Jo Jung-rae’s Taebaek Mountains to be translated
Jo Jung-rae Fans of Im Kwon-taek’s Taebaek Mountains will be pleased to hear that soon you’ll be able to read an English translation of Jo Jung-rae’s epic novel on which it was based, 태백산맥. More...
View ArticleIm Kwon-taek visits London for the Olympics
As part of the VIP delegation visiting from Seoul to launch Korea’s bid for Olympic glory in London 2012, a surprise dignitary was legendary film director Im Kwon-taek. Im Kwon-taek obligingly poses...
View ArticleThe big London Im Kwon-taek retrospective – confirmed screening dates and times
There’s truly an over-indulgence in K-film over the next few weeks. In between the BFI London Film Festival which features no fewer than six Korean films, and the regular London Korean Film Festival...
View ArticleIm Kwon-Taek’s Village in the Mist — affairs on an Anonymous Island
Jeong Yoon-hee as the new schoolteacher Han Su-ok. Tempting? Tempted? Han Su-ok, a young schoolteacher, arrives in an isolated mountain village to take up her first job in an elementary school. As she...
View ArticleIm Kwon-taek and the wounds of the Korean War
The Im Kwon Taek retrospective has given us all a chance to catch up on some of the films of the master that we haven’t seen before, rounding out our picture of Korea’s national director. Im is...
View ArticleGilsotteum to screen at the KCC
Of the 15 or so Im Kwon-taek films I’ve managed to see so far, Gilsotteum is my favourite. It caught me by surprise at the retrospective last year, and I’ll certainly be trying to get to the screening...
View ArticleIm Kwon-taek: In search of perfection
As the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon approach, LKL is finally spurred to write up some archive notes of interviews and Q&A’s with the director of their Opening Ceremony… Im Kwon-taek “Why are you...
View ArticleIm Kwon Taek’s Hwajang selected to close 2014 LKFF
It’s tremendously good news that the closing gala screening of the London Korean Film festival 2014 is Im Kwon Taek’s 102nd film, Hwajang (western title: Revivre). It synchronises nicely with the...
View ArticleBringing Kim Hoon’s Hwajang to the big screen: How to act a swollen prostate?
Ahn Sung-ki as Oh Sang-moo in Im Kwon-taek’s adaptation of Hwajang Im Kwon-taek set himself quite a challenge when he decided to make a movie of Kim Hoon’s Hwajang. It is a dense, concentrated and rich...
View ArticleFestival Film Review: Hwajang / Revivre
Ahn Sung-ki talks about making Hwajang following its screening as the closing gala of the London Korean Film Festival on 15 November 2014 Well, I was right. Ahn Sung-ki confessed in the Q+A which...
View ArticleThe London Korean Links Awards 2014
Our regular unscientific seasonal post which recognises some of the people, books, films and events which made 2014 an outstanding year. Personality of the Year This year there seem to have been more...
View ArticleThe 2015 KCC film schedule launches with Im Kwon-taek’s Wangsimni
The theme for this year’s film screenings at the KCC is “early works by 10 celebrated Korean directors”; and with ten months between now and the 10th KCC London Korean Film Festival, we are told that...
View ArticleIm Kwon Taek’s Festival is the next screening at the KCC
The KCC has announced the next of its free screenings: Festival (축제) Director: Im Kwon Taek (1996) Screening Date: 29 January 2015, 7pm at the KCCUK Running Time: 108 Book via KCCUK website This film...
View ArticleIm Kwon Taek’s Festival to screen at RCA Battersea
The latest of the KCC’s screenings on university campuses is at the Royal College of Art’s Battersea site on 11 May: Im Kwon-taek: Festival (축제, 1996) + Introduction by Tony Rayns 11 May / 6:30pm /...
View ArticleLKL at 10 years: the best of the past decade
Well, if you can’t reminisce on your website’s 10th birthday, when can you? Here’s a collection of some of my favourite London memories of the past 10 years (and one or two from slightly further...
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