (2018), and Container (2018). Kim’s feature debut, The Apartment with Two Women, received its world premiere at last year’s Busan International Film Festival and had…
66th BFI London Film Festival: “The Woman in the White Car” Review
In a small Korean town, a police officer, Kim Hyun-ju (Lee Jeong-eun: Parasite, Hommage), alongside her partner, are called to a hospital to check on two sisters with one being severely injured and unconscious. We quickly learn that one of the siblings is called Do-kyung (Jung Ryeowon: Castaway on the Moon, Wok of Love, Gate),…
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