Florence Korea Film Fest to kick off in April

Taegukgi Toscana Korea Association on Thursday announced that this year’s Florence Korea Film Fest will take place at Cinema La Compagnia in Florence, Italy, from April 7 to 15.

Some of the movies also will be screened online on the platform Piu Compagnia during the festival.

Although the event organizer has not revealed the full list, it said 12 Korean actors, directors and producers will attend the film festival to mark its 20th anniversary.

During the last 20 years, over 2,000 Korean films have been introduced at the festival and more than 100 Korean actors and film industry insiders have attended the event.

The opening film of this year’s festival in Italy will be “Heaven: To the Land of Happiness” directed by Im Sang-soo.

Im’s movie centers on two men: No. 203, played by Choi Min-sik, and Nam-sik, played by Park Hye-il. Longtime prisoner No. 203 one day finds out he only has two weeks to live due to a brain tumor. Upon learning the news, he decides to break out of prison. While escaping, No. 203 meets Nam-sik, who is suffering from a life threatening disease and is also on the run because he stole expensive medicine from hospitals to treat his illness. Their trip takes an unexpected turn when the two men accidentally steal a large sum of ill-gotten money from Madame Yoon, played by Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung.

The South Korean movie opened the 26th Busan International Film Festival, which was held in October last year, and has also made it on the Cannes Film Festival’s 2020 Official Selection list.

A total of 35 features and 41 short films will be screened during the festival and it will close with director Ryoo Seung-wan’s “Escape from Mogadishu.”

Ryoo’s movie is based on a true event. Set in 1991 the film features rival South and North Korean diplomats having to cooperate with each other to escape Somalia when the civil war breaks out.

There will also be a new “Webtoon & Cinema” section that will screen four Korean movies created based on Korean webtoons. More details about the films under the section were not immediately available as of Friday.

Meanwhile, the Korean Cultural Center in Brussels, Belgium, is also holding a Korean movie event to screen films related to the hit Netflix show “Squid Game” at Cinema Galeries.

A total of six films featuring actors that appeared on the Netflix show are being screened.

The event kicked off on Feb. 3 with “Deliver Us from Evil” starring Lee Jung-jae, who played Sung Ki-hoon in “Squid Game.”

The screening, which runs through March 17, presents a movie every Thursday at 7:00 p.m. except on March 3.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)