Miljeong
South Korea, 2016
Korean with English and Czech subtitles
Director: Kim Jae-woon
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Gong Yoo, Han Ji-min, Shin Sung-rok, Shingo Tsumuri
Distributor: Finecut
Lee Jung-chool (Song Kang-ho) is a Korean police officer working for the Japanese, who is on a mission to reveal a Korean independence group. Korea has been, in fact, more than 15 years under the rule of Japan. As part of the task, he begins to meet up with Woo-jin (Gong Yoo) in his photographic studio which is just a front for Woo-jin’s illegal activity. But once Jung-chool gets to know the resistance group which includes some of his former friends, he begins to doubt the Japanese government and his loyalty. He now faces a crucial question: Should he be the hunter or the hunted?
The Age of Shadows was a great success in South Korea and it was selected as the South Korean candidate for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Nie yin niang
Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, 2015
Mandarin with Czech subtitles
Director: Hsiao-Hsien Hou
Starring: Qi Shu, Chen Chang, Yun Zhou, Satoshi Tsumabuki
Distributor: Film Europe
Set in 9th century China, this film poem is a visually stunning tale with elements of the wuxia genre (Chinese equivalent of the medieval chivalric epic with elements of fantasy) from one of the greatest filmmakers of the current era. Nie Yinnian (Shu Qi) is a professional assassin. One day, having failed in a task, she is ordered by her mistress to return to the place of her birth and kill the man to whom she was once promised – her cousin who leads the biggest military region in North China.
Yi jiu si er
China, 2012
Mandarin with English and Czech subtitles
Director: Xiaogang Feng
Starring: Guoli Zhang, Daoming Chen, Adrien Brody, Tim Robbins, Wei Fan
Distributor: Huayi Brothers
Leading Chinese hitmaker Feng Xiaogang, the director of movies such as Assembly (2007) or Aftershock (2010), further elaborates yet another combination of historical epic spectacles and emotional melodramas. Based on true events, it tells the story about a famine that broke out in China’s Henan province during the winter of 1942.
Gokseong
South Korea, 2016
Korean with English and Czech subtitles
Director: Hong-jin Na
Starring: Do-won Kwak, Jeong-min Hwang, Jun Kunimura, Woo-hee Cheon
Distributor: Finecut
This mystery Korean horror proves that the old forces and curses can quietly but powerfully dominate even in the modern era. A small town, southwest from Seoul, has been living a quiet life. But one foggy morning a local police officer is rushed to a violent murder, unprecedented among the locals. This horrific crime is only the first in a series of murders. The killers are always family-related. They show symptoms of catatonia and are covered with an unknown skin disease. The cases are increasing and the police are helpless.
The Wailing is the third eagerly awaited feature film by Na Hong-jin. His previous daring and atypical thrillers The Chaser (2008) and The Yellow Sea (2010) have made him popular among the elite of Korean directors closely monitored by international festivals.
Boosanhaeng
South Korea, 2016
Korean with English and Czech subtitles
Director: Sang-ho Yeon
Starring: Yoo Gong, Yu-mi Yeong, Dong-seok Ma, Woo-sik Choi, So-hee Ahn
Distributor: New Entertainment World
Seok Woo (Gong Yoo) decides to take his daughter Soo-an (Kim Soo-an) to her mother by a train as a birthday present. When the train departs a zombie epidemic breaks out in the country, affecting the passengers, as well. And a ruthless fight for survival begins.
Yeon Sang-ho is a director of visually stunning and rough animated movies (The King of Pigs, 2012). With the Train to Busan he moved to feature films to depict social criticism against the background of a stunning action. This, and the ensemble including top Korean actors, is why the movie has become the best Korean box-office in 2016.
La Tortue Rouge
France, Japan, 2016
Without words
Director: Michaël Dudok de Wit
Distributor: Aerofilms
The story of a castaway on a tropical island inhabited by turtles, crabs, and birds is also a universal story of crucial moments in human life. Oscar director Michaël Dudok de Wit recounts a dialogue-less story of self-knowledge, love, and changing of generations only through perfectly crafted animation. This magical story, well understood across generations and continents, won Un Certain Regard Special Prize at Cannes Film Festival and it is the first collaboration project between Japanese Ghibli studio and European co-production.
Agasshi
South Korea, 2016
Korean with Czech subtitles
Director: Chan-wook Park
Starring: Tae-ri Kim, Min-hee Kim, Jeong-woo Ha, Jin-woong Jo, Hae-sook Kim
Distributor: Aerofilms
A noble lady, Hideko (Kim Min-hee), lives a secluded life on a country estate with her uncle (Cho Jin-woong) who is also her guardian. Lecherous uncle is overly strict with Hideko and waits for her to grow up so he can marry her and seize her wealth. However, a swindler appears at the house and schemes the hiring of a young maid, Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri). She is, in fact, a poor pickpocket and should help him seduce Hideko. A well-thought-out plan begins to crumble because passion starts to grow between the two girls. Soon, it ceases to be clear who is cheating whom. One of the most outstanding South Korean directors Park Chan-wook has created a dynamic thriller full of twists imbued by suggestive erotic atmosphere based on a bestseller novel Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.
Koi suru minami
Japan, Singapore, 2013
Japanese with English and Korean subtitles
Director: Kahwai Lim
Starring: Sherine Wong, Kenji Kohashi, Seol-a Baek, Miho Fujima, Tomomi Ishimura
An editor of fashion magazine, college student, Korean stewardess or a family man. All of them are meeting in Minami. The director Lim Kahwai transferred on a movie screen stories of few lonely people trying to find love across continents and he shows problems of people of different cultures, economic status or family backround shrouded in winter Osaka.
Seoulyeok
South Korea, 2015
Korean with English and Czech subtitles
Director: Sang-ho Yeon
Starring: Seung-ryong Ryoo, Eun-kyeong Sim, Joon Lee, Seung-hoon Myeong
Distributor: Finecut
Hye-sun (Shim Eun-kyeong) and her boyfriend Ki-woong (Lee Joon) are hiding from her ex-pimp. One evening they get into a fight and Ki-woong breaks up with her. Hye-sun’s father appears and wants his daughter back. Ki-woong is to help him with that. Meanwhile, a homeless person with a bite on his neck roams the Seoul station and nobody really cares. This starts a night of chaos, fear, despair, and people struggling to stay alive.
With his third animated feature Yeon Sang-ho brilliantly reveals the dark corners of the mind of people living on the margins of society and presents the film as a prequel to his first feature film Train to Busan.