Thursday 13 August 2009

Chungmuro Film Festival

The 3rd Chungmuro Film Festival will take place August 24th to September 1st in the Chungmuro district of Seoul. Chungmuro has been a festival that caters to older cinema, and that continues this year with a number of retrospectives. The Cine Classic section includes a great lineup of Classic Hollywood (All About Eve, How Green Was My Valley, Gigi, and others), British Cinema (The Third Man, Olivier's Hamlet, Hobson's Choice, and others), the French New Wave (Chabrol's Les Cousins and Godard's Alphaville), pre-New Wave (Bresson's first film as well as one the New Wave's bete noire's, The Wages of Fear), as well as New Hollywood (The Godfather trilogy). There is also a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, showcasing a number of her films. Korean cinema is also represented by a large retrospective of films from fifties and sixties.

The difference with the festival this year is the inclusion of newer releases, with dozens of recent films from around the world. Chungmuro seems to be modelling itself on the Jeonju festival, with its mixture of retrospectives and new releases, although it is still on a smaller scale. However, I do have to question the timing of the festival during the last week of August, before many people return from vacation/ arrive to Korea to teach. But, then again, it may be a better time for the local Korean audience, taking place before classes begin again in September. I'm returning from holiday on the 28th and hope to be able to see a few films before the festival concludes.

Monday 3 August 2009

Cine-Vacances at the Cinematheque (August 4-30)

The August program at the Cinematheque has been announced and is available here. Among the highlights include a huge retrospective on the films of Don Siegel, along with a day of Jacques Demy films on Tuesday, August 4th (although no subtitle information is given). There is also two screenings of Sergei Bondarchuk's 1968 War and Peace in four parts.