Close Up

9 November 2019: LKFF: Piagol

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Piagol
Lee Kang-Cheon, 1955, 110 min
Korean with English Subtitles

"A band of "red" partisans runs up a mountain gorge under fire. We the spectators enter with them into Piagol – Pia Valley – at full speed, deep into the Jiri mountains. Their numbers will soon be reduced to a handful: captain Agari ("big mouth"), his second-in-command Cheol-su, a few male adults, two women and a boy. This micro-society of revolution will gradually consume itself.

Piagol was one of only 15 Korean films released in 1955. Hindsight suggests this year as the beginning of a Golden Age, at least a remarkable decade and a half, for film in South Korea. While the best-known products of the post-Korean War cinema would be predominantly melodramas and/or period films, Piagol attempted something more challenging: a historically informed, though still anti-communist, representation of leftist partisan fighters left stranded in the South after the main phase of the war ended in stalemate and the Armistice of July 1953 confirmed the bloody status quo." – LKFF


Part of the London Korean Film Festival's celebration of a century of Korean cinema.

The London Korean Film Festival (LKFF) presents it's 14th edition, taking place from 1st-14th November in London before embarking on the annual tour 18th-24th November. The Special Focus, and much of this year’s festival programme, highlights the historic milestone of 100-years of Korean cinema along with an exciting mix of UK and International premieres, guests and events across a diverse set of strands; Cinema Now, Women's Voices, Documentary, Hidden Figures: Ha Gil-jong, Artist Video, Animation and Mise-en-scène Shorts.

More info: http://koreanfilm.co.uk