Korean films to screen in Locarno film festival

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Korean Film News

NEWS & REPORTS

Korean films to screen in Locarno film festival

Jul 18, 2011

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The 64th Festival del Film Locarno has announced its line-up to include the South Korea-Uzbekistan co-production <Hanaan>, directed by Ruslan PAK. The film will screen in the Filmmakers of the Present Competition.

A story about young ethnic Koreans displaced in Uzbekistan, Hanaan is described by producer Ellen Y.D. KIM as “a sort of Uzbek Trainspotting,” complete with wandering youth, drugs, crime, and the hope for a better life.

Director Ruslan Pak is an ethnic Korean born in Uzbekistan in the former Soviet Union in 1981. Pak studied film at the graduate school of the Korean National University of Arts (KNUA) from 2006. Before that, he worked as an assistant director for from 2001 and started making short films such as <One Shoot>, which was invited to the 57th Berlinale Talent Campus, and <Dance of Free Bird>, which was invited to the several film festivals including the San Diego International Film Festival.

Hanaan was previously in the Paris Project event and also was a recipient of the 2009 Seoul Independent Film Production Support grant.

The film is a Zamie Pictures and Flying Tiger Pictures production. Producer Ellen Y.D. Kim’s background includes programming at the Puchon International Film Festival (PiFan), launching Pusan’s Asian Film Market, and co-producing films such as <Night and Day>, directed by HONG Sang-soo, and <Come Rain, Come Shine>, directed by LEE Yoon-ki.

M-Line Distribution is handling international sales on Hanaan.

Additionally, the short film <Chupachups>, directed by KYUNG Ji-suk, is in the Locarno film festival’s Pardi di Domain section. The film made its world premiere at the Seoul LGBT Film Festival in June, and will be making its international premiere at Locarno. Indiestory is handling international sales on Chupachups.

Also in the Locarno festival - the Jeonju Digital Project 2011, which is made up of three short films directed respectively by Jean-Marie STRAUB, Jose Luis GUERIN, and Claire DENIS. Each year, the Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) produces an omnibus of digital shorts by three directors from a different selected continent, and this year it was Europe.

The 64th Locarno film festival will be held August 3 – 13, 2011.

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