Discoveries from South Korea World Cinema

A middle-aged woman is looking at a cabinet in a hot summer, the load she carries is getting heavier.

"An erotic film about a conspiracy to exploit the weaknesses of a provincial gubernatorial candidate. Two sisters, Shin-ae and Seon-mi, who prey on men's vulnerabilities to extort money, resort to every trick in the book to seduce Bong-gyoo, a candidate for governor. Falling completely under their spell, Bong-gyoo becomes willing to give up everything. Consumed by lust, Bong-gyoo — and the two sisters who fuel his desire — set the stage for a sordid, over-the-top drama with the help of Jin-soo."

A woman who wants to return the gift her boyfriend gave her.

After initially sweeping through Asia, Korean pop music has now taken the world by storm led by the likes of SNSD, JYP and PSY. Take a look behind the scenes of the formation and debut of the 9 member girl group, Nine Muses, in a documentary that gives a glaring insight into the world of K-pop. Follow a year long journey with the Model Idols, as they have been called, and their management label, the relatively small in stature Star Empire, leading up to the group’s debut and emergence in the K-pop charts. Covering everything from dance lessons, recording sessions and the physical and psychological toll on the girls, the film reveals the lengths the girls must go to achieve their dream, to become K-Idols.

22nd Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival Trailer

One night, Su-min secretly looks through his girlfriend Eun-young’s phone and becomes convinced she’s seeing another man. A few days later, when Eun-young comes home late from work, he suddenly suggests they visit Mokseom, a small island off the West Sea that inspired his novel Tide of us.

A woman who is a victim of sexual violence comes to a human rights group that is protesting against sexual violence and asks her to report it together. However, no one actively stands up for women.

Jang-hwa and Hong-ryeon die an unfortunate death from their stepmother's abuse. Jang-hwa's soul is unable to rest at peace and she appears in front of the district magistrate pleading for justice in her case.

A hapless goon in the mob becomes the new Godfather after all of his superiors are taken out by a rival crime group. In the incident he gains new powers to become THE HULK! Meanwhile 400 years ago in the Joeson period an evil sorcerer has arrived in search of the Dragon Pearl in the village of the naive Young-gu

At Gwanghwamun Square, everyone fought against the corruption of President Park Geun-hye. Feminists had the additional burden to fight misogyny in the square.

A documentary about the continuing case of Samsung semiconductor plant. The film is a story about nameless people wearing white coat, hat and mask worked in a clean room exposing eyes only.

A greeting from Hong Sang-soo.

JAEJAE, the witty host of variety shows. Gabee, a powerful performance artist. feellikefeel, an introverted musical genius from YouTube. Three artists from entirely different corners of the stage—brought together by a chance project. Their team? JAESSBEE. No clear plan. No concept. No defined identity. And a production budget of just 3 million won. But they made a choice—to step onto the stage with sincerity. Through trial, tension, and trust, their journey leads to the birth of a debut song: "Every Moment with You."

The court lady, Woo-yeon (Kim Woo-yeon), who was beautiful in appearance and excelled in poetry, was serving Anpyeong Dae-gun (Yoo-jun). After she saw the young Jin-sa Kim (Ahn Jong-hwa) one day, she fell in love with him and she did the same with Jin-sa Kim.

Jaegi, who has lived the life of a disabled person due to a traffic accident, is judged as Level 5 at the first grade screening. Jaegi strives to become a severely disabled person, but the situation is getting more difficult.

A documentary covering the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul.

An habitual, but good-natured, criminal is in and out of prison 38 times. Finally he is sentenced to 10 years though without a trial after facing the accusation of stealing a goat. Feeling certain that the elderly jailbird would die before his sentence is complete, the warden takes pity on him, helps him escape, and keeps the fugitive hidden in his home treating him like one of the family.

A young man called Field Mouse (Deuljwi) saves a young couple when the woman is forced to marry a rich gangster.

Sun-Il (Yoo Son-Il) lost his friend because of an accident. So he left to travel. One year later, he appears in front of friends again, but Sun-Il resembles his dead friend a lot. His friends keep watching him. Their friendship is in critical condition unlike the past. One day, he falls in love. Sun-Il has the happiest and sweetest moment in his life with Ji-Soo (Park Grina), but because of an unexpected incident Sun-Il feels strange with himself.

A boy finds an unconscious woman by the sea and brings her home.

Ja-yeon, struggling with infertility, becomes increasingly disturbed by the sound of a baby crying next door. As the pressures of her daily life mount, the crying grows into an unbearable noise. Then one day, after the family next door suddenly disappears, Ja-yoen begins to experience strange occurrences.

Bomb and Cherry's unorthodox business venture of selling pearls is put at risk when the pair fall deeper in love, leading to pain and conflict.

A Stance Thriller: Exploring How Perspectives Dramatically Change Outcomes After a Minor Collision

The hotel Arizona and the hotel Mankwang in Gyeongju, one of the most famous tourist sites, fiercely compete for customers, and the owners of the hotels become hostile toward one another. To complicate matters, a son and a daughter of the owners of the two hotels love each other. When the hostile relationship between the two owners gets worse, the son and daughter try to make their parents reconcile. In the end, everything works out, and the two are married happily.

On August 30th, 1974,a time bomb set by the "Wolf" brigade of the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front destroyed the Tokyo Headquarters of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. "Fangs of the Earth" and "Scorpion" soon followed with more bombings. Unlike other leftist groups at the time that sought to seize the Japanese state to build socialism, the EAAJAF were explicitly opposed to the Japanese nation-state, understanding it as an imperialist power in East Asia and a junior partner to American imperialism. Over 50 years have passed since the Mitsubishi bombing; some EAAJAF members have passed, others are still incarcerated, and some have been recently released. In the intervening years, a group of friends and family members stepped forward to support their incarcerated loved ones, answering questions about how to provide long-term prisoner support for people incarcerated by the state and condemned by society.

Based on a story by Nae-seong Kim.

Film directed by Ha Chon Woi

When an unplanned baby enters the lives of a conservative mother, neurodivergent daughter and detached gay son, the trio travels back in time through their diaries and family photos to mend ruptured bonds and prepare for a new cycle of motherhood.

When morning arrives in Society of Clothes, shirts and pants step outside the closet, transforming into living entities. In the world of the film, everyone exists solely as clothes, wandering into the streets bodiless and faceless. But the routine of this strange place is disrupted one day when a human child with flesh and bones appears, turning their everyday existence upside down.

Sin-goo, a 40-year-old man who owns a shop, hires 20-year old Joon-seung to help him, and the two men end up sleeping together after a night of heavy drinking. As the two men grow closer to each other, they discover that Joon-seung is the son of Seong-ja whom Sin-goo is also dating. Attracted to both the mother and the son, what will Sin-goo’s happy ending be?

Professor Song, staying in Germany, was suspected of espionage and banned from Korea. Now he's expecting to visit Korean after 33 years. The Border City', by whech Berlin was called during the period of partition, could also be a name for Seoul naw that the city is haunted by the 'red complex' and refuses Prof. Song to come back to his homeland.

Hong Shinae is the owner of SALT, a restaurant and cooking studio in the building featured in Hong Sangsoo's Walk Up. She lives and works there, along with Shin Kyungok, an interior designer. Shin is also the landlord. The office of Hong Sangsoo's production company was briefly located on the top floor of the building. Years later, he had an idea to make a film there. We asked Hong Shinae to show us around the building and tell us about her experience during the production of Walk Up. She sent us this short video.

Chae-ri, a 23 year-old returning student runs into Tae-ho, a 'pretty boy' at the opening drinking party. Chae-ri is thrilled by Tae-ho, who is actively approaching her like he did in the past. However, an unexpected person, Young-won, appears between them.

A short film made by Park Kwang-su during his time at the Seoul Film Collective.

A royal tomb built in 2012 by a farmer who was plowing in a field in a rural village called Ssangneunggol was discovered in the past, where King Hankotnim and his queen were buried. General Tokkokdu, who was the guard of the royal tomb, loses the key to the flower that opens the door between the stone chambers and asks for help from Binsu, the son of the owner of the field. embarks on an adventure to protect the royal tomb from their hands.

So-Jin, who is training for the physical fitness test for police recruitment, is being stalked by a man, but she cannot find a strong means of confronting the situation. Meanwhile, Hyeon-Sook, who lives in the same apartment complex of So-jin, cannot get away from her violent husband. They work out in a schoolyard for their own respective reasons.

Pok-yeon finds out that his father was killed, and the killer was Samsu, a hairdresser who desired his wife. After a fight with Samsu, Pok-young kills him and then decides to turn himself in to the police to be tried according to the law.

35mm / 19 min. / Color

When Korea Highway Corporation is about to destroy the grave of O Gong-nyeo, the locals oppose the idea because they are worried of the legend of the grave. Heo, an engineer in charge of the construction, checks into a mountain lodge to investigate the legend. One night, he listens to O Gong-nyeo's grudge-filled story in his dream. However, he is too obsessed with his investigation and has been hallucinating. At last, he leaves the lodge and insists that the absurd legend is nothing but a superstition. He boldly pushes forward the construction project.

Eun-young who got a family documentary proposal from her friend. Interviews with family members begin around her sister Seo-young. Family members contact musical tutor Seok-woo for Seo-young. Meanwhile, Seok-woo is fascinated by Eun-young, and talks about his worries to Seo-young.

After school, high school student Sanghyun heads to his blind friend Jeongwoo’s house. When Sanghyun arrives, Jeongwoo asks him what scene from the movie is showing on TV. Sanghyun nonchalantly responds, “They are just standing.” The world that is natural for Sanghyun is no longer natural for visually impaired Jeongwoo. Sanghyun starts making notes for Jeongwoo who says his past is like a dream. On the last page, one can finally understand the two human beings.

Mi-yo and jay-sung's marriage loses all the passion. Mi-Yu falls in love with Dong-hwi at first sight, and she has unlimited sexual fantasies and illusions of him. Dong-hwi works in a vehicle agency. Pretending as a customer, Mi-yo takes the initiative to get acquainted with him. They then kiss and make love fiercely and soon start to live together and pursuit the ecstasy of sex. However, Mi-yo soon finds out Dong-hwi still has ambiguous relationships with other girls and feels heartbroken.

Animated short from Fla at the Sticky Monster Lab - tells the story of a loner whose life changes when he meets man's best friend.

Kim Eun-hee, 26-year-old, face to face with memories she’d rather forget from her 11-year-old self, she begins the match for existing as herself.

1997 revisits South Korea's tumultuous late 1990s through documents obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the civic organization The Center for Freedom of Information and Transparent Society.

Im Ih-ju, daughter of Chae Sung-ju, tells her life story, the story behind her adopted name Rosa, and her passion for dance. The film is about the lives of various people, including Iju, her friend So-won, and a friend of a friend.