KOREAN FILM FEST HIGHLIGHTS FAMILY TIME Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The Manila Times Drawing in from the interest of the Filipinos in Korean popular culture, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea will be highlighting the importance of family time in the upcoming Korean Film Festival from September 18 to October 7.
The Manila leg is scheduled from September 18 to 23 at SM Megamall, and will head to SM City Baguio from September 26 to 30. SM City Cebu, on the other hand, will be hosting the Visayan leg from October 3 to 7.
The Korean Film Festival, now on its fourth year, will be spearheaded by the Korean Cultural Center and will be featuring seven family-themed top-grossing films.
The films to be screened are Jeon Woo Chi, Spellbound, Bunt, A Barefoot Dream, Late Blossom, Arahan and Highway Star.
In Ho Hwang, the director of Spellbound will be flying in the Philippines to talk about the contemporary Korean film on the Hallyu Forum on September 14. His film is an unusual mix of horror and romance, and focuses on the love story between road magician Jo-goo and the muse for his overnight success, Yu-ri. Yu-ri is haunted by ghosts and Jo-goo, who falls in love with her, has to rise above his fears to save the two of them.
On the other hand, the film Jeon Woo Chi tells the story of the eponymous playful apprentice who gets imprisoned in a scroll, having been wrongfully accused for murder. He gets freed 500 years later as a last resort to bring back the order into the world.
Bunt deals with the mentally-challenged Dong-ku who suddenly finds himself “without use” upon the arrival of water purifiers. In an attempt to use his only capability Dong-ku finds himself joining the baseball team.
The sports drama A Barefoot Dream is a story of a former soccer prospect who heads to his dreams, the International Youth Soccer Championship, albeit with numerous almost-failures of detours.
Also in the list is the drama Late Blossom, a heartwarming film on the lives of the two couples living not far apart from each other. It follows the two couples’ respective struggles on life and love.
Arahan follows the story of the honest yet clumsy rookie policeman Sang-hwan and the martial arts specialist Eui Jin. Together they fight the evil Heuk-woon whose greed wreaks havoc to mankind.
Capping off the list is the musical comedy Highway Star, which tells the story of Dal-Ho and his dream. Dal-Ho wants to become a famous rock singer, but was forced to play trot to make ends meet. He later gets the chance to release an album but belatedly realized that he has to sing trot instead of rock n’ roll. His shame drives him to hide his face but his voice and his mysteriousness catapult him to unprecedented success.
Admission is free and is on a first-come, first-served basis. For the full festival schedule, please visit the KCC homepage at koreanculture.ph, or email the Center at info@koreanculture.ph.
