Given the delicate health situation, this year the Florence Korea Film Fest will be both in theater in Florence and online. The Festival, dedicated to the best of contemporary South Korean cinema, will showcase 53 full-length and short films for only € 9.90. It will be held live until 30 September at the “La Compagnia” cinema in Florence (via Cavour, 50 / r) and online on the “Più Compagnia” platform, powered by partner streaming site “MyMovies”.
The Italian premiere of Chung Ji-young's “Black Money” – an exciting political thriller set in the corrupt world of high finance and politics in South Korea – will open the 18th edition of the Florence Korea Film Fest, Wednesday 23 September, at 20.30 at the cinema La Compagnia.
The protagonist of the film is Korean film star Cho Jin-woong – who will be honored at the festival with a retrospective of his films – who plays prosecutor Yang Min-hyuk, who has earned the nickname “bulldozer” for his brusque manners. The protagonist ends up in chaos after being accused of sexual harassment by a woman, involved in a case he is following, who is found dead. Determined to clarify and save his “Bulldozer” reputation, he begins investigations that soon bring to light the corruption and offenses that are hidden within the world of high finance.
CHO JIN-WOONG RETROSPECTIVE
The eighteenth Florence Korea Film Fest dedicates its retrospective to one of the most histrionic actors of Korean cinema. We will get to know the thousand faces of Cho Jin-Woong through 5 important titles: from the thriller “A Hard Day” by Kim Seong-hun (2014) to the true story of the resistance fighter in “Man of Will” by Lee Won-tae (2017) ) passing through the detective action “Believer” by Lee Hae-Young (2018), remake of the film by Johnnie To, to the choral “Intimate Strangers”, South Korean remake of Italian blockbuster “Perfetti Sconosciuti” by Paolo Genovese (2018), up to the most recent comedy “Man of Man”, also a remake of the successful French film “Intouchables” by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano.
DOCUMENTARY SECTION
The special section of the festival this year is dedicated to Korean history; four films that take us on a round trip through the history of the country. The main focus is on the life of the Korean people in colonial times and their struggle for freedom. The Florence Korea Film Fest this year inaugurates an unprecedented section dedicated to documentaries keeping an eye to the environment and the other to the neighbors of North Korea.
THEMATIC SECTIONS
Also on the program are the usual thematic sections: Korean Horizons, dedicated to contemporary cinema and the big names in Korean cinema which this year marks the great comeback of K-Horror in competition; Independent Korea, which – as every year – hosts the works of young and talented directors, outside the large-scale distribution. The sections also include “Corto, Corti”, the space dedicated to short films presented in the major short film festivals in Korea exclusively online.
