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5:14 pm on 3 August 2022, Wednesday
By Carby Rose Basina
You may have heard the phrase "Hallyu" if you're a fan of South Korean pop culture or South Korean culture in general.
Hallyu or Korean Wave, according to the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to Norway's website, is the word that describes the appeal of Korean culture, particularly K-pop music, K-dramas, and K-movies. From award-winning BTS, well-loved Crash Landing on You, up to the internationally-renowned Parasite film, Hallyu has been dominating the entertainment industry across the globe – and the Philippines is no exception to that!
This coming August 11 to 14, the Hallyu wave will again hit the cinemas (and Hallyu fans!) for the 2022 Korean Film Festival.
Five SM Cinemas in Metro Manila – SM Mall of Asia, SM Megamall, SM City North EDSA, SM City Grand Central, and SM Southmall – will show a total of seven movies released in 2020 and 2021. All screenings are free and on a first-come, first-served basis.
This year's festival will premiere at SM Aura Premier on August 10 with no less than Hong Wonchan, the director of the festival's opening film, Deliver Us From Evil. He will be joined by another Korean director, Lee Woojung, whose most recent film, Snowball, is also included in the lineup of films for this year's festival.
Deliver Us From Evil is an action/crime/drama film that follows the story of an assassin who travels to Thailand to investigate a kidnapping case linked to him. While there, he finds himself being chased by a man whose sibling he killed.
The film, directed by Hong Wonchan, has attracted almost 4.36 million Korean moviegoers amid the pandemic in 2020. His debut film, Office, was invited to the 68th Cannes Film Festival's midnight screening in 2015.
Snowball, a youth drama film by Lee Woo Jung, narrates how Kang-Yi runs away from home with her friends only to find a strange side of themselves while the balance of their friendship also tips weirdly.
"Director Lee Woojung is a promising independent film director who started her career as an actress after studying theater and film in the university. She directed her first independent short film Neither to Die nor to Leave in 2012 and has began to get more attention through her recent film Snowball," SM wrote in a press release.
Other must-see films at the festival include the action-drama film Escape from Mogadishu by Ryu Seung-Wan; drama films Miracle: Letters to the President by Lee Jang-Hoon and The Novelist's Film by Hong Sang-Soo; drama-mystery film The Day I Died: Unclosed Case by Park Jiwan; and comedy-romance film Perhaps Love by Jo Eun-Ji.
The festival is a joint project of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, the Korean Cultural Center in the Philippines, and SM Cinema, together with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), Korean Film Council, and the Korean Tourism Organization (KTO) Manila Office.
It aims to "help moviegoers build new experiences, create bonds, and discover new goals."
Interested moviegoers may visit KCC's Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, @KCCPhil, to reserve slots for the opening ceremony on August 10 at SM Aura Premier Cinema 2 and for the Talk with the Filmmakers on August 11, 1:30 PM at the FDCP Cinematheque Centre Manila.