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INFOGRAPHICS
Beginning with Korean Movies at the Film Festivals
by KIM Hyun-jung /
Nov 29, 2016
Korean Films Selected as the Opener of International Fests in 2016
Tickets for the opening film of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in 2015, Zubaan, were sold out only in one minute and 31 seconds after sales started. (BIFF did not disclose sold-out time of opening and closing ones this year, since it considered the time was no longer meaningful.) Opening films of BIFF have been sold out in less than 30 minutes every year due to audiences’ trust on the festival’s selection. BIFF is not the only one. Most of movies that start off the international film fests are reckoned to be reliable to watch.
This year, various Korean films also marked the start of the film fests all over the world. Recently, KIM Jee-woon’s Colonial Era period action-thriller The Age of Shadows was chosen as the opening film at the 16th Marrakech International Film Festival. The film was also featured at the opening gala at the 1st London East Asian Film Festival this year, while it already has been invited to a lot of international fests.
Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) this year opened with The Last Princess, also a Colonial Era drama, after it picked The Throne (2015) to rise its curtain last year. In addition, HIFF invited six Korean films including Queen of Walking, MISBEHAVIOR and Yourself and Yours as well as The Last Princess.
KIM Ki-duk’s indie film THE NET was selected to open the 17th edition of the Tokyo Filmex. Director KIM has been invited to the Tokyo Filmex four times after ARIRANG (2011). Meanwhile, there are some new names. KIM Jin-hwang’s debut feature The Boys Who Cried Wolf had the honor to kick off the 6th Beijing International Film Festival.
Besides, local international film fests chose Korean films. BIFF’s opening gala this year showed ZHANG Lu’s A Quiet Dream, which was a BIFF’s Korean opening film in five years. Also, a documentary of the modern history of Korea, One Warm Spring Day was selected as the opener of the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival. It has been a good year for Korean films. Best wishes for the coming New Year, too!
