13th Annual Korean Film Fest at Museum of the Moving Image

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 02 November 2015 10:36

Written by Casey Hernandez

Assassination

The Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Ave, New York, NY) is playing host to a series of Korea’s finest films with the 13th Annual Korean Film Festival (November 6 - 11, 2015). Organized by Subway Cinema, the same people that bring you the New York Asian Film Fest every summer, the NY Korean FF brings together some of Korea’s fascinating, strange, and dynamic films that have been captivating audiences in the US since Oldboy hit the scene in 2003. Along with a wide selection of films, the festival also has special guest speakers from the Korean film industry.

Guests include:

• Ryoo Seung-Wan
• Kang Hye-jung and Park Jung (Veteran)
• Shin Suwon (Madonna)
• Lee Do-yun (Confession)
• Kang Hyo-jin (Wonderful Nightmare)
• Oh Seung-uk (The Shameless)
• Hong Won-chan (Office)
• Koh Ah-Sung.

Films scheduled to be in the festival include:

• Office
  Dir. Hong Won-chan
  After gruesomely murdering his family, a midlevel manager (Bae Seong-woo) dutifully returns to the office, haunting the building like a vengeful ghost and turning the otherwise bland workspace into a house of terror. Legitimately alarmed, his colleagues nonetheless sing his praises to the police—a hint that there’s more to the matter than a disgruntled employee suddenly snapping. Described as “hearty genre entertainment” by Variety, this Cannes “Midnight Madness” selection is a perfect outlet for young leading actress Ko Ah-sung.

• Trap
  Dir. Bong Man-Dae
  Maladjusted screenwriter Jeong-min (Yoo Ha-joon) travels to the countryside to rethink his life and concentrate on his career. But instead of working on his screenwriting, he finds transgressive distraction in the person of temptress Yumi (Han Je-in). The frontier between reality and fantasy blurs as Jeong-min’s mind and body are engulfed in a fatal attraction to the innocent-faced but dangerous Lolita, leading him to increasingly poor life decisions. A standout entry in the filmography of softcore erotic meister “Playboy” Bong Man-Dae.

• Confession
  Dir. Lee Do-yun
  Since a tragic mountain incident in high school, Min-soo (Lee Kwang-soo), Hyun-tae (Ji Sung) and In-chul (Ju Ji-hoon) have remained best friends through thick and thin. But when two of them agree to burn down an illegal gambling hall for the insurance payout, the spilt blood of loved ones unearths the bitter ghosts of a dark past. Soon, the group of childhood friends turn on each other in the bleakest of fallouts. Lee Do-yun’s debut feature has been compared with the slow-burning noir of Sidney Lumet’s final film, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.

• The Shameless
  Dir. Oh Seung-uk
  In Oh Seung-uk’s highly anticipated return to the director’s chair since his debut masterpiece Kilimanjaro in 2000, Cannes award-winning actress Jeon Do-yeon plays a bar hostess in love with a suspected murderer. Kim Nam-gil (The Pirates) is outstanding as a detective who plays a game of seduction with a dangerous woman. Selected for the Un Certain Regard program at the Cannes Film Festival, The Shameless is an unforgettably stylish noir.

• Madonna
  Dir. Shin Su-won
  After her festival hit Pluto (2012), a critically acclaimed high-school drama about bullying and murder which won a Special Mention at the 2013 Berlinale, director Shin Su-won delivers a shocking, noir-tinged tale of privilege and poverty: a nurse's aide uncovers and tries to prevent the horrific use of a brain dead pregnant street-walker for a heart transplant to a rich patient.
  
  
  
• Veteran
  Dir. Ryoo Seung-wan
  In this instant action/comedy classic—a massive theatrical hit earlier this summer—hardboiled detective Seo Do-cheol (top actor Hwang Jung-min can throw—and take—a punch) and his misfit team defend the powerless against the vicious scion of a prominent family (played with villainous delight by heartthrob Yoo Ah-in, in a widely acclaimed performance.

• Wonderful Nightmare
  Dir. Kang Hyo-jin
  Director Kang Hyo-jin’s independent feature, Kill’em with Bare Hands (2004), won the audience award at the Seoul Independent Film Festival. His films include Dirty Blood (2012), Twilight Gangsters (2010), and Punch Lady (2007).

To learn more, go to: http://koreanfilmfestival.org/

The New York Korean Film Festival
November 6 - 11, 2015

The Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Ave.
New York, NY 11106

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