THE annual Korean Film Festival unreels to showcase five blockbuster and critically acclaimed films at SM City Cebu Cinema 5 from Thursday to Sunday.
This year’s theme is “Strong Hearts.” The festival will feature films with characters that have strong personalities and those who pursue their goals and desires with courage and determination.
A joint partnership between the Korean Embassy’s Korean Cultural Center in the Philippines and SM Cinema, the film festival began its run at SM City Clark in Pampanga last Sept. 8. There were also screenings at SM Lanang Premier in Davao and SM City Iloilo.
After Cebu, the festival heads to SM City Dasmariñas in Cavite and SM Megamall.
Other partners include the Korean Film Council, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, Film Cultural Exchange Program, the Korea Tourism Organization-Manila and the Korea Copyright Commission.
The featured films will give a glimpse of Korean history and culture. Ode to My Father is a South Korean drama that depicts modern Korean history from the 1950s to the present day. This is seen through the life of an ordinary man, as he experiences events such as the Hungnam evacuation of 1950 during the Korean War, the government’s decision to dispatch nurses and miners to Germany in the 1960s, and the Vietnam War.
Other films highlight different aspects of Korean everyday life. On the lighter side, there is The Beauty Inside, a story about a furniture designer who wakes up in a different body every day, regardless of age, gender and nationality with the hope of reuniting with his special someone.
How to Use Guys with Secret Tips is a romantic comedy about the Korean film industry. This wacky and charming tale follows and overworked woman’s attempt to improve her relationship with men.
There are also crime and action films such as Confession of Murder, which is about a man who confesses to murders by writing a book and the detective who searches for the author of the book; and The Suspect, which is about a North Korean agent who tries to uncover the volatile secrets hidden inside the eyeglasses of a dead man after he was betrayed. (PR)