Discoveries from South Korea World Cinema

A woman and a man she claims to be her brother convince a naive employee of a prosperous company to help them steal the company funds, promising to divide the money three ways.

A Berlinale award nominated short drama.

The fourth movie in the popular Korean movie series Robot Taekwon V.

EXO will battle it out through a series of games to decide who takes the crown and claims the throne.

I remember the games I played when I was young. We were happy playing together, but, looking back, I realize I used the games to satisfy my own desires. It was a child’s selfcentered behavior. But adult lovers, too, display immature sides in their relationships. Consumed by self-love, they act like children. I have tried to illustrate this kind of love through the metaphor of children’s games.

Su-hyun and Hyun-tae are college sweethearts whose long-term romance oscillates between devotion and exasperation as the years accumulate. Rather than dwelling in the early intoxication of love, their romance leans into the more complicated terrain that follows.

A web drama about the all-too-relatable woes and wonders of love - unrequited, forbidden, and otherwise.

19-year-old Hyun-iee and Jin-sun got to take refuge from North Korea. Jin-sun is always troubled with her classmates and an owner of her part-time work place cheated her. She’s all alone at home. Her silence is made out of lack of communication with the world, which makes people think she’s deaf. Hyun-iee misses his hometown so much and buys a lot of gifts for his parents and stuff them in his knapsack just like his routine.

Two twin women, a man, a dog, and a letter. Leading their own lives, but sometimes accompanying each other or running away from each other. Some lose their legs, some die. They guessed about each other in the process in which time, space, seasons, lies and facts were mixed up. But, all of their guesses are wrong. Not knowing their whereabouts and themselves with full of unknown ambiguity. But, they move on and on.

At the hospice, the average remaining time for patients is 21 days. These patients prepare for their deaths. Park Soo-Myeong is 40 something year old man who is also a husband and father. Kim Jung-Ja is a mother of two sons. Park Jin-Woo was a math teacher. Shin Chang-Yeol lived a lonely life.

Retired botanist Dongho lives alone, tending to his greenhouse. He cares for wild bees, makes seed bombs, and struggles to preserve the alpine plants he brought down from Mt. Baekdu a decade ago. One day, he encounters twelve-year-old Bom, who visits his yard in search of mulberry leaves for the silkworms Bom is raising. As a bond is cultivated between them, Bom suddenly disappears, leaving only a note and a silkworm kit behind. After waiting a few days, Dong-ho sets out with a sense of foreboding to find Bom.

Finishing her senior year, Hyerang is about to graduate and pursue a career as an art director. When her mom decides to move away, she is forced to survive on her own.

Jong-eun, who lives in a share house, is left alone with Ho-jae, a plumber she briefly saw that morning. Jong-eun is increasingly bothered by Ho-jae.

The film is a record of interviews of Godard’s films by two young aspiring directors, a Korean and a French, visiting Godard’s studio in 2002. It consists of questions and answers about the way of cinematically thinking, working method, and filmmaking of Godard, who has constantly created a new language for cinema.

Sang-ho and Sun-ja are kidnapped by someone and live in brutal abuse while performing acrobatics in a circus troupe called the "77th Dan". One day their uncle comes to visit them and they try to escape, but when Sun-ja is captured by the circus, a black hooded person suddenly appears to help them.

'Ensemble'. An orchestra made of kids with different handicaps. The teacher, parents and many others get together to complete the orchestra. The orchestra 'Ensemble' is a small community of people who understand the difference of each other, and music is a communicative medium for them. Now listen to their stories and music.

Jin-sik, Kang-young, and Eung-il were living like losers in a semi-basement room. Then one day, an unknown delivery box falls at the door of this room. When Eung-il opens the box, Point Man, a four-dimensional monster, pops out with a Penrose triangle. The Point Man unilaterally informs them that a contract has been signed with the Galactic Federal Lone Star Lifespan Bank, but when they refuse to sign the contract, the Point Man kidnaps Jin-sik, Kang-young, and Eung-il into space with their house. They fight desperately with the point man to return to Earth...

RM performs four songs from his new album 'Indigo' at Dia Beacon in New York.

About the countless faces, memories, love, and people that exist between love and pickle.

One of three films commissioned by the Jeonju International Film Festival in 2005. A couple escaped their family to look for a spiritual tree in the jungle. There is a song at night, a song that spoke about an innocent idea of love and a quest for happiness. Worldly Desires is an experimental project where I invited a filmmaker friend, Pimpaka Towira, to shoot the love story by day and the song by night. The story, Deep Red Bloody Night, was written by my assistant who wanted to reprise a forbidden love story in a more romantic time in the past. I picked a pop song, Will I be Lucky? to convey a sense of guiltless freedom one feels when being hit by love. The video is a little simulation of manners, dedicated to the memories of filmmaking in the jungle during the year 2001-2005. -Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Syngman Rhee, the founding president of the Republic of Korea spent a total of thirty years in Hawaii. The first 25 years occurred before he was elected the founding president and five years were after he resigned from the presidency. What is the significance of 30 years in one’s life span?

Su-jin, who works as a karaoke helper at an entertainment district in Seoul and a press office salon, asks Ji-yeon, a college student who lives with her, to work for her for one day when her father suddenly asks her to meet her. Su-jin meets Ji-yeon's boyfriend, Seung-yeong, in liberal arts class at her school, where Ji-yeon took her place, and falls for her.

Recently released from prison, Cheol-ho is expelled from his brother's house after he beats his sister-in-law. His brother decides that the family would be better off if Cheol-ho were dead and tries to arrange it.

As familiar villains like Potato Chips, the Cake Queen, and Evil Pie return, a new wave of troublemakers—Croissant, Red Velvet, and Purple Sweet Potato Chips—joins the chaos. Together, they set the stage for a series of fast-paced, thrilling episodes filled with action and excitement.

Jun-ho and Da-hee bumped into each other on the street. The two fell in love and confides with their friend Min-soo. Knowing that the two will miss each other, Min-soo spends his last sweet moment with Da-hee, his sex partner, and arranges a place for them to meet. The hot story of Da-hee's choice between two men who think that friendship is the most important, is just beginning.

Youngjin and Kiseok were once lovers. Meeting by chance after a long time, they spend a night and a morning together.

Following the death of his parents, Yeong-cheol shines shoes in the streets, struggling to care for his sick younger sister Yeong-hui and make ends meet. Despite the persuasive efforts of low-life criminal boss Wang-cho, pickpocket Jjang-gu, and prostitute Mi-hwa, Yeong-cheol vows to lead an honest life by looking after Yeong-hui with cigarette salesgirl Myeong-sun and helping newly arrived shoeshine boy Dong-seok settle in. However, a tragic accident forces Yeong-cheol to make an important decision that may change his life. ※ Sharing the same Korean title with Vittorio De Sica’s classic Shoeshine (1946), this film was noted at the time of release for its strong neorealistic approach. All of the picture elements have been lost and only 4 original sound negative reels (around 40 minutes) survive today. The plot summary and scene descriptions have been added in the form of title cards as well as a selection of production stills to aid the viewing experience.

In the Arctic, the sun never sets in the summer while in the winter, this icy, northernmost area is enveloped in darkness. A place where aurora lights cascade from above and exotic creatures live in the bitter cold. However, the ice in the Arctic is melting away today. Tears in the Arctic sheds light on the dire problems that our planet is facing as the inhabitants, wildlife and environment in the Arctic are under siege. The plight of the Inuit is covered to show how the natural way of things may come to a screeching halt with catastrophic consequences for our planet. The changing situation for the wildlife and people who inhabit the Arctic are documented in detail. Are people taking notice of the warning signs of climate change that could lead to disastrous results?

One day a boy encounters a street vendor who sells chicks.Even the boy knows these birds will die very soon. To his eyes, the man is selling none other than death itself.

Min-woo, a naive college student from the countryside who only knows about studying, gets to know a high-class call girl named Yeong-ae at the police station. Young-ae begs Min-wu to stay with her for a while, and affection grows between the two.

Nobuo lives with his wife, along with his divorced father-in-law and his soon-to-be mother-in-law Sayuri. One day, his wife is going on a business trip abroad for a month. After Shiori, the daughter of her prospective mother-in-law from her ex-husband, enters college, she lives with Ola in the countryside. However, Shiori falls in love with her Nobuo at first sight. However, Nobuo had an inappropriate relationship with his prospective mother-in-law without his family's knowledge. Shiori, her daughter, who accidentally witnessed the two of them, uses it as an excuse to seduce Nobuo...

"Fly High" follows the special friendship between a two-bit gangster, Chang Bum, who meddles in the lives of regular people and is crazy about his daughter, and a high school student, Ye Jin, who only focuses on practicing martial arts and is isolated from the world.

In her first feature-length documentary, filmmaker Nam Arum turns her camera on her parents, two members of South Korea’s 386 Generation. The political activism of this generation came to a head in June 1987 with major protests that forced the authoritarian government to hold universal suffrage elections and implement key democratic reforms. Over 35 years later, the filmmaker reflects on the state of this democracy through a warm-hearted family portrait set against the backdrop of the country’s recent history. Using a personal and intimate cinematic style, Arum examines her father's adherence to conventionality as a high-ranking civil servant and her mother's fervent enthusiasm as a feminist activist. In the midst of these two contrasting dynamics, Arum seeks to discover her own role and how she can contribute to social change.

Seventy years ago, there was a person who stole tears while looking at the Korean War orphan dying in hunger and cold with the heart of his father. It was Everett Swanson (1913-1965). Compassion, which he started out of compassion for Korean War orphans, has provided miracles to more than 100,000 Korean children, including Kathy, a Korean orphan. Also, his father's heart that he harbored flowed toward children all over the world. Messod, a Rwandan boy, lost his father in 1994 Hwang Tae-hwan, a South Korean father who lost his son in 2023 A relay of love that changes the world with one person's power and has a good influence, it is a story of hope and emotion in which the giver and the receiver grow together.

An animated story from Sticky Monster Lab that simultaneously tells two stories - that of the father and that of the son.

A romantic comedy that tells the story of a fashion designer from Pyongyang who comes to a small village to show her latest designs. Since the fashion designer is young and attractive, the village patriarch comes up with a plan to set her up with a duck farmer who has ambitions of moving to the city.

Travel up and down on a high-rise elevator alongside a curious kid, texting teenagers and a couple that won't stop arguing.

The members of the band Cadejo have become floating spirits. They drift around here and there, and head for one location. They go through a lot of people and events. They clash and play music. Their past starts overlapping with the present and their existence breaks down.

At nineteen, they left their homes for an unfamiliar land, its name unknown to them. UN soldiers from across the globe boarded ships bound for the Korean Peninsula's battlefields. Filled with youthful adventure, they soon witnessed horrors in the Korean War that no young person should ever experience. Now in their nineties, these veterans, nearing the end of their lives, recall the unforgettable highlands of the Korean Peninsula. Over these hills, where the beautiful landscapes of spring, summer, fall, and winter pass by, what did they witness, and what did they lose?

While searching for his fiance who left him while he was overseas, a man meets and falls in love with a second woman.

At the end of Koryo dynastry, Hyang-seon, the daughter of Master Song, had been chosen to be the Crown Prince's wife. Under the orders of Master Kim, Mi-kwang attacks and violates Hyang-seon on her way back from praying to Buddha. Hyang-seon kills herself. Due to this incident, both of Hyang-seon's parents are bestowed the King's poison (the death penalty). A struggle breaks out between undertaker and grave robbers over the wealthy dowry. Meanwhile, Mi-kwang asks for the hand of Ie-hwa, daughter of Master Kim. However, Mi-kwang dies because of Master Kim. Master Kim's wife dies when a snake comes out of the wedding presents and bites her. Ie-hwa is chosen to be the Crown Prince's wife. The day before she is to meet the queen, Hyang-seon's ghost appears at the house of Master Kim and has her revenge. Master Kim is killed. Now aware of the full story, Ie-hwa stands before her parent's graves and Hyang-seon's grave where she asks for Hyang-seon's forgiveness.

After passing the resume screening for the first time, Gye-rim prepares for a job interview. All of a sudden, he gets dumped by his girlfriend A-yeong who is also one of the members of the study group for the interview. They carry on with the study as planned to get the job, anyway.

Jung-ho, a son who lives with his mother in a single room in student accommodation, learns of the existence of a new credit card his mother made secretly. Now, he decides to take extraordinary measures.

Yangon, Myanmar, in 2022, is in the midst of a civil war following the military coup on February 1, 2021. Mi-Thet, a young Burmese woman, works in a garment factory in Yangon, far from her native village. Wages have not been paid for the past two months, and a group of workers are leading a strike. But soon, the strikers are attacked by the henchmen of the military regime, leaving Mi-Thet terrified by her past trauma.

There it stands, the house, drawn in pencil. It begins to fall apart. Bricks come loose from the wall, the front door falls off its hinges and walls break away. Everything sinks into endless nothingness.

A movie set in a school notorious for violence about students continuously fighting with each other to become the number one fighter.

The traditional Korean story of a Cinderella-like little girl. Kongjwi is a good, hard working girl who lives together with her cruel stepmother and the lazy Patjwi. Eventually kindly spirits arrive and assist Kongjwi escape her miserable home life.