London Korean Film Festival 2022
The London Korean Film Festival (LKFF) returns to cinema screens for its 17th edition, running from 3 – 17 November 2022. With the biggest programme dedicated to Korean cinema outside of the country itself, we present a rich and diverse line-up showcasing the year’s biggest box-office hits, independent cinema, women’s voices, animation, documentary, award winning shorts, plus a Special Focus in memory of Kang Soo-yeon, celebrating her career and life off screen.
LKFF 2022 Opening Night: Alienoid + Q&A
Thu 03 Nov, 6:30pm
ICA
A robot guard keeps alien prisoners trapped on earth within human brain cells, but when they threaten to escape, he opens a portal to the past to stop them. Meanwhile, 600 years earlier, a clumsy chi master, the ’Girl Who Shoots Thunder’ and a pair of sorcerers try to get their hands on the ‘Divine Blade’. Following the memorable box office titans The Thieves and Assassination, hitmaker Choi D...
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LKFF 2022 Closing Night: Hansan: Rising Dragon + Q&A
Thu 17 Nov, 7:00pm
Regent St Cinema
Following up The Admiral: Roaring Currents, the naval warfare blockbuster that remains the most successful Korean film of all time with over 17 million admissions, was never going to be an easy task. Yet director Kim Han-min returns to the legendary exploits of Joseon Era admiral Yi Sun-sin’s with a prequel story that is just as sweeping but even more focussed than the hit that spawned it. Set ...
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Special Focus: Kang Soo-yeon
Beloved within Korea as a young actor, Kang Soo-yeon became well known on the international stage with her breakout role in Im Kwon-taek’s The Surrogate Woman in 1987. Kang won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 44th Venice International Film Festival for her role, making her the first Korean actor to receive an award at a major international film festival. Considered a national treasure, Ka...
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Special Screenings
Join the London Korean Film Festival for a selection of exclusive events and premieres alongside the core programme strands, including a special collaboration with the V&A, part of this year’s Hallyu! The Korean Wave exhibition dedicated to Korean culture and entertainment, a ‘double-bill’ of Kim Han-min’s naval epic, and a preview screening of Cannes award winner Broker.
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Cinema Now
The purpose of the Cinema Now strand is to offer a synchronic cross section of contemporary, popular Korean cinema and take the temperature of the moment.
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After Dark: K-Horror
Over the last few decades, the haunted high-school hallways of the Whispering Corridors series (1998-2009, 2021-), the ghostly psychodrama of Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), the Carpenter-esque war-is-hell manœuvres of Kong Su-chang’s R-Point (2004), the Zola-adapting vampirism of Park Chan-wook’s Thirst (2009), the barrelling locomotive undead of Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busa...
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Women’s Voices
“Women’s Voices” is the annual celebration of complex, dynamic women-driven stories and supports women working in the Korean film industry.
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Indie Talent
The four films included in this year’s Indie Talent section were chosen to provide a glimpse into the kind of stories Korean independent filmmakers are telling in the present day. There is an intimacy to Korean independent films that distinguishes them from their bigger-budget brethren, inviting us into the filmmaker’s mind, where we can share his or her concerns. At the same time, taken togeth...
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Documentary
This year’s Documentary strand presents 3 works in which participatory activism, mainstream style, and experimentation within the contemporary art world intersect.
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Artist Video
This year’s Artist Video Strand presents the first UK solo exhibition by Korean artist Yun Choi, in partnership with LUX. Yun Choi collects images, words and behaviours marked by Korean banality and remixes them for her videos and multimedia installations. Through the fantastical embodiment of vernacular culture, her practice activates a society into multi-body beings, manifesting the con...
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LKFF 2022: Shorts x Jeonju International Film Festival – Part 1
Fri 11 Nov, 6:00pm
Garden Cinema
Since its first iteration in 2000, the JEONJU International Film Festival, which has positioned itself as one of Korea’s major film festivals, has endeavoured to present the ‘cutting edge’ of cinema. The modus operandi of JEONJU IFF is to present works at the forefront of alternative, independent and artistic contemporary film. The Korean Competition for Shorts is one of JEONJU IFF’s key sectio...
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