The 34th Moscow International Film Festival will be held later this month from June 21-30, 2012. Director LEE Sang-woo’s latest feature, <Fire in Hell>, has been invited to the festival’s main competition while YUN Ki-nam’s black and white short film <The Metamorphosis> will appear in the ‘Short Film Corner.’
One of 17 films screening in the main competition, <Fire in Hell> focuses on the theme of karma, following an excommunicated Buddhist monk as he encounters the twin sister of a woman he has murdered. Director LEE Sang-woo, nicknamed “the ogre of South Korean indie film,” is known for controversial films that often interweave themes of sex and violence, such as 2008’s <Tropical Manila> or 2011’s <Mother is a Whore>. <Fire in Hell> made its premiere in the Korean Competition at this year’s Jeonju International Film Festival and will make its international premiere in Moscow.
YUN Ki-nam’s <The Metamorphosis>, a Nosferatu-inspired tale shot in black and white on 8mm and 16mm film, has also shown at the 2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and will screen at the 2012 Edinburgh International Film Festival in the United Kingdom. YUN also directed the 2008 short film <A Matter of Principle>, which appeared at Korea’s 7th Mise-en-scène’s Short Film Festival.
The 34th Moscow International Film Festival will open with the Russian feature <Soulless> by director Roman Prygunov and will feature over 20 different program sections, including retrospectives of German-American director Ernst Lubitsch and USA studio Universal Pictures’ Golden Collection.