The Korean Film Council (Chairman - KIM Sae Hoon) held its annual Cannes Film Festival event, the Korean Film Night on Sunday the 15th, at the Plage Royale on the Croisette. With five films at the Cannes Film Festival this year, including three high-profile features in official selection, Korean cinema has been drawing a lot of buzz on the Croisette this year, and the KOFIC night became a hot event, with over 600 guests taking part and mingling with the many luminaries of Korean film that were in attendance. Originally scheduled to take place for two hours, the popular night eventually continued more than three hours.

 

Four directors visited the festivities, The Handmaiden’s PARK Chan-wook, screening in Competition, TRAIN TO BUSAN’s YEON Sang-ho, part of the Midnight Screenings, PARK Young-ju of 1 KILOGRAM, invited to Cinefondation, and Jero YUN of Hitchhiker, a short in the Directors’ Fortnight selection. Also in attendance were The Handmaiden cast members HA Jung-woo, CHO Jin-woong and KIM Tae-ri, as well as GONG Yoo, JUNG Yu-Mi and KIM Su-an of TRAIN TO BUSAN.

 

KOFIC Chairman KIM Sae Hoon introduced the filmmakers to the guests of the Korean Film Night at the beginning of the evening, expressing his hope that the films will be well received by Cannes Film Festival attendees during the week. He went on to express his gratitude to guests for their support of Korean cinema around the world.

 

Representatives of Korea’s top film festivals were also in attendance, including KANG Soo-yeon, the director of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), CHOI Yong-bae, the executive director of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) and Chungmuro International Musical Film Festival director KIM Hong-joon. International festival representatives in attendance included Cannes Film Festival delegate Christian Jeune, Charles Tesson of Cannes’s Critics’ Week program, Venice International Film Festival director Alberto Barbera, Hong Kong International Film Festival director Roger Garcia, Carlo Chatrian of the Locarno International Film Festival and Yasushi Shiina of the Tokyo International Film Festival. 

 

As in years past, guests were treated to Korean cup ramen during a clear evening on the beach of Cannes’ Croisette.