With at least a dozen selections currently screening at each festival, Korean cinema figures prominently in the line-ups at Montreal’s 16th Fantasia International Film Festival and New Dehli’s 12th Osian’s-Cinefan Festival of Indian, Asian and Arab Cinema. Fantasia, one of North America’s larger genre film showcases, began July 19th and will run until August 9th. Osian’s-Cinefan, one of the few international venues devoted to Indian and Arab cinema, started on July 27th and will conclude on August 5th.

 

Culling some of Korea’s finest commercial releases from the previous year, Fantasia’s Korean line-up includes JEON Gye-soo’s rom-com <Love Fiction>, YOON Jong-bin’s period crime piece <Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time>, LEE Han’s family drama <Punch>, HWANG Dong-hyuk’s <Silenced> and KANG Hyoung-chul’s <Sunny>. Fitting more squarely in the genre camp are horror films <The Cat> and <White: Melody of the Curse> as well as <The Kick> and <Quick>, which are both screening in fest’s Action! section. In the Camera Lucida section are JUHN Jai-hong’s <Poongsan> and YEUN Sang-ho’s <The King of Pigs>, which will also appear in the inaugural edition of Axis, Fantasia’s new animation showcase. Rounding out the fest’s Korean offering is OH Young-doo’s <Young Gun in Time> and the KIM Jee-woon/YIM Pil-sung omnibus <Doomsday Book>.

 

It was also recently announced that <Doomsday Book>,  <Horror Stories>, <Deranged>  and <Nameless Gangster> will appear as official selections at this year’s 45th Sitges Film Festival in Spain, which is also a genre-oriented fest. Running through early October, look for more news about Korean offerings at Sitges when their complete program is released.

 

In contrast to Fantasia, Osian’s-Cinefan’s Korean curation includes more indie fare and festival hits,  the only overlapping film being <The King of Pigs>, which will appear in the Filmcraft-Animation section. Four films are currently in competition. In the Asian and Arab Competition, which is the fest’s premiere showcase, is KIM Kyung-mook’s <Stateless Things>. Competing in the First Features section is <Romance Joe>, from HONG Sangsoo protege LEE Kwang-kuk. YUN Ki-nam’s <The Metamorphosis> and SHIN Suwon’s Cannes-winning <Circle Line> will also compete in the Shorts section. In the fest’s non-competitive Frescoes section, JEON Kyu-hwan’s <From Seoul to Varanasi>, LEE Sang-woo’s <Fire in Hell> and JI Ha-jean’s <Bloody Fight in Iron-Rock Valley> will screen. Additionally, four shorts will appear out of competition: JEON June-hyuck’s <Interfere>, MOON Hyung-il <The Man Did Not Cry>, JEON Min-seok’s <Desparate Crossing> and KIM Kwang-bin’s <Modern Family>, which just received an award at the recently concluded Asian Film Fest of Dallas.