24 - 30 September

The Adelaide Festival Centre’s OzAsia Festival, KOFIC (Korean Film Council) and the Media Resource Centre present the Korea On Screen, a selection of Korean feature films showcasing the scope of screen culture throughout the South Korea region.

Tickets are available now and can be purcased at the Mercury Cinema during the business hours or by phoning 08 8410 1934.

Tickets $12/$10

OzAisa On Screen

Hong Kong On Screen

Sweet & Short

Koera On Screen

Dir: Lee Hae-Joon & Lee Hae-Young
2006 South Korea 116mins 35mm
Korean language with English subtitles
Oh Dong-gu dreams of being a pop singer like Madonna but there are obstacles... He has an alcoholic father, is chubby, unfit and suffers unrequited love for his Japanese teacher, yet the belief in his dreams drives him to find a solution to the biggest problem he faces, the five million won cost of a sex change. As most in his situation would do, he enters the Inechon High School wrestling competition that has prize money of exactly that amount. To become Madonna, he must first become the wrestling champion. An upbeat and fun story certain to inspire secret dreams.

Dir: Jung Brothers
2007 South Korea 98mins 35mm
Korean language with English subtitles
Hailed by some as the best Korean horror film of 2007, Epitaph intelligently weaves three stories that send shivers down the spine and leave one pondering philosophical questions about life and love after death. In 1979, elderly Dr. PARK receives an old photo album from his 20s back in 1942. He was bound by his parents to marry a girl whom he had never met, but instead fell in love with a dead body who ironically happened to be the woman he had been arranged to marry. Retracing the period in the hospital where he worked, a little girl from a fatal car accident was carried in without any physical injury but was haunted by ghosts every night. Adding to the complexity of the tale, two doctors return to the hospital from Tokyo and unceasing serial murders follow them.

Dir: Lee Chang-Dong
2007 South Korea 141mins 35mm
Korean language with English subtitles
Recently widowed, Shin-ae (JEON Do-youn) and her son move from Seoul to a small town, her late husband’s birthplace. Having given up a career as a concert pianist when she married, she sets up a piano school in town and enrols her son in school but the move is not quite the new beginning that Shin-ae anticipated. Locals prove to be gossipy and tragedy strikes leaving her distraught and vulnerable. It is at this point that writer / director LEE Chang-dong intensifies the story with a captivating twist involving Shin-ae’s recruitment to a Christian group. The film has received noteworthy awards: Best Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and JEON Do-youn was the first Korean to ever win Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival.

Dir: Bong Joon-Ho
2000 South Korea 106mins 35mm
Korean language with English subtitles
In a peaceful middle-class apartment building, part-time lecturer Yoon-ju becomes hyper-sensitive to a dog’s barking. He puts his ear to the walls in an attempt to pinpoint the source. Then one day, returning from his recycling ritual, he discovers a puppy in front of his neighbour’s door. Convinced that it is the barking culprit, he imprisons the puppy in the basement. Meanwhile, the apartment custodian Hyun-nam searches for the puppy with its young owner. Satisfied of being rid of the dog, Yoon-ju returns to his apartment only to hear barking again. He rushes to the basement, but the puppy is nowhere to be found… This is an engaging and entertaining story with unexpected complexities from the director of The Host and Mother.