The schedule is up for the 2013 Seoul LGBT Film Festival (SeLFF). Finally. I've compiled a list of the films that will play this year. Hope to see you there!
Vito 비토: The story of Vito Russo, founding father of the gay liberation movement, author of "The Celluloid Closet," and vociferous AIDS activist in the 1980s. (IMDB)
English with Korean subtitles. The film screens Thursday, June 6th at 10:30 and Sunday the 16th at 12:30.
~~~
Kiss Me (키스 미): MIA (Ruth Vega Fernandez) and FRIDA (Liv Mjönes), both in their thirties, meet each other for the first time at their parents' engagement party. Mia's father, Lasse (Krister Henriksson), is about to get married to Frida's mother, Elizabeth (Lena Endre), which will make Mia and Frida stepsisters. Lasse's daughter, Mia, has not visited her father in years and arrives with her boyfriend, Tim (Joakim Nätterqvist), with whom she is about to get married. As Mia and Frida get to know one another, strong emotions begin to stir between them. Their relationship will turn everything upside down for everyone close to them with dramatic consequences. (IMDB)
Swedish with Korean subtitles. Screens on the 6th at 12:30 and the 11th at 19:30.
~~~
Parade (퍼레이드): A homophobic, middle-aged, Serbian gangster ends up sacrificing himself to protect Gay freedom in his country. RADMILO (35) and MIRKO (30) are young and successful gay couple, and they would be a happy couple anywhere else except in - Serbia. They try to live discreetly but still, every day they are abused by the homophobic majority. Plus, Mirko is a gay rights activist, and his dream is to organize the first successful PRIDE event in Belgrade. This is almost a "mission impossible"; in 2001, an attempt to hold PRIDE in Belgrade ended up in bloodshed. One decade later, the situation is not much better - nationalist and neo-Nazi organizations prepare another massacre in case of holding the gay parade, while the police refuse to provide protection for the participants. A strange couple arrives in Radmilo's and Mirko's life - LEMON (45) an ex criminal and war veteran, the owner of a small security company and his fiance - PEARL (30) a beauty parlor owner. Radmilo, a successful ... Written by Srdjan Dragojevic (IMDB)
Screens at 14:30 on June 6th and 17:00 on June 10th. Serbian with Korean subtitles
~~~
Out in the Dark (아웃 인 더 다크) A drama centered on the love affair between two men on opposite sites of the Mid-East conflict: Palestinian student Nimer and Roy, an Israeli lawyer. (IMDB)
Hebrew and English with Koren subtitles. Screens on June 6th and June 15th at 19:30.
~~~
Hong Kong Special Feature: Leaders. Korean subtitles.
~~~
Two Korean films: 2의 증명명 (To Become Two) and 로즈 온 에어 (Twenty minutes)
To Become Two SynopsisHong You-jung, who had lived her 42 years of life as a legally dead, is now preparing to apply for the gender correction procedure. She cannot afford to take a sex reassignment surgery (SRS) and her neighbors keep discouraging her by saying that her attempt will come to a failure.
~~~
Call me Kuchu (나는 쿠추다) In Uganda, a new bill threatens to make homosexuality punishable by death. David Kato - Uganda's first openly gay man - and his fellow activists work against the clock to defeat the legislation while combating vicious persecution in their daily lives. But no one, not even the filmmakers, is prepared for the brutal murder that shakes the movement to its core and sends shock waves around the world. (IMDB)
English and Luganda and with English and Korean subtitles. June 7th at 19:30 and June 14th at 14:30.
~~~
Love or Whatever (사랑이든 뮈든지) Corey had it all - a successful career, a sister who's his best friend and most of all, a bright future with his boyfriend. But, when the boyfriend dumps him for a woman, Corey sets off on a wild journey of self-discovery that leads him to new love and a life-changing choices. (IMDB)
English with Korean subtitles. 6/7 at 23:00 (KU Cinema) and 6/13 at 19:30 (Seoul Art Cinema)
~~~
Bear City 2: The Proposal (베어시티 2 청훈) BearCity is a hirsute "Sex and the City," following the funny, romantic, and occasionally dramatic adventures of a group of bears and cubs in New York City. The sequel, BearCity 2 follows our familiar characters and a few new ones as they head to Provincetown, MA for Bear Week!
English with Korean subtitles. June 7 at 1 am (at KU Cinema) and June 9th at 19:30 (Seoul Art Cinema).
~~~
J. Edgar (제이. 에드가) Biopic of J. Edgar Hoover told by Hoover as he recalls his career for a biography. Early in his career, Hoover fixated on Communists, anarchists and any other revolutionary taking action against the U.S. government. He slowly builds the agency's reputation, becoming the sole arbiter of who gets hired and fired. One of his hires is Clyde Tolson who is quickly promoted to Assistant Director and would be Hoover's confidant and companion for the rest of Hoover's life. Hoover's memories have him playing a greater role in the many high profile cases the FBI was involved in - the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the arrest of bank robbers like John Dillinger - and also show him to be quite adept at manipulating the various politicians he's worked with over his career, thanks in large part to his secret files. (IMDB)
English with Korean subtitles. 6/7 at 4 AM (KU Cinema) and 6/12 at 19:30 (Seoul Art Cinema)
~~~
Keep the Lights On (라잇 온 미) This film played last year at the film festival... but I guess it is back? It's 1997 and New York City is in a state of intense flux when documentary filmmaker Erik Rothman (Thure Lindhardt) first meets Paul Lucy (Zachary Booth), a handsome but closeted lawyer in the publishing field. What begins as a highly charged first encounter soon becomes something much more, and a relationship quickly develops. As the two men start building a home and life together, each continues to privately battle their own compulsions and addictions. A film about sex, friendship, intimacy and most of all, love, Keep the Lights On takes an honest look at the nature of relationships in our times. (IMDB)
English with Korean subtitles. Screening on 6/8 at 12:30 and on 6/12 at 17:00.
~~~
Hong Kong Special Feature: 천녀 유혼. Korean subtitles. 6/8 at 12:30
~~~
청포도 사탕 17년 전의 약속 (Green Grape Candies: A 17 Year Old Promise)
This Korean movie looks really intriguing. It is also one of the few Korean films without subtitles. Sigh. Anyone want to struggle to understand this film without English subtitles with TKQ? It is screening on the 8th and 13th at 17:00.
~~~
Facing Mirrors (페이싱 미러즈) Rana has chosen a path in order to support her family, while Adineh (Eddie) has fled his home and city to escape his complicated situation as a transsexual man prevented from living as his true self by his family. They find themselves on the same journey and caused to know each other in a better way.
Screens 6/8 at 19:30 and 6/12 at 14:30. Farsi with English and Korean subtitles.
~~~
Love Free or Die (로빈슨 주교의 두가지 사랑) LOVE FREE OR DIE is about a man whose two defining passions are in direct conflict: his love for God and for his partner Mark. Gene Robinson is the first openly gay person to become a bishop in the historic traditions of Christendom. His consecration in 2003, to which he wore a bullet-proof vest, caused an international stir, and he has lived with death threats every day since. The film follows Robinson's personal story as American churches debate whether or not lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are equal to heterosexuals in the eyes of God while our nation debates whether LGBT people are equal to heterosexuals in the eyes of the law. In LOVE FREE OR DIE, Bishop Gene steps onto the world stage as he travels from small-town churches to Washington's Lincoln Memorial to London's Lambeth Palace calling for all to stand for equality - inspiring bishops, priests and ordinary folk to come out from the shadows and change history.Written by Christopher White (IMDB)
Love Free or Die screens on Sunday the 9th at 10:30 and the 14th at 19:30.
~~~
Hong Kong Special Feature: 영웅본색. Korean subtitles. 6/9 at 12:30
~~
Fraunsee (여자의 호수) A glorious weekend in the waning days of summer. The protagonist, Rosa, is a guardian of the lakes in the magical hinterland north of Berlin and she is a professional fisher. Her lover, Kirsten, lives in a lakeside bungalow, and together the couple play host to two young students on a weekend break from Berlin. The four womens intense sexual attraction is fuelled be their profoundly different hopes and wordviews... (IMDB)
Screens on the 9th at 17:00 and the 14th at 1 in the morning (KU Cinematech). German with English and Korean subtitles.
~~~
백야 (White Night) Flight attendant Won-Gyu (Won Tae-Hee) left Korea 2 years ago with painful memories and now comes back. Won-Gyu meets Tae-Joon (Lee Yi-Kyung), who is a quick service delivery man and has a special night with him.
Korean with English subtitles. Monday the 10th at 12:30 and Thursday the 13th at 14:30.
~~~
The Intouchables (언처치블: 1%의 우정) In Paris, the aristocratic and intellectual Philippe is a quadriplegic millionaire who is interviewing candidates for the position of his carer, with his red-haired secretary Magalie. Out of the blue, the rude African Driss cuts the line of candidates and brings a document from the Social Security and asks Phillipe to sign it to prove that he is seeking a job position so he can receive his unemployment benefit. Philippe challenges Driss, offering him a trial period of one month to gain experience helping him. Then Driss can decide whether he would like to stay with him or not. Driss accepts the challenge and moves to the mansion, changing the boring life of Phillipe and his employees.
You can watch The Intouchables at 14:30 on June 10th or Friday the 14th at 17:00.
~~~
Two Weddings and a Funeral (두결한장) I've talked about this movie so many times at this blog. Read my review here.
6/10 at 19:30 and 6/15 at 10:30. Korean with English subtitles.
~~~
미쓰 홍당무 (Crush and Blush). A film from 2008. Not sure why it is at the festival... Korean without subtitles.
Yang Mi-sook is an unpopular and frumpy high school Russian teacher, who has a habit of going red in the face. For ten years she has been harbouring a crush on Seo Jong-cheol, her former teacher and now married colleague, though he is more interested in pretty new teacher Lee Yoo-ri. Mi-sook tries to put a halt to this blossoming romance, forming an unlikely alliance with Jong-cheol's daughter, Jong-hee. (Wikipedia)
Screens on 6/11 at 12:30 and 6/15 at 17:00.
~~~
지난여름 갑자기 남쪽으로간다 (Suddenly Last Summer and Going South): I saw these films back in March. Check out my review.
They will be screened with English subtitles on the 11th and the 16th at 14:30 and 10:30 respectively.
~~~
A Perfect Ending (퍼펙트 엔딩) Rebecca has a very unusual secret, one that not even her best friends know about. The last person on earth she expects to reveal it to is a high priced escort named Paris. What starts as a comedy of errors ends up a uniquely erotic journey. Rebecca's unconventional efforts to find herself are raw, evocative, and often times humorous, but always very real, very human. Sometimes a perfect ending is not what you expect it to be.
A Perfect Ending screens on the 14th at 23:00 at KU Cinematech and the 16th at 14:30 at Seoul Art Cinema. English with Korean subtitles.
~~~
Hong Kong Special Feature: 아비정전. Korean subtitles. 6/14 at 12:30
~~~
Hong Kong Special Feature: 백바마녀전. Korean subtitles. 6/15 at 12:30.
~~
The closing film is the Spanish film Sex of the Angels (섹스 오브 더 엔젤). Struggling martial artist and dancer Bruno loves his girlfriend Carla, but when he meets fellow dancer Rai, serious sparks begin to fly, opening the couple up to new possibilities. A new generation navigates sexual fluidity, torn affections, and open relationships in this steamy love triangle. But once Bruno's clandestine encounters with Rai are revealed, a confused and hurt Carla kicks him out. But she simply doesn't want to give up on her love. Eventually she agrees that Bruno can date them both as long as he keeps his life with Rai relatively separate. (IMDB)
The closing film screens at 19:00 on the 16th of June. Spanish with English subtitles.
~~~
There are some other events in the schedule, such as the SeLFF Film Project on Saturday the 15th at 12:30. If I get some more information, I'll try to post it.
All the films are at the Seoul Art Cinema, except the night films at KU Cinematech (which I noted above). Here are the schedules listed on SeLFF's website. I think I got everything... If you have any questions, leave a comment and I'll try to answer.
Vito 비토: The story of Vito Russo, founding father of the gay liberation movement, author of "The Celluloid Closet," and vociferous AIDS activist in the 1980s. (IMDB)
~~~
Kiss Me (키스 미): MIA (Ruth Vega Fernandez) and FRIDA (Liv Mjönes), both in their thirties, meet each other for the first time at their parents' engagement party. Mia's father, Lasse (Krister Henriksson), is about to get married to Frida's mother, Elizabeth (Lena Endre), which will make Mia and Frida stepsisters. Lasse's daughter, Mia, has not visited her father in years and arrives with her boyfriend, Tim (Joakim Nätterqvist), with whom she is about to get married. As Mia and Frida get to know one another, strong emotions begin to stir between them. Their relationship will turn everything upside down for everyone close to them with dramatic consequences. (IMDB)
Swedish with Korean subtitles. Screens on the 6th at 12:30 and the 11th at 19:30.
~~~
Screens at 14:30 on June 6th and 17:00 on June 10th. Serbian with Korean subtitles
~~~
Out in the Dark (아웃 인 더 다크) A drama centered on the love affair between two men on opposite sites of the Mid-East conflict: Palestinian student Nimer and Roy, an Israeli lawyer. (IMDB)
Hebrew and English with Koren subtitles. Screens on June 6th and June 15th at 19:30.
~~~
Hong Kong Special Feature: Leaders. Korean subtitles.
Two Korean films: 2의 증명명 (To Become Two) and 로즈 온 에어 (Twenty minutes)
To Become Two SynopsisHong You-jung, who had lived her 42 years of life as a legally dead, is now preparing to apply for the gender correction procedure. She cannot afford to take a sex reassignment surgery (SRS) and her neighbors keep discouraging her by saying that her attempt will come to a failure.
Screens on 6/7 at 14:30 and 6/11 at 17:00. Korean with English subtitles.
~~~
A Map for a Talk (사랑의 여행) A MAP FOR A TALK is an independent project, an intimate play evolving around three main characters: an adult woman, her mother and her female lover. Two days in their lives occur in two opposing setting, everyday life in the demanding metropolis of Santiago and a sailboat trip cruising a beautiful bay. The three character remain trapped in a claustrophobic confrontation. The film dialogs with 'Knife in the water' from the side of women, an intense character drama with many involuntary humorous scenes. The eternal, never completed quest of seeing and recognizing the other as they are or, at least, as they want to be seen.
Spanish and English with Korean and English subtitles. 6/7 at 5:00 pm (at Seoul Art Cinema) and 6/14 at 4AM (at KU Cinema)
~~~
Call me Kuchu (나는 쿠추다) In Uganda, a new bill threatens to make homosexuality punishable by death. David Kato - Uganda's first openly gay man - and his fellow activists work against the clock to defeat the legislation while combating vicious persecution in their daily lives. But no one, not even the filmmakers, is prepared for the brutal murder that shakes the movement to its core and sends shock waves around the world. (IMDB)English and Luganda and with English and Korean subtitles. June 7th at 19:30 and June 14th at 14:30.
~~~
Love or Whatever (사랑이든 뮈든지) Corey had it all - a successful career, a sister who's his best friend and most of all, a bright future with his boyfriend. But, when the boyfriend dumps him for a woman, Corey sets off on a wild journey of self-discovery that leads him to new love and a life-changing choices. (IMDB)
English with Korean subtitles. 6/7 at 23:00 (KU Cinema) and 6/13 at 19:30 (Seoul Art Cinema)
~~~
Bear City 2: The Proposal (베어시티 2 청훈) BearCity is a hirsute "Sex and the City," following the funny, romantic, and occasionally dramatic adventures of a group of bears and cubs in New York City. The sequel, BearCity 2 follows our familiar characters and a few new ones as they head to Provincetown, MA for Bear Week!
English with Korean subtitles. June 7 at 1 am (at KU Cinema) and June 9th at 19:30 (Seoul Art Cinema).
~~~
J. Edgar (제이. 에드가) Biopic of J. Edgar Hoover told by Hoover as he recalls his career for a biography. Early in his career, Hoover fixated on Communists, anarchists and any other revolutionary taking action against the U.S. government. He slowly builds the agency's reputation, becoming the sole arbiter of who gets hired and fired. One of his hires is Clyde Tolson who is quickly promoted to Assistant Director and would be Hoover's confidant and companion for the rest of Hoover's life. Hoover's memories have him playing a greater role in the many high profile cases the FBI was involved in - the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the arrest of bank robbers like John Dillinger - and also show him to be quite adept at manipulating the various politicians he's worked with over his career, thanks in large part to his secret files. (IMDB)English with Korean subtitles. 6/7 at 4 AM (KU Cinema) and 6/12 at 19:30 (Seoul Art Cinema)
~~~
Keep the Lights On (라잇 온 미) This film played last year at the film festival... but I guess it is back? It's 1997 and New York City is in a state of intense flux when documentary filmmaker Erik Rothman (Thure Lindhardt) first meets Paul Lucy (Zachary Booth), a handsome but closeted lawyer in the publishing field. What begins as a highly charged first encounter soon becomes something much more, and a relationship quickly develops. As the two men start building a home and life together, each continues to privately battle their own compulsions and addictions. A film about sex, friendship, intimacy and most of all, love, Keep the Lights On takes an honest look at the nature of relationships in our times. (IMDB) English with Korean subtitles. Screening on 6/8 at 12:30 and on 6/12 at 17:00.
~~~
Hong Kong Special Feature: 천녀 유혼. Korean subtitles. 6/8 at 12:30
~~~
청포도 사탕 17년 전의 약속 (Green Grape Candies: A 17 Year Old Promise)
This Korean movie looks really intriguing. It is also one of the few Korean films without subtitles. Sigh. Anyone want to struggle to understand this film without English subtitles with TKQ? It is screening on the 8th and 13th at 17:00.
~~~
Facing Mirrors (페이싱 미러즈) Rana has chosen a path in order to support her family, while Adineh (Eddie) has fled his home and city to escape his complicated situation as a transsexual man prevented from living as his true self by his family. They find themselves on the same journey and caused to know each other in a better way.
Screens 6/8 at 19:30 and 6/12 at 14:30. Farsi with English and Korean subtitles.
~~~
Love Free or Die (로빈슨 주교의 두가지 사랑) LOVE FREE OR DIE is about a man whose two defining passions are in direct conflict: his love for God and for his partner Mark. Gene Robinson is the first openly gay person to become a bishop in the historic traditions of Christendom. His consecration in 2003, to which he wore a bullet-proof vest, caused an international stir, and he has lived with death threats every day since. The film follows Robinson's personal story as American churches debate whether or not lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are equal to heterosexuals in the eyes of God while our nation debates whether LGBT people are equal to heterosexuals in the eyes of the law. In LOVE FREE OR DIE, Bishop Gene steps onto the world stage as he travels from small-town churches to Washington's Lincoln Memorial to London's Lambeth Palace calling for all to stand for equality - inspiring bishops, priests and ordinary folk to come out from the shadows and change history.Written by Christopher White (IMDB)Love Free or Die screens on Sunday the 9th at 10:30 and the 14th at 19:30.
~~~
Hong Kong Special Feature: 영웅본색. Korean subtitles. 6/9 at 12:30
~~
Fraunsee (여자의 호수) A glorious weekend in the waning days of summer. The protagonist, Rosa, is a guardian of the lakes in the magical hinterland north of Berlin and she is a professional fisher. Her lover, Kirsten, lives in a lakeside bungalow, and together the couple play host to two young students on a weekend break from Berlin. The four womens intense sexual attraction is fuelled be their profoundly different hopes and wordviews... (IMDB)
Screens on the 9th at 17:00 and the 14th at 1 in the morning (KU Cinematech). German with English and Korean subtitles.
~~~
백야 (White Night) Flight attendant Won-Gyu (Won Tae-Hee) left Korea 2 years ago with painful memories and now comes back. Won-Gyu meets Tae-Joon (Lee Yi-Kyung), who is a quick service delivery man and has a special night with him.
Korean with English subtitles. Monday the 10th at 12:30 and Thursday the 13th at 14:30.
~~~
You can watch The Intouchables at 14:30 on June 10th or Friday the 14th at 17:00.
~~~
Two Weddings and a Funeral (두결한장) I've talked about this movie so many times at this blog. Read my review here.
6/10 at 19:30 and 6/15 at 10:30. Korean with English subtitles.
~~~
미쓰 홍당무 (Crush and Blush). A film from 2008. Not sure why it is at the festival... Korean without subtitles.
Yang Mi-sook is an unpopular and frumpy high school Russian teacher, who has a habit of going red in the face. For ten years she has been harbouring a crush on Seo Jong-cheol, her former teacher and now married colleague, though he is more interested in pretty new teacher Lee Yoo-ri. Mi-sook tries to put a halt to this blossoming romance, forming an unlikely alliance with Jong-cheol's daughter, Jong-hee. (Wikipedia)
Screens on 6/11 at 12:30 and 6/15 at 17:00.
~~~
지난여름 갑자기 남쪽으로간다 (Suddenly Last Summer and Going South): I saw these films back in March. Check out my review.
They will be screened with English subtitles on the 11th and the 16th at 14:30 and 10:30 respectively.
~~~
A Perfect Ending (퍼펙트 엔딩) Rebecca has a very unusual secret, one that not even her best friends know about. The last person on earth she expects to reveal it to is a high priced escort named Paris. What starts as a comedy of errors ends up a uniquely erotic journey. Rebecca's unconventional efforts to find herself are raw, evocative, and often times humorous, but always very real, very human. Sometimes a perfect ending is not what you expect it to be. A Perfect Ending screens on the 14th at 23:00 at KU Cinematech and the 16th at 14:30 at Seoul Art Cinema. English with Korean subtitles.
~~~
Hong Kong Special Feature: 아비정전. Korean subtitles. 6/14 at 12:30
Hong Kong Special Feature: 백바마녀전. Korean subtitles. 6/15 at 12:30.
The closing film is the Spanish film Sex of the Angels (섹스 오브 더 엔젤). Struggling martial artist and dancer Bruno loves his girlfriend Carla, but when he meets fellow dancer Rai, serious sparks begin to fly, opening the couple up to new possibilities. A new generation navigates sexual fluidity, torn affections, and open relationships in this steamy love triangle. But once Bruno's clandestine encounters with Rai are revealed, a confused and hurt Carla kicks him out. But she simply doesn't want to give up on her love. Eventually she agrees that Bruno can date them both as long as he keeps his life with Rai relatively separate. (IMDB)
The closing film screens at 19:00 on the 16th of June. Spanish with English subtitles.
~~~
There are some other events in the schedule, such as the SeLFF Film Project on Saturday the 15th at 12:30. If I get some more information, I'll try to post it.
All the films are at the Seoul Art Cinema, except the night films at KU Cinematech (which I noted above). Here are the schedules listed on SeLFF's website. I think I got everything... If you have any questions, leave a comment and I'll try to answer.
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