The Thieves is one of Korea’s largest co-productions with a fantastic Korean and Hong Kong cast including Kim Yoon-suk (The Yellow Sea), Kim Hye-soo (Coin Locker Girl), Lee Jung-jae (Hunt), Simon Yam (Election 1 & 2) and Derek Tsang (The Eye 2). Director Choi has a number of critically acclaimed films to his name including Tazza: The High Rollers (2006), Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard (2009), Assassination (2015) and Alienoid (2022), his new time-traveling sci-fi adventure, opening film for 2022 London Korean Film Festival. This mix of amazing talent and a gripping, high impact story has made The Thieves one of the biggest grossing films in Korea’s box office history.

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Following the memorable box office titans The Thieves and Assassination, hitmaker Choi Dong-hoon returns with his biggest project to date, the giddy first installment of an ambitious two-part period drama/sci-fi action offering. The veteran director ably commands an A-list cast that includes The Handmaiden’s (2016) Kim Tae-ri, Believer (2018)’s Ryu Jun-yeol and big screen return of Kim Woo-bin.

Borrowing a page or two from classic yesteryear Hollywood sci-fi action classics like Alien, Back to the Future and Terminator, Alienoid’s breathless genre medley bounces around past and present with a colourful coterie of oddball characters and trenchant humour, with Choi’s jaunty and unmistakable directorial stamp clearly shining through.

The prongs and protagonists of this sprawling and dynamic fable coalesce into an explosive climax that will leave you hankering for more. Lucky for you, part two will be heading to a theatre near you next year.

Pierce Conran

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ANNOUNCES 2022 DATES

OPENING FILM – ALIENOID

SPECIAL FOCUS DEDICATED TO KOREAN FILM LEGEND KANG SOO-YEON

UNVEILS NEW FESTIVAL ART

Full LKFF2022 programme details will be announced on 4 October including screenings, introductions, Q&As and more.

For any press requests please contact festival publicist Sanam Hasan: shasanpr@gmail.com 

The world’s longest running film festival dedicated to Korean cinema, the London Korean Film Festival (LKFF) returns with its 17th edition. LKFF will run from 3 November – 17 November 2022 in cinema venues across London. Tickets go on sale 4 October.

With the biggest programme dedicated to Korean cinema outside of the country itself, the festival is proud to return with an exciting programme of 35+ films across strands including Cinema Now, Special Focus, After Dark: K-Horror, Indie Talents, Women’s Voices, Documentary, Shorts and Artist Video.

Korean Sci-fi film, Choi Dong-hoon’s Alienoid opens the festival on 3rd November at the Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA) with the director in attendance. A box office hit in Korea starring leading talent including Ryu Jun-yeol, Kim Woo-bin and Kim Tae-ri, the LKFF Opening is the film’s UK premiere.

The programme includes a Special Focus strand dedicated to internationally celebrated, acclaimed actress Kang Soo-yeon. Beloved within Korea as a young actor, Kang 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, Kang passed away on 7th May 2022 of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 55.

Founder and former chairman of the Busan International Film Festival, Kim Dong-ho and Director of the Korean Film Archive, Kim Hong-joon will be participating in the Forum event dedicated to Kang and the Korea’s cinema landscape of her era. Kang was the co-director of BIFF from 2015-2017.

LKFF is proud to reveal this year’s LKFF artwork designed by Korean duo Hong Eunjoo and Kim Hyungjae.

Eunji Lee, Film Curator London Korean Film Festival:

“We are proud to be back exclusively in cinemas for this landmark 17th edition. The LKFF is celebrating this milestone with a unique programme of UK and European premieres of culturally important titles from Sci-fi spectacle as well as more low-key cinematic beauty. For the first time in two years, our festival will see a larger number of guests in attendance. This year we are pleased to welcome many prominent filmmakers and scholars from Korea, joining us for live introductions and Q&As. You can feel the joy of discovery with all the Korean films across the nine strands and accompanying special events.”

Screenings at last year’s festival were very well received by audiences, closely selling out at 8 cinema venues. This year’s festival returns to 10 cinemas within London and two regional venues: Cine Lumiere, Garden Cinema, Lux, Rio Cinema, V&A Museum, ICA, Genesis Cinema, Picturehouse Central, Regent Street Cinema and HOME Manchester and Glasgow Film Theatre.

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