Starting tomorrow and continuing for two weeks at the Seoul Cinematheque is a 10 film program of mostly recent international works, along with two films from the late American director Sidney Lumet. Even better is that all of the films are either in English or with English subtitles. The lineup includes:

THE FUGITIVE KIND (Sidney Lumet, 1960)

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOUR DEAD (Sidney Lumet, 2007)

TERROR’S ADVOCATE (Barbet Schroeder, 2007)

HUNGER (Steve McQueen, 2008)

IL DIVO (Paolo Sorrentino, 2008)

EDEN IS WEST (Costa-Gavras, 2009)

HADEWIJCH (Bruno Dumont, 2009)

NE CHANGE RIEN (Pedro Costa, 2009)

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (Spike Jonze, 2010)

THE STRANGE CASE OF ANGELICA (Manuel de Oliveira, 2010)

I would highly recommend TERROR’S ADVOCATE, a great documentary chronicling one of the more fascinating characters in modern world history, Jacques Verges, who has defended a number of notorious terrorists. A very nice companion piece to last year’s CARLOS.

The schedule is available on the cinematheque’s website.

The Jeonju film festival just wrapped up on Friday. I was able to see another eight films earlier in the week, five features and three shorts, along with a masterclass lecture. The quality was not as high as over the weekend, but there were still a number of very fine movies. My favorite of the second half of the festival was a film I had already seen, Hong Sang-soo’s OKI’S MOVIE, which was just as enjoyable upon re-viewing. You can find my original review here. My other favorites were the restoration of Im Kwon-taek’s 1981 film MANDALA, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s A SCREAMING MAN, and Noel Burch and Allan Sekula’s THE FORGOTTEN SPACE. Below is a short review of each of the films, in ascending order, as well as some thoughts on the festival as a whole. (more…)

Over the weekend at Jeonju, I was able to see eight films along with a master class lecture by Claire Denis.  Overall the quality was very high, with three truly great films (A SEPARATION, THE TURIN HORSE, 35 SHOTS OF RUM), one very good (MEEK’S CUTOFF), one good (HANJI), two average (SECRETS, OBJECTS and DREAM OF ELEUTERIA), and only one failure (CYRANO AGENCY). I should be attending another seven or so films with another lecture before I leave, but I thought I would write a review of the films I’ve seen so far. Here they are, in ascending order of preference. (more…)

Here are some recommendations for the  rest of the Jeonju International Film Festival:

MONDAY 11:00 2011 JEONJU DIGITAL PROJECT; 2:00 THE FORGOTTEN SPACE plus Noel Burch masterclass, PERFUMED NIGHTMARE; 8:00 M

TUESDAY 11:00 GAGMAN; 2:00 OKI’S MOVIE, INSIDE JOB, LATE AUTUMN plus Kim Woo-hyung masterclass; 5:00 MANDALA, MEEK’S CUTOFF; 8:00 A SCREAMING MAN, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NICOLAE CEAUSESCU, JEAN GENTIL

WEDNESDAY 11:00 HANJI, PERTETUUM MOBILE; 2:00 CHARACTERS; 5:00 EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP; 8:00 THE TURIN HORSE, LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF; 12:00 CARLOS

THURSDAY 11:00 NOWHERE TO HIDE

FRIDAY 11:00 FILM SOCIALISME, 2011 JEONJU DIGITAL PROJECT

Some recommendations for Saturday and Sunday at the Jeonju International Film Festival:

Saturday: 11:00 THE DREAM OF ELEUTERIA; 2:00 MEEK’S CUTOFF; 5:00 JEONJU DIGITAL PROJECT; LOVERS, OBJECTS; PERFUMED NIGHTMARE; THE STRANGE CASE OF ANGELICA; GAGMAN; 8:00 NADER AND SIMMER: A SEPARATION, OKI’S MOVIE

Sunday: 11:00 WORLD CINEMA SHORTS 2, FIRST LOVE; 2:00 CLAIRE DENIS MASTERCLASS, A SCREAMING MAN; 5:00 FILM SOCIALISME; 8:00 THE TURIN HORSE, THE DUELIST

Today I was able to catch two Korean films: Im Kwon-taek’s HANJI, which I would recommend (but only for the adventurous and patient), and CYRANO AGENCY, which I would not (unless you can’t get enough Korean romantic comedy). HANJI is playing again on Wednesday at 11:30.

Some recommendations for the first full day at the Jeonju International Film Festival:

2:00 Im Kwon-taek’s HANJI, Banksy’s documentary EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, Lee Myeong-se’s M

5:00 Lee Myeong-se’s THEIR LAST LOVE AFFAIR

8:00 Thom Amderson’s LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF, Charles Ferguson’s INSIDE JOB, Kim Hyun-seok’s CYRANO AGENCY

Plus there is a midnight obsession program running from midnight til the morning for late arrivals.

Starting at the end of this week is my favorite of Korea’s many film festivals, the Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF). I have attended the festival for the past three years, and it is always a great atmosphere for anyone who truly loves film. The programming is top notch, stretching its more limited resources very far. The festival caters to people who are more interested in the art of cinema and, surprisingly perhaps, by concentrating on this niche it has been able to carve out a space in the Korean film culture, becoming the second biggest festival besides Busan. The festival is also helped by the usually great weather, the local food, and the smaller and more concentrated venues and atmosphere. This year’s line-up is very strong, as usual, and even includes a few bigger recent films that usually only end up at Busan. Below is my own Top Ten Most Anticipated, but I wanted to also mention a number of films that are playing that I have already seen but would otherwise be on my list. Once at the festival I will provide daily previews and recaps, starting next Friday, April 29th through to May 4th. A note that many of the weekend screenings are sold out, but there are rush tickets available in the morning of each day (but get there early). Also, the screenings at Chonbuk National University have greater seating capacity, so if you are not having any luck these screenings are a good option to try.

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