Korea Times: ‘Believer’ to open Korean film festival in New Zealand

The Korea Times published the following story in October 2018.  Read the full article here

 

‘Believer’ to open Korean film festival in New Zealand

By Kang Hyun-kyung

The crime action film “Believer” will open the 2018 Korean Film Festival in New Zealand.

Directed by Lee Hae-young, the crime action movie had attracted 5.2 million at home since it was released on May 22. It was the late actor Kim Ju-hyuk’s last film before he died in a car crash in October last year.

The Korean film fest will take place from Oct. 11 to 14 in Auckland, and from Nov. 9 through 11 in Hamilton.

Ten Korean films will be screened at Academy Cinemas in Auckland and at the University of Waikato in Hamilton during the festival.

The 2016 film “Run-off” is one of the films to be showcased. The movie is based on a true story of Korea’s women’s national ice hockey team and depicts its members’ struggles to make ends meet while working hard to make their dream come true. Athletes juggle two or three jobs while playing for the national team.

Another box-office hit, “I Can Speak,” which deals with the struggles of war-time sex slaves under the Japanese military, will also be showcased there.

The Korean Embassy in New Zealand has been hosting the annual film festival.

On the sidelines of the event, several Korean short films will screen at the Show Me Shorts Film Festival. Gina Dellabarca, the founder of the film festival, worked hard to host Korea as the guest of honor since she joined the Busan International Film Festival last year.

Her efforts bore fruit this year as the film festival will showcase many Korean short films during the fest which opened Oct. 5 and will run until Oct. 28.