Category Archives: Korea

This Charming Girl

7pm, August 09, 2012

Multi-Purpose Hall, KCCUK

Jeong-hae (Kim Ji-soo) works at a postoffice. She lives near her workplace in a flat. In her secluded life only her plants and a cat she did pick up off the streets keep her company. She mainly eats instant noodles and oftentimes orders something out from the Home Shopping Channel’s commercials.
Except getting something to eat in her lunch break with her female colleagues, she avoids any contact to other people. Slowly, one gets to know a little bit more of her past, her dead mother and an old friend, who suddenly steps into her life again.
Jeong-hae did get some mental wounds in her past, but she decides to go on with life. When she often meets a writer (Hwang Jung-min) in the postoffice, she takes her chances and invites him for dinner. Can Jeong-hae really love again, despite her tragic past?

(English Subtitle)

Child-free flights? Yes please.

 

I rather see people with children paying more money but for the rest I completely agree with those who would pay more to flight without having annoying children on the plane.

Read on..

A third of Britons would happily pay more for their flights if there were no children on board.

A survey of more than 2,000 Britons carried out by travel site TripAdvisor has revealed that badly behaved children are one of the biggest causes of frustration when flying. Some 37 per cent of those questioned said they were so irritated by noisy children that they would be willing to fork out more money to go on a flight without them.

Having a child kick the back of their seat was the biggest annoyance for 22 per cent of the respondents, while another 22 per cent said parents not controlling their children was their biggest frustration.

A TripAdvisor spokeswoman, Emma Shaw, said that even on a short-haul trip, a stressful flight could have a severely negative impact on the overall travel experience. “Any disturbance when flying is annoying but it seems that unruly children are among the biggest causes of frustration for some passengers,” she said.

The No 1 irritation for travellers, according to 29 per cent of those surveyed, was inconsiderate seat recliners. But opinions were divided over whether young children should be allowed to fly in first-class or business-class areas – 34 per cent said they should be excluded while 36 per cent felt they should not. The rest were undecided. Ms Shaw said: “It’s clearly a topic that fiercely divides opinion.”

Article taken from The Independent.

Battlefield Heroes

June 28, 2012

Apollo Cinema Piccadilly

To kick-start the beginning of the K-FILM series as part of the 100 Day Festival of Korean Culture, you are welcome to a FREE night out for a special screening of ‘Battlefield Heroes’ followed by a Q&A session with the award-winning Director LEE Joon-ik.

The event will take place on June 28 at Apollo Cinema Piccadilly Circus at 6:30PM.

Audiences will be admitted on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE basis. Don’t miss out on this rare opportunity.

All members of the audience will receive a raffle ticket and at the end of the films screening and Q&A sessions, raffles will be drawn by Director LEE Joon-ik and His Excellency Ambassador CHOO Kyu-ho.

Prizes include: a signed DVD of Director LEE Joon-ik’s film ‘SUNNY’, a book on Korean Cinema, and for all the K-POP fans, a signed (personally signed by all five members) CD of BIGBANG’s latest album ‘Still Alive’.

Make Thursday evenings a regular date on your calendar, with Thursday simply being “Korean Film Night”!

 

Recruiting Docent Volunteers for Exhibition

Recruiting Docent Volunteers for Exhibition

at the Korean Cultural Centre UK

The Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) is looking for volunteers who will work as docents(unpaid) during the exhibition of Korean Funerary Figures: Companions for the Journey to the Other World’, at the KCCUK this summer.

The exhibition presents a traditional funeral bier along with the wooden figures of a variety of people, as well as mythological creatures that each served as decorations for the funeral bier. This summer exhibition forms part of All Eyes On Korea, 100 Day Festival of Korean Culture.  

 The volunteers will be working from 12 July to 8 September.

 – Mon to Fri 10am – 6pm

 – Sat 11am – 5pm

You can choose either Term 1 or 2 (Mon-Fri Term 1: 10am-2pm / Term 2: 2pm-6pm, Sat Term 1: 11am-2pm / Term 2: 2pm-5pm) for working by rotations during the exhibition and you have to be able to work minimum 2 weeks of time in total.

 Those who are interested in Korean art and cultures and Korean-English bilingual volunteers are preferable.

 Please download ‘Docent Volunteer Application Form’ and complete it then email to us with a copy of your ID with the headline of “Exhibition Docent Volunteer” to info@kccuk.org.uk

 Application deadline: 6pm, Friday 29 June 2012

    (The deadline date can be changed depends on the number of applicants)

   ※ Orientation and Introduction for Docents: 2pm Wednesday 4th July 2012

Docent Volunteer application form.docx

Sunny

7PM, June 21, 2012

Multi-Purpose Hall, KCCUK

Soo-ni is a young woman stuck in an arranged marriage to a man who still loves his college girlfriend. Her husband, Sang-gil, is a soldier in the Republic of Korea Army, and though she visits him regularly, he doesn’t return her affections. After Sang-gil is sent to fight in the Vietnam War, Soo-ni resolves to follow him. She joins a band which is heading there, where she sings for the soldiers as “Sunny”, with the hope of being reunited with her husband.

The King and the Clown

7pm, June 07, 2012

Multi-Purpose Hall, KCCUK

In the years of the infamous King Yeon-san, two clowns start a play that is satirical of the king and become popular among the common people. But soon they get arrested for treason, and they bet their lives on making the king laugh with their play acting. Their fortunate success leads them to stay in the palace and perform regular plays. As the king shows growing attraction and love towards one of the clowns, they realize that they are into irreversible stages of their lives, entwined with desire, power and thick blood.

Double bill: You and Me(short) + Lost and Found

Korean Film Nights

7PM, May 24, 2012

Multi-Purpose Hall, KCCUK

Please note that the screening scheduled for the 17th has been added to the 24th’s programme.

U and Me (2008): weight lifter So-young is in third grade of junior high and she is in the same class as Cheol-gu, who is planning to move to Australia to study there. The two teens feel uncertain about the future that they’ve chosen, but their parents just force them to go on, regardless of how they feel.

Lost and Found (2009): This film follows a trip to Chuncheon. The college student believes that she will be filled with artistic inspiration when she sleeps with the famous artist. The painter is mad at the student yet he plays along with her due to sexual temptation. The film calls it ‘bad impulse. However, the bad impulse itself is not a bad thing. That same bad impulse sometimes leads a human into the temptation of art and sometimes provides the moment of truth in the throes of lust.

North Korean Human Rights Film Festival ‘Kimjongilia’

Date: 27 April 2012, 6pm

Title: Kimjongilia (2009)

Director: N.C. Heikin

Running time: 76min (Eng subs)

Venue: Multi-purpose Hall, Korean Cultural Centre UK

          (No bookings required)

Organised by Christian Solidarity Worldwide

About the Film

North Korea is one of the world＇s most isolated nations. For sixty years, North Koreans have been governed by a totalitarian regime that controls all information entering and leaving the country. A cult of personality surrounds its two recent leaders: first, Kim Il Sung, and now his son, Kim Jong Il. For Kim Jong Il＇s 46th birthday, a hybrid red begonia named kimjongilia was created, symbolizing wisdom, love, justice, and peace. The film draws its name from the rarefied flower and reveals the extraordinary stories told by survivors of North Korea＇s vast prison camps, of devastating famine, and of every kind of repression. All of the interviews featured took place in South Korea, where the defectors now live. Their experiences are interspersed with archival footage of North Korean propaganda films and original scenes that illuminate the contours of daily life for a people whose every action is monitored and whose every thought could bring official retribution. Along with the survivors＇ stories, Kimjongilia examines the mass illusion possible under totalitarianism and the human rights abuses required to maintain that illusion. Ultimately, the defectors are inspiring, for despite the extremes they have suffered, they still hold out hope for a better future.

Always

6:30 pm, April 26, 2012

Apollo Cinemas (Piccadilly)

Chul-min is a man whose life hides a dark past. He works as a delivery man by day and a parking-lot attendant by night.
One evening a chance encounter changes his life forever. He meets the partially sighted Jung-hwa whose optimism restores his faith in people and the world. As their friendship blooms Chul-min Seeks ways to finance the surgery that Jung-hwa desperately needs.
Fighting for high-stakes, can Chul-min’s return to the underworld be a success?

Booking: http://www.apollocinemas.com/ 0871 220 6000

Celebrate the Korean Film Night’s 100th Screening
26th April 2012, Apollo Cinemas, Piccadilly

With Director Song Il-Gon’s 2011 film ‘Always’ the KCCUK presents its 100th Korean Film Night and after the Q+A we will celebrate this milestone with a small reception.

Feathers in the Wind

Feathers in the Wind (2005)

Song Il-gon

7pm, April 12, 2012

Hyeon-seong is a film director struggling to write a new screenplay, he decides to return to a remote southern island he stayed on 10 years earlier in order to fulfil a promise he made with his girlfriend at the time. As he waits on the secluded island to see if the promise will also be kept by his now ex-girlfriend, he gets to know an oddly charming young motel operator So-yeon.

 

Flower Island

7:00pm, April 05, 2012

Flower Island (2001)

Song Il-gon

On a winter day, three women with three different stories of anguish encounter each other on a road. The brutal city has expelled them, leaving them with nothing but bitterness. Oknam and Hye-na board the same bus by chance, and they rescue Yoo-jin from her attempted suicide on a snowy mountain. Having no place to rest, they begin their unplanned journey to Flower Island, where it is said all pain and sorrow disappear. On their way, they go through many unexpected events, and realize the journey itself is what heals their inner wounds.

 

Come Rain, Come Shine

17 March 2012, 2.00pm-Cine Lumiere

Lee Yoon-Ki I South Korea 2011 I 105 mins I Korean + English subtitles

UK Premiere

In this brilliantly crafted drama, a woman nonchalantly announces to her husband that she is leaving him for another man. On the day she is due to move out of their home, they both appear emotionless. All is seemingly normal, from their conversations about pasta recipes to booking a table at their favourite restaurant, until a torrential rain storm strikes.

Book now

Chilsu Wa Mansu

March 08, 2012

Multi Purpose Hall, KCCUK

Chilsu, a talented young artist, makes his living painting theatrical posters. He quits his job to join Mansu painting billboards. Chilsu dreams of joining his sister in the United States, but loses contact with her. Mansu’s father has long been a political prisoner. The two men spend their free time at discos and drinking with their student friend Jin-A. After Mansu’s fathers is denied leave for his hwangab, or 60th birthday celebration, and they discover that Jin-A has entered an arranged marriage, the two climb onto a roof over a billboard they have painted and begin venting their frustrations at the crowd below.