The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) revealed its full lineup yesterday, ahead of its January 21st opening. Though we were already aware of seven Korean films participating in this years’s 44th edition, we now know that there will also be a 12-film retrospective of noted filmmaker, writer and producer JANG Jin.

 

Originally a playwright and a variety show writer, JANG moved into the filmmaking scene as the writer of 1996’s A Hot Roof, which is included in IFFR’s retrospective. A key and prolific figure of modern Korean cinema, he has directed, produced and written many hit films, most of which incorporate his noted skill for witty dialogue. Of his directorial output, nine titles will be screened in Rotterdam, including Guns and Talk (2001), 2006’s Someone Grateful (a segment of Human rights omnibus If You Were Me 2), Murder, Take One (2005), Righteous Ties (2006), My Son (2007), The Quiz Show Scandal (2010), Romantic Heaven (2011) and both his 2014 efforts, Man on High Heels and We Are Brothers, which he made following a three-year stint as the show runner of Korea’s Saturday Night Live. In addition, the program will also feature The Recipe (2011) and the hit wartime comedy-drama Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005), both of which he wrote and produced.

 

Though no Korean films are competing in this year’s Hivos Tiger Competition, which has seen five Korean films (including Han Gong-ju last year) triumph over the years, the peninsula’s presence at Rotterdam is strong in 2015, with 19 films spread across the festival’s sections. IFFR will run until February 1st.