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Melbourne International Film Festival Screens 6 from Korea
Festival Favorites Invited to Australia
Four Korean features and two shorts were screened at the recently concluded Melbourne International Film Festival. The Cannes-invited titles BURNING by LEE Chang-dong and The Spy Gone North by YOON Jong-bin led the Korean contingent at the Australian festival.
Based on the short story ‘Barn Burning’ by MURAKAMI Haruki, BURNING is the first film by LEE Chang-dong since his 2010 masterwork Poetry. Featuring YOO Ah-in, Steven YEUN, and JUN Jong-seo , BURNING debuted in competition on the Croisette, where it earned the FIPRESCI Award as well as the Vulcan Award of the Technical Artist.
Also in Cannes was YOON Jong-bin’s period espionage drama The Spy Gone North, which screened in the midnight section. Featuring HWANG Jung-min and LEE Sung-min in the true story of the South Korean agent ‘Black Venus’ who posed as a business man looking to establish ties with North Korea, the film is currently a hit in Korea, having attracted 4.22 million viewers (USD 32.52 million) in two weeks.
One of last year’s Jeonju Cinema Projects, KIM Dae-hwan ’s second film The First Lap (2017) earned the Best Emerging Director Award from the Locarno International Film Festival last year as well as the Silver Astor for Best Screenplay from the Mar Del Plata International Film Festival.
The 22nd film from the prolific Hong Sangsoo , Grass debuted in the Forum lineup of this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. The black and white work reunites the auteur with KIM Min-hee, who has appeared in six of the director’s last seven films.
Also screening in Melbourne were the US-Korea co-produced short Helen (2017) by KIM Ji-hyun and KIM Min-jun’s VR short On the Road.
