Cannes star to kick off Korean fest

KOLKATA: From the film that won the best director award at Cannes last year to contemporary productions, cineastes would be able to see acclaimed Korean movies at a film festival beginning here on Thursday.
Im Kwon-taek’s award winning entry Chi-hwa-seon (Painted Fire) set in the 1850s providing an insight into the work of the best known South Korean director would be the inaugural movie, while four other celluloid offerings would feature at the fest.
“The touring festival to be screened at four metros marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and India,� Korean ambassador Kwon Soon-tae said here on Wednesday.
The four-day fest which has already been to New Delhi and to be screened in Mumbai and Chennai later this month, would feature Joint Security Area by Park Chan-Wook, Ditto by Kim Jeong-Gwon, Libera me by Yang Yum-Ho and Art Museum by the Zoo by Lee Jeonghyang.
Soon-Tae said the festival, to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, would be part of a series of year-long commemorative events which include Korean traditional dance and music performances in major Indian cities.
Being organised within the fourth millennium film festival by Cine Central, the Korean films would be screened alongside 25 movies from 20 other countries like USA, Vietnam, Germany, China, France, Hungary, Iran, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and Tunisia.