The 17th Korean Film Festival will welcome audiences with twenty-three new South Korean films and meet-the-director events from 11 to 18 October at Corvin Cinema in Budapest. The festival’s opening film will be the mystical horror Exhuma, which had an unconventional debut at this year’s Berlinale.
Exhuma has been the biggest box office success of the year: it attracted ten million viewers within a month and grossed nearly one hundred million dollars worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing South Korean films of all time, the Korean Cultural Centre in Budapest informed in a statement.
In the festival’s Fresh section, organizers have selected the best films from the current South Korean cinema scene. Among them, audiences can enjoy Cobweb, a black comedy presented at Cannes last year, which alternates between colour and black-and-white scenes, and the fourth instalment of the Roundup series, featuring Korea’s answer to Bud Spencer returning to the big screen.
In the Faces section, dedicated to showcasing prominent figures of Korean cinema, viewers can enjoy a selection of films designed by renowned production designer Cho Hwa-sung. Audiences will also have the opportunity to meet Cho in person on 13 October following the screening of The Man Standing Next. Additionally, Cho will hold masterclasses for university students.
Cho Hwa-sung, who has won dozens of nominations and awards for his film designs, is known for acclaimed works such as the neo-noir thriller Lady Vengeance, the political thriller The Man Standing Next, and the disaster film Concrete Utopia, which was presented at last year’s festival in Budapest, according to the statement.
The Focus section, which each year concentrates on a special theme, will this year feature films addressing increasingly urgent environmental issues. In this selection, viewers will learn about the fate of the world’s largest sea dyke, the 33-kilometre-long Saemangeum Seawall along South Korea’s western coast, a crucial stopover for protected migratory birds, now threatened by airport developments.
The Extra section will screen experimental films that have been recognized at prestigious festivals such as the Busan International Film Festival. The closing film titled Hijack 1971 will be a 2024 drama based on the attempted hijacking of a Korean Air F27 passenger plane in 1971.
The films will be shown in their original language, with Hungarian and English subtitles.
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