May 3–13, 2012
Korean Cinema Today 2012
Films from Busan International Film Festival
Film festival
May 3–13, 2012
The first edition of the Busan International Film Festival Retrospective at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt presents eleven films from the festivals of 2010 and 2011 and thus reflects the importance and popularity of New Korean Cinema.
The movies being screened include feature and documentary films and an animated children’s film, including an only recently restored copy of the 1960 classic Hanyo (The Housemaid) by Kim Ki-Yeong, of which the director Im Sang-Soo created a celebrated re-make in 2010. Many of the directors and the head of the Busan International Film Festival will be present at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt to talk to the audiences.
After an initial cinematic heyday in the 1960s, Korean cinema has been enjoying a renaissance since the beginning of the new millenium. The annual Busan International Film Festival, which took place for the sixteenth time, is also a focal point of the vibrant Asian film industry: for some years now, it has been organizing the thriving Asian Film Market and the Asian Film Academy and, in 2011, it inaugurated a new festival center. The categories “Wide Angle“, “New Currents“ and “A Window on Asian Cinema“ spotlight the latest in feature, documentary and short films from the entire Asian region.
Equally successful is the section „Korean Cinema Today“, in which the best Korean productions of the respective year are presented. They form the basis of the success story of New Korean Cinema, which is now represented at all the big international film festivals and has long since enthused audiences all over the world. The program at the HKW is being realized in cooperation with the Korea Foundation and the Busan International Film Festival.
After the opening evening, it is divided into three sections:
Liebe auf Abwegen – Love on Detours
Including Kim Ki-Yeong’s classic, The Housemaid and the successful remake from 2010; different ways of analyzing seduction and the relationship between master and maid.
Die Grenze – The Border
These films take the border as a reference point for an unusual look at southern society and the isolation of “border crossers“.
Young Korean Directors
is devoted to debut films by young, up-and-coming directors who have already made waves in Busan and subsequently at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
On Sundays, the Children’s Film Afternoon features an animated animal film with accompanying children’s activities, once in Korean, once in German.
The project is being held in cooperation with the Korea Foundation and the Busan International Film Festival.