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9 - 11 November 2018: Heart to Heart: Lee Myung-se

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The London Korean Film Festival (LKFF) presents three early features by Korean New Wave director Lee Myung-se. Presented here on 35mm each film will be followed by a discussion between Lee and LKFF programmer Mark Morris.

"People might find my films confusing, and perhaps that’s because I insist that film communicates without explanation. I think of my films as transmitting meaning directly, from heart to heart." – Lee Myung-se

Lee Myung-se’s films are exceptional and distinctive, and not only by Korean standards. Of the "new wave" directors he is perhaps the one least obviously marked [...] by the political struggles of the 1980s, but his films bespeak an even stronger impatience with the mainstream movie-making tradition [...] Lee’s work is committedly cosmopolitan in its refusal to limit itself to Korean terms of reference. It is also committedly innovative” – Tony Rayns

My Love, My Bride
Lee Myung-se
1993 | 108 min | Colour | 35mm
Korean with English subtitles
Followed by a Q&A with the director

Would-be poet Yeong-min is ready to pop the question to college sweetheart Mi-yeong just at the moment when she is convinced Yeong-min is ready to break things off. The story of this young couple will be shaped by a series of comical mishaps and misunderstandings. Animation, thought bubbles, sets that revel in their staginess, even the clumsy specs foisted on lead actors Park Joong-hoon and Choi Jin-sil: all contribute to an emerging Lee Myung-se aesthetic. read more

First Love
Lee Myung-se
1996 | 106 min | Colour | 35mm
Korean with English subtitles
Followed by a Q&A with the director

Yeong-shin is an innocent young woman from a nice family living in a pleasant if fairly poor neighbourhood in a town somewhere far from the big city. When her am-dram club decides to invite a writer from Seoul to come direct their production of Our Town, Yeong-shin, despite an unpromising first encounter with a grubby, hard-drinking Chang-wook, manages to fall head over heels. read more

Their Last Love Affair
Lee Myung-se
2018 | 17 min | Colour | Digital
Korean with English subtitles
Followed by a Q&A with the director

Poet-professor Yeong-min meets Yeong-hee, an attractive writer who has reviewed a collection of his poems. They click: literary criticism is far from their minds as they dash off to a hotel room for some fairly acrobatic lovemaking. He becomes obsessed with Yeong-hee; she makes an effort to resist, but not for long. read more

Can’t Live Without You
Lee Myung-se
2018 | 17 min | Colour | Digital
Korean with English subtitles
Followed by a Q&A with the director

A young woman comes dragging a huge suitcase along a train platform. A young man offers to help her up the stairway. What follows becomes a mysterious dance of shadows. read more


Part of LKFF 2018. This years festival runs for two weeks in London (1-14 November) and finishes with a tour across the UK (16-25 November). The programme features a diverse selection of contemporary hits fresh from the Korean box office along with our many eclectic strands including everything from indie cinema, classics, artists video, animation and more.

We'd like to thank the London Korean Film Festival and Korean Film Archive for making this programme possible.

More info: koreanfilm.co.uk