Commerce and Art Mingle in Dragons and Tigers
Curated by noted Asian film critic Tony Rayns, the Vancouver International Film Festival’s Dragons and Tigers revealed its 2014 slate last week, with five features and five shorts from Korea among this year’s programming.
Coming fresh from their North American premiere screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival will be the new works of
HONG Sang-soo and
IM Kwon-taek, as well as
Haemoo, the debut of
SHIM Sung-bo. Prolific auteur HONG returns to Vancouver with
Hill of Freedom, his shortest feature to date at only 67 minutes, while Korean cinema legend IM returns after a four-year hiatus with
Revivre, his 102nd film, both debuted at the Venice International Film Festival last month. SHIM’s
Haemoo, a dark maritime thriller, is also co-written by
Bong Joon Ho, who lends his name to the film as a producer for the very first time.
The last Korean film to pick up the Dragons and Tigers Award for Young Cinema was
JANG Kunjae’s
Eighteen in 2009. This year’s Vancouver International Film Festival will unspool from September 25th to October 10th.