Programme edition 2022
B
Burning (버닝)
Lee Chang-dong
This exceptionally subtle character study is at once enigmatic, suspenseful, endearing and ambiguous. From éducation sentimentale, the film evolves into a metaphysical thriller around a complicated love triangle between two young men and a mysterious young woman.
C
The Chaser (추격자)
Na Hong-jin
A virtuoso duel between a pimp watching his girls disappear one by one and the clever serial killer he is desperately trying to catch. Nail-beating and suspenseful.
D
Drown (파로호)
Lim Sang-su
Horror creeps into social drama in this intriguing debut from South Korean filmmaker Lim Sang-su.
F
The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra (다섯 번째 흉추)
Park Sye-young
Possibly the strangest film of Film Fest Gent 2022, The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra follows the journey of a mattress fungus in search of love ... This sparkling, restless and unexpectedly wholesome debut is guaranteed to grow a cult following.
H
Heaven: To the Land of Happiness (헤븐: 행복의 나라로)
Im Sang-soo
The lead actors from South Korean classics Oldboy and Memories of Murder shine through in this witty buddy movie in which two men on the run - without realising it - rob a mafia gang.
The Host (괴물)
Bong Joon-ho
The director of Parasite delivers a monster film full of social criticism, subversive humour, ecological awareness and cinematic brio.
Hot in Day, Cold at Night (낮에는 덥고 밤에는 춥고)
Park Song-yeol
With practically no money, Park Song-yeol made Hot in Day, Cold at Night, in which a couple courageously fights against injustice and wrongdoing in South-Korea. A heartbreaking story.
The Housemaid (1960) (하녀)
Kim Ki-young
This classis of South Korean cinema of the sixties is an erotically charged thriller about a manipulative maid who drags a neat bourgeois family into the deepest depths. A marriage of the cinema of Hitchcock and Buñuel.
The Housemaid (2010) (하녀)
Im Sang-soo
An aesthetically delightful remake of Im Sang-soo's 1960 classic about a maid who violently shakes up a posh family. Seductive cinema of the addictive kind.
Hunt (헌트)
Lee Jung-jae
Lee Jung-jae - known from Squid Game - makes his directorial debut with this thrilling spy film.
J
Joint Security Area (공동경비구역)
Park Chan-wook
North-South tensions flare high in this early film by Park Chan-wook. Alongside the political trauma, there is also the bonding of border guards in the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas.
K
The King of Pigs (돼지의 왕)
Yeon Sang-ho
Before he made the zombie fest Train to Busan, Yeon Sang-ho surprised with this animated film about the devastating effects of bullying at school, an arena where extreme brutality and social inequality prevail, reflecting Korean society in general.
L
Little Forest (리틀 포레스트)
Yim Soon-rye
In the tradition of 'food films' like Tampopo or Eat Drink Man Woman, this is a tasty South Korean spectacle in which the dishes are not only a feast for the eyes, but also reflect the feelings of the characters.
M
Madonna (마돈나)
Shin Su-won
This brilliantly directed thriller is also a virulent indictment of the ruling elite in a ruthless class society that a nurse goes to a war against and a prostitute falls victim to.
N
Next Sohee (다음 소희)
July Jung
Next Sohee is a powerful indictment of exploitation in Korean workplaces, where numbers matter more than people. July Jung's sophomore feature is a haunting but empathetic plea for change.
The Novelist's Film (소설가의 영화)
Hong Sang-soo
South Korean director Hong Sang-soo sensually celebrates the pleasant coincidences of life. A new black-and-white, tragicomic gem from the auteur filmmaker who is expanding his impressive oeuvre year by year.
P
Painted Fire (취화선)
Im Kwon-taek
Veteran director Im Kwon-taek tells the story of a famous Korean painter and erotomaniac who is completely absorbed in his work and goes through life drinking and copulating. The film is set against the backdrop of Korea's turbulent history of the second half of the 19th century.
S
The Spy Gone North (공작)
Yoon Jong-bin
The true story of the spy 'Black Venus', a loyal South Korean secret agent tasked with extracting information about the nuclear programme of North Korea in the 1990s, inspires Yoon Jong-bin to create a Korean version of the moral twilight zones from John le Carré's novels.
W
Walk Up (탑)
Hong Sang-soo
Away from all trends, Hong Sang-soo diligently continues to build a completely unique cinematic universe. Walk Up is vintage Hong, hovering between humour and melancholy.
Woman is the Future of Man (여자는 남자의 미래다)
Hong Sang-soo
Delicately and elegantly, arthouse favourite Hong Sang-soo observes with requisite understated humour the floundering and fumbling of ordinary people struggling with the fragile and elusive nature of love.