Korean Film Days kicks off at Rainbow Theatre

AMMAN — Jordanian audiences will get a taste of Korea’s culture at the 12th edition of the Korean Film Festival, which is set to kick off on Sunday at the Rainbow Theatre.

Organised by the Korean embassy, in cooperation with the Royal Film Commission (RFC) and the Korean Film Council, the festival will run through December 12, showcasing a selection of renowned Korean films with English subtitles.

Seontae Hwang, responsible for the festival at the Korean embassy, told The Jordan Times: “We have been celebrating this festival repeatedly since 2006 and it has become one of our public diplomacy activities in the Kingdom,” adding that “the embassy hopes that the Jordanian people enjoy the Korean culture that the movies carry.”

Hwang noted that “for this year, and in comparison with our previous editions, we have chosen the latest and most popular movies in Korea released over the past year.”

“Each of the films represents a different Korean cinematic style, and all of them portray the life of the Korean people, from their personal relations to their history,” Hwang added. 

“Train to Busan” is the film selected for the opening of the festival, directed by Yeon Sang-ho and starring Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi and Ma Dong-seok.

A zombie apocalypse breaks in a train in this action thriller film, where social satire meets melodrama and gore as the passengers attempt to save their lives. 

“This movie premiered in the Midnight Screenings Section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and set a record as the first Korean film of 2016 to break the audience record of over 10 million theatergoers,” Hwang highlighted. 

The festival will continue on Monday with “The beauty inside”, the directorial debut of Baek Jong-yul in which furniture designer Woo-jin wakes up in a different body every day regardless of age, gender and nationality. The romantic comedy was based on the American social film of the same title.

“The age shadows” was chosen for the closure of the festival, featuring a Korean police captain (Song Kang-ho) charged with rooting out members of his country’s resistance movement by his Japanese overlords.

Director of this period action thriller Kim Jee-won received international critical acclaim by media outlets such as Metacritic, The Film Stage, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.