The South Koreans are coming. Star of the South-Korean New wave is filmmaker Jang Sun-Woo who is in Rotterdam to present his latest film Kyotip (A Petal) and is providing a retrospective of seven films.

Im Kwon-Taek, director of Chukje (Festival), has been around a lot longer.

He has about 90 films to his name and is regarded as the grand master of South-Korean cinema. He is also presenting his latest film at the festival. Chukje is based on the novel by Lee Chong-jun. The director and novelist have already cooperated in the past. This very fertile cooperation led to the box-office hit Sopyonje.

An experience they shared brought the author and the director back together. Lee's mother died of a severe form senile dementia and Ims 80-year-old mother is suffering greatly from her dementia. The film title Festival refers to a three-day funeral ritual, in the traditional South-Korean way. The mourners, both the invited and the uninvited, form the key to this story in a small village by the sea. BvdG

Festival Saturday 1-2, 2.30 PM, Pathe 2, Thursday 6-2, 2.15 PM, Saturday 8-2, 3.00 PM, Concerthuis