KAFA Project MATE Welcomes the New Year

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NEWS & REPORTS

KAFA Project MATE Welcomes the New Year

Jan 07, 2019

Writer by Pierce Conran
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JUNG Dae-gun’s Jeonju Competitor Goes on Release January 17

Mate, one of last year’s graduate film projects from the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA), will be released theatrically on January 17. The second directorial outing of JUNG Dae-gun initially premiered in competition at the Jeonju International Film Festival in spring last year.

The film follows the story of Jun-ho, a freelance photographer and Eun-ji, who works at magazine publishing house. The pair met through online dating but as they fear commitment they enter into a casual arrangement. Things grow more complicated when Jun-ho starts to work part-time in Eun-ji’s office, especially when Jun-ho realizes that Eun-ji used to date the magazine’s head editor.

SIM Hee-sub, who has appeared in commercial hits such as The Attorney (2013) and Assassination (2015) as well as acclaimed indie titles Sunshine Boys (2013) and Blossom (2016), stars as Jun-ho while model-turned-actress JUNG Hye-sung takes her first film role in Mate as Eun-ji, following several notable TV credits. Meanwhile Director JUNG debuted with the documentary Too Old HipHop Kid in 2012. Mate is his narrative feature debut.

Following its competition bow in Jeonju, Mate was invited to the Warsaw International Film Festival, where it received a special mention from the jury, and also screened at the Paris Korean Film Festival.

Beyond Mate, other KAFA graduation projects that were presented last year included KIM In-seon’s Adulthood, also shown in Jeonju, HAN Ka-ram’s Our Body, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival, KWON Man-ki’s Clean Up, presented in the New Currents competition at the Busan International Film Festival, as well as AHN Ju-young’s A Boy and Sungreen and CHANG Hyung-yun’s animation Ireesha, The Daughter of Elf-king, both of which also bowed in Busan.

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