The Florence Korea Film Fest is 20 years old this year! The most important Italian festival dedicated to the best of contemporary South Korean cinema will bring again in 2022 films, documentaries, trends and movie stars to Florence from 7 to 15 April at La Compagnia cinema and online on the Più Compagnia and MyMovies platforms.
Here are some anticipations:
To inaugurate the festival, the Italian premiere of “Heaven: to the Land of happiness” by Im Sang-soo, cult director of Korean cinema: a road movie starring Choi Min-sik (among the most famous actors in Korea from the South, historic his interpretation in “Old Boy”) in the role of a terminally ill inmate who runs away with Park Hae-il (“The Host”) also seriously ill who cannot afford the necessary treatment. The two men meet by chance and decide to leave together for an adventure that will become their journey in search of happiness. Also in the cast Yuh-Jung Youn, Soonja's the unconventional grandmother from “Minari”.
The long-awaited Italian premiere of Ryoo Seung-wan's “Escape from Mogadishu”, based on a true story, set during the civil war in Mogadishu when the rival diplomats of North and South Korea are trapped, will close the festival on April 15th . Without the help of their respective governments they will have to join forces to escape the Somali civil war of the 1990s and survive. The box office blockbuster in South Korea was chosen to represent South Korea at the 2022 Oscars in the Best International Film category.
Among this year's novelties is the Webtoon & Cinema section, which focuses on digital comics, designed to be read on smartphones (one in three Koreans regularly reads webtoons). Webtoons began as short comic strips in the late 1990s, until the boom of 2003, when platforms like Daum and Naver began offering webtoons-themed portals, gaining strong public acclaim in the late 2000s. and early 2010..
The regular sections are also confirmed: “Korean Horizons” (the best homeland films of 2021); Independent Korea, a showcase of independent cinema that will host the works of young emerging directors and authors. Also confirmed the sections “Short, Short!” and the “Virtual Reality Experience” in collaboration with Barunson Entertainment.
Stay tuned and follow the updates on the Official Website HERE
