The 22nd Florence Korea Film Fest will kick off on March 21. Shown above is the event's official poster. (Festival's official website)

By Kim Seon Ah

The 22nd Florence Korea Film Fest in Italy will kick off on March 21.

Since its launch in 2002, the festival has promoted Korean cinema in Italy for over 20 years.

This year's edition will screen 30 feature-length and 56 short films.

The opening film is "Concrete Utopia" by director Um Tae-hwa, a post-apocalyptic thriller about survivors of a massive earthquake in Seoul who gather at Hwanggung (Imperial Palace) Apartment, the only building left standing in the capital. The cast includes Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon and Park Bo-young.

A retrospective of the works of the movie's lead actor Lee will also be held. Six of his films will be shown, and he will lead an invitational master class and hold a Q&A with the audience.

"Sleep," the debut work by director Jason Yu that was screened last year in the Critics' Week section of the Cannes Film Festival, will be the closing film.

For the upcoming movie "Cobweb," lead actor Song Kang-ho and director Kim Jee-woon will also hold a master class at the festival.

Five domestic film classics from the 1960s, a decade dubbed the "Renaissance of Korean cinema," will make their debuts in Italy with support from the Korean Film Archive: "Aimless Bullet" (1961) by director Yu Hyun-mok; "Mist" (1967) by Kim Soo-yong; "The North and South" (1964) by Kim Kee-duk; "The Devil's Stairway" (1964) by Lee Man-hee; and "Mother and a Guest" (1961) by Shin Sang-ok.

Pianist Jung Jae-il and the Florentine Chamber Orchestra will hold a joint concert on the last day as the festival's finale.

This year's Florence Korea Film Fest will run through March 30 at Cinema the Company (Cinema la Compagnia) in Florence.

sofiakim218@korea.kr