The 17th London Korean Film Festival opened in the British capital on Nov. 3. Shown is Choi Dong-hoon, director of "Alienoid" (2022) and "The Thieves" (2012), greeting film fans at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. (Festival's Facebook page)

By Yoon Sojung

The 17th London Korean Film Festival opened in the British capital on Nov. 3.

To run through Nov. 17 in London and Nov. 27 in Manchester, this year's event features 44 works from genres like horror, documentaries, indie and shorts at nine theaters in London and others in Manchester and Glasgow, Scotland.

Hosted by the Korean Cultural Centre (KCC) in London, this is the largest festival overseas dedicated to Korean cinema.

Yonhap News quoted the KCC as saying tickets for the opening film "Alienoid" (2022) directed by ‎Choi Dong-hoon was sold out on the first day of sales. The opening ceremony on Nov. 3 was held at a 185-seat theater of the Institute of Contemporary Art, a major center for modern British art and culture.

Another film by Choi, "The Thieves" (2012), was screened on Nov. 4 followed by a dialogue between the director and the audience at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the world's largest for decorative arts and design and host of the ongoing exhibition "Hallyu, the Korean Wave." Thanks to strong audience interest, all 300 tickets for the talk also sold out.

The festival will show Korean films in a variety of genres including "Broker" (2022), directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda and scheduled for its U.K. premiere on Nov. 10. The movie earned Song Kang-ho the award for Best Actor at this year's Cannes Festival.

Reporters from British media including the daily Guardian and movie magazines Deadline and Little White Lies attended the opening ceremony. The December edition of Sight and Sound, a monthly published by the British Film Institute, took a closer look at the films in this festival and the Korean horror genre, Yonhap quoted the KCC as saying.

The BBC movie program "Talking Movies" will feature the works of director Choi and the late actor Kang Soo-yeon. 

The American business magazine Forbes said in a Nov. 1 article headlined "London Korean Film Festival Features Classic And Current Hit Films," "Some of the year's best Korean films will be featured at the London Korean Film Festival (LKFF), which takes place from Nov. 3 to 17."

The closing ceremony is slated for Nov. 17 at Regent Street Cinema in London and Nov. 27 at Home Manchester in Manchester. The closing film is "Hansan: Rising Dragon" (2022) directed by Kim Han-min.

More information on the festival is available on its official homepage: www.koreanfilm.co.uk.

arete@korea.kr