Parasite composer Jung Jae-il on poster 49th Film Fest Ghent
Poster FFG2022: Jung Jae-il
Since his collaboration with filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, things have been moving fast for the multi-talented singer-songwriter, composer and music producer Jung Jae-il. After serving as a music director on Sea Fog (2014), produced by Bong, he got the chance to write the score for Bong's intelligent adventure film Okja (2017), which competed for the Palme d'Or. Their follow-up project proved to be a critical and commercial hit - in which Jung Jae-il's music also had its share: Parasite (2019) won the Palme d'Or and was the first foreign-language film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Even fans of TV series can't get around Jung anymore. Combining traditional Korean percussion with classical and electronic western elements, he created the catchy original score for the Netflix series Squid Game, another pop culture phenomenon. Jung Jae-il's latest work is the score for Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker, which played in competition in Cannes.
Focus on South Korean Cinema
The 49th Film Fest Ghent will focus on South Korean cinema. South Korean cinema has long been one of the world's most interesting. The fact that it so popular now, thanks to successes like Parasite, only confirms this. Moreover, South Korea has a very diverse film culture, with grand spectacles, gritty crime thrillers, stories with delicious twists and turns, but also smaller films such as Hong Sang-soo's. Cinema in South Korea is bursting with creativity and inventiveness, resulting in - amongst so many other things - exciting genre films. All the more reason to present a focus on South Korea, including a section in the film programme (Focus on South Korean Cinema), a retrospective (curated by Patrick Duynslaegher) and a film music concert (Korean Composers Concert). The section 'Focus on South Korean Cinema' will include the latest feature by Hong Sang-soo (The Novelist's Film), who has been one of the driving forces of modern Korean cinema. To underline the resurgence of Korean cinema in the 21st century, the retrospective, presented in the section 'Classics', will consist of films released in the last 22 years, including The Host (2006) by Bong Joon-ho and Burning (2018) by Lee Chang-dong - with the inclusion of one earlier film: The Housemaid (1960) by Kim Ki-young, one of the inspiration for Bong's Parasite.
Korean Composers Concert
No Film Fest Ghent without a spectacular film music concert. On 20 October, the festival will be serving up a musical trip to South Korea with the Korean Composers Concert, a concert entirely devoted to the best that Korean music for screen has to offer. The Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by Maestro Dirk Brossé, will perform music by Cho Young-wuk, the go-to composer of Park Chan-wook (Joint Security Area, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, The Handmaiden, Decision to Leave ...). Cho Young-wuk will be present at the concert. Also the music of Jung Jae-il will have its place at the Korean Composers Concert. His scores for cultural phenomena Parasite and Squid Game - amongst others - will be performed live.
The focus on South Korean cinema is supported by the Korean Cultural Center (Brussels).
