The Korean Film Festival in Australia returns for its ninth year, offering a large and eclectic selection of new Korean films.
With 22 films on its program, the festival will take place in Sydney (9-18 August), Brisbane (15-16 August), Melbourne (6-13 September) and Canberra (21-23 September). The festival aspires to showcase “the very best of Korean culture through film,” spanning “big-budget blockbusters to intimate art-house flicks.”
To help you decide what you might be interested in seeing, we’ve picked five titles from the program that look particularly compelling. Here they are below, with descriptions taken from the official website.
7 Years of Night (7년의 밤)
“On a foggy night after one too many drinks, Hyun-su ends up lost on rural back roads, leading to a terrible accident after his car strikes and kills a young girl who unexpectedly dashes unto the road. Beyond panicked, he dumps her body in the reservoir above a dam and tries to regain a sense of normalcy as he settles into a new house he recently bought with his wife and son. He’s surrounded by constant reminders of his crime as police and search teams descend on the nearby town.
“The girl’s father, Oh Young-je (Jang Dong-gun), a wealthy and abusive landowner, threatens to take matters into his own hands once the perpetrator is identified. Inevitably, divers recover the girl’s body from the reservoir, sending Oh on a determined search for revenge. Plagued by paranoia, Hyun-su struggles to control his guilt from completely overwhelming him, even as his son inexorably becomes the focus of Oh’s revenge plot.”
A Taxi Driver (택시 운전사)
“May 1980, South Korea. Man-seob is a taxi driver in Seoul who lives from hand to mouth, raising an 11 year old daughter on his own after the recent death of his wife. After paying off his late wife’s hospital bills, all he has left in his possession is an old taxi that he treasures. One day, he overhears that there is a foreigner who will pay big money for a ride down to Gwangju city and back before curfew.
“Happy to be making big money to pay his overdue monthly rent, Man-sub snatches the job, not knowing that the foreigner is a German journalist with a hidden agenda. They arrive to find a city under siege by the military government, with the citizens, led by a determined group of college students, rising up to demand freedom. What began as an easy fare becomes a life-or-death struggle in the midst of the Gwangju Uprising, a critical event in modern South Korea.”
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (곤지암)
“After seeing the news of two teenage boys that have gone missing after exploring Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital, Ha-joon, owner of YouTube channel ‘Horror Times’ decides to explore the building as well. Recruiting a group of volunteers they venture into the notorious psychiatric hospital, dubbed one of ‘the seven freakiest places on Earth’. Shut down in the 1970s, following an alleged mass suicide of its patients, the asylum is rumoured to have housed political prisoners as well as the mentally ill, who were tortured and tested on by the director, who has since disappeared.
“Each team member is fitted with a camera rig that films both them and their point of view, while team captain Ha-joon guides them remotely through the abandoned corridors from a tent in the woods outside. What the volunteers don’t know is that, in an effort to boost online views, Ha-joon and his colleagues are leading them into a hoax. But the scares soon veer off script, suggesting that legitimate supernatural forces are at work.”
Champion (챔피언)
“Mark, a Korean former arm-wrestling champion raised in the U.S. now makes his living as a bouncer in bars and as a security guard in big-box stores. Lonely and unfulfilled, he takes up the offer of his old friend Jin-ki to return to his native country and resume his sports career. To add to the incentive of returning home, Jin-ki promises to provide the address of Mark’s long-lost mother who gave him up for adoption.
“Upon arriving in Korea, Mark heads to the address only to discover that his mother died years earlier. But he does come into contact with a family he never knew he had, a widowed half-sister with her son and daughter. Coming to terms with his roots he must make a name for himself as he aims to become the number one arm wrestler back in his motherland.”
Keys to the Heart (그것만이 내 세상)
“A washed-up boxer, Jo-ha, has lived his life relying on nothing but his physical strength. His glory days were short lived and the previous welterweight champion makes ends meet by sparring other boxers and by distributing flyers on the streets.
“Soon after he is fired from his latest gig, he runs into his mother In-sook, who left him and his violent father while he was still an early teen. Eager for a free place to crash, Jo-ha puts aside the resentment and grudge toward his ageing mother and accepts her offer to stay in her home until he can get back on his feet. There, he meets his autistic half-brother Jin-tae, whom he didn’t know existed.”
