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The 7th London Korean Film Festival opened on Nov. 1 with its opening film The Thieves at London's Leicester Square in Odeon and will run through to the 16th. After the film ended, the audience gave it a big round of applause. The popularity of the opening film The Thieves and closing film Masquerade were enormous as evidenced by their sold out screenings. Along with these films, I AM, film about a live recording of SM Entertainment’s musicians also sold out its shows.

 

At the opening event, the director of The Thieves CHOI Dong-hoon and the actor KIM Yun-seok made a special appearance with a Q&A session for the audience. During the festival, a retrospective of CHOI Dong-hoon's films is planned and a ‘Global Korean-wave Forum’ on the globalization of Korean films will also be held. KIM Yun-seok, who attended a hand-printing ceremony after the opening film, said that he was amazed to see the enormous interest that London has toward Korean films and is expecting the fast growth of Korean films in the global market.

 

Prior to the screening of the opening film, a video message from the directors and actors of other selected films was shown and when LEE Byung-hun from Masquerade appeared the theater filled with shouts of joy. He is planning to attend the closing of the festival as well as a red carpet event.

 

During this festival, a number of popular films such as All About My Wife, Dancing Queen, Deranged, Pace Maker, Eungyo,  YEUN Sang-ho’s The King of Pigs, JANG Kun-jae’s Sleepless Night, White Night, a queer film by LEESONG Hee-il, and a variety of 40 different genre films are to be screened. This year’s festival tour to 4 cities in England including Bristol, Bournemouth, Glasgow. These additional shows are expected to increase the interest of British spectators for Korean films.

 

Nick Powell, the dean from the National Film and Television School has said that 'original stories are the biggest strength of Korean films' and added that this is the main reason why the number of fans in Europe is continuously on the rise.

 
Meanwhile, the retrospective of director IM Kwon-taek sponsored by BFI was held from Oct. 22 - Nov. 3. At this event 8 films of his, including Pursuit of Death, Gilsodom, and Come Come Come Upward were screened and IM Kwon-taek made an appearance on Oct 25. The ICA also held an event showing 7 of his films including Misty Village, Festival and Son of the General from Oct. 19 to Nov.2.