MISMFF 2022, 05: Silence! Here comes the Founder-Director, Dr. Khatuna Khundadze: Exclusive interview, by Siraj Syed       Q.: How was the first festival conceived and why? A: If you are in Georgia, in Mestia, and standing on the Terrace Theatre, the first word that come to you will be “mountain”. In Georgia, and in the Caucasus, there was no mountain film festival. I, and my partner, Gegi Paliani, there should be a mountain film festival, and so ...

(Sol Kyung-gu, Chun Woo-hee, Lee Su-jin, © Lindsay Bellinger 2019)   By LINDSAY R. BELLINGER   Lee Su-jin's second directorial feature Woo Sang (Idol) made its world premiere in the Panorama section at this year's Berlinale. For those fans of more offbeat Korean cinema, not just romantic comedies or straight dramas then this film might be right up your alley. Politics, familial bonds, illegal immigrants, newlyweds, brothels and a hit-and-run are all part of...

Colossal, Review by Siraj Syed: Loss all Colossal loses big on two counts: It appears to have several allegorical, illusionary hidden agendas, and it goes about framing them in minimalistic, over-simplified montage. There is always a grave risk in making a socio-political commentary using metaphors like video games and giant monsters/robots, and the risk involves alienating (pun intended) both classes of audiences—the superhero aficionados, and the intelligentsia film-goers. Colossal no...

Siraj Syed’s IFFI 2016 diary, XIII: IM Kwon-taek’s 102 films and SPB’s 40,000 songs South Korean film-maker IM Kwon-taek was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Indian singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam was felicitated with the Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year at the International Film festival of India, 2016. The 80 year-old, famed director talked briefly, even owning up to some of his work that wasn’t well-received. Regarded as the fath...

The Office Five South Korean thrillers of various sub-genres were part of the Country Focus at IFFI  2016. They included two films that were shown at Cannes. Culled from latest releases, the selection has been titled Memoirs of Fear. Now a household name across the world thanks to Gangnam Style, a K(orea)-Pop song that shook the world in 2012, Gangnam-gu, in Seoul, is actually a large district where wealthy residential areas sit alongside high-end art facilities and Korea’s busies...

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   Now in its fifth year, the London Korean Film Festival is proud to bring an exciting range of Korean films to one of London‟s most prestigious venues, The ICA. The festival looks to promote the most essential contemporary cinema that Korea has to offer, covering a wide spectrum of subjects and genres including war, action, period drama and children‟s entertainment. The LKFF will feature 21 screenings at 3 different venues in London including a talk chaired by the Sight & Sound, Eas...

TCFF is pleased to announce that we are officially in triple digit territory for the first time since we began our submission process in December 2009.  We have received dozens of quality films from all over the world.  The majority of films are from the US and we have had a brilliant response from the UK and Canada.  We have also received films from Israel, Switzerland, Argentina, South Korea, Ecuador, Belgium, Serbia, Australia, Germany and Italy.  our screeners are eager to view more and ...