Italian Audiences to Get Big Taste of Korean Cinema
The Udine Far East Film Festival (FEFF), now entering its 15th year, is one of the largest celebrations of Asian cinema on the planet. This week, FEFF unveiled its lineup of films and guests for its 2013 edition, which gets underway next Friday (April 19th) and will run until April 27th. This year, 12 films from South Korea and one from North Korea made it onto the lineup, which features a total of 57 films. What’s more, there will be ten Korean directors, stars and producers in attendance.
As a festival that focuses on popular cinema, it is only fitting that the opening film of the 15th FEFF will be
RYOO Seung-wan’s spy thriller
The Berlin File, which recently topped seven million admissions to become the most successful Korean action film of all time. For the European premiere of his film, director RYOO will be in attendance, along with producer
KANG Hae-jung and star
RYOO Seung-bum, the director’s brother. This marks the second year on the trot that a Korean film has opened the festival, following
KANG Hyoung-chul’s
Sunny last spring.
Among other works to be screened will be
SHIN Jung-won’s ghost-comedy-horror
Ghost Sweepers, one of South Korea’s zanier commercial offerings from last year. The North Korean comedy
Comrade Kim Goes Flying, co-produced with Belgium and the UK, is also among the invited films.
Rounding out the list is
KIM Dong-ho’s debut short film
Jury, about a festival jury’s contentious (and humorous) deliberation. KIM, the honorary director of the
Busan International Film Festival, is also the guest of honor at FEFF this year. In addition, producer HONG Hyo-sook will join the festivities. Italian viewers will no doubt be spoilt for choice when the 15th FEFF kicks off next Friday in Udine, a beautiful town in Northern Italy.