Bitter, Sweet, Seoul

Click for full movie details & trailers.

Three people live in Doosan Apartment in Guro-dong. Me, mom, and my grandfather. Even though it has been 12 years since dad died, we are still living under the same roof. I thought it was because of the financial situation that we could not move out of grandfather’s house. But when I found out that mom already had enough money to get a house, I became confused. Why didn’t mom move out from the “x-world” when she could? From a marriage that didn’t work out well, to a father-in-law with a temper. Why has she been enduring it, unchanging, for all the time I had witnessed her life to become a woman against marriage? One day when my anxiousness was at its peak, grandfather suggested that we live separately. Mom, reluctant to leave Guro-dong that she’d been living in for 20 years and her marriage life, will she be able to find herself and move out well?

Journey with the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic and their conductor Sir Simon Rattle on a breakneck concert tour of six metropolises across Asia: Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo. Their artistic triumph onstage belies a dynamic and dramatic life backstage. The orchestra is a closed society that observes its own laws and traditions, and in the words of one of its musicians is, “an island, a democratic microcosm – almost without precedent in the music world - whose social structure and cohesion is not only founded on a common love for music but also informed by competition, compulsion and the pressure to perform to a high pitch of excellence... .” Never before has the Berlin Philharmonic allowed such intimate and exclusive access into its private world.

Eddie and Jason, two Korean-American brothers get in over their heads when they are called to Korea to make a short film on prostitution and sex-trafficking. Things get complicated when they meet Crystal and Esther, two prostitutes who reveal just how deep the problem goes and set off on a dangerous mission to capture the truth. With the use of hidden cameras and access to pimps, johns, and sex-workers, the filmmakers explore and unravel the complexity of the sex trade in Seoul. They learn that this problem is rooted in issues far deeper than exploited girls and lustful men. Instead, it's a consequence of a culture and government that condones and turns a blind eye to the biggest human injustice of our time.

A documentary covering the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul.

South Korean cinema is in the throes of a creative explosion where mavericks are encouraged and masters are venerated. But from where has this phenomenon emerged? What is the culture that has yielded this range of filmmakers? With The Nine Lives of Korean Cinema, French critic, writer and documentarian Hubert Niogret provides a broad overview but, nevertheless, an excellent entry point into this unique type of national cinema that still remains a mystery for many people. The product of a troubled social and political history, Korean cinema sports an identity that is unique in much modern film. Niogret's documentary tells of the country's cinematic history - the ups along with the downs - and gives further voice to the artists striving to express their concerns, fears and aspirations.

A special documentary produced for the 30th anniversary of the Seoul Olympics, 88/18 looks back at South Korea in the 1980s as the nation raced toward the Games. Through archival footage and reflection, the film examines how the 1988 Seoul Olympics brought profound changes that extended far beyond sport, reshaping Korean society itself.

Project 1 _ Hong Hyung-sook The children who are enthusiastically painting and cutting a doll. What stories will be told at the Square? - Project 10 _ Kim Jeong-geun The janitorial worker from the Busan Subway Station, Kim Young-ja talks about how she hopes to see a clean world, just like how she cleans everywhere in the subway.

The film describes the microcosmos of the small village Wacken and shows the clash of the cultures, before and during the biggest heavy metal festival in Europe.

August 2011, Seoul station was ‘reborn’ restoring the historical traces it once had. It was named as ‘Cultural Station 284’. To commemorate this very day, an opening exhibition was held, named as ‘COUNTDOWN’. However, among all the fine works of art alongside the exhibition, the best piece of art was not to be found. To be precise, that very piece of art was not available at that time. That work of art needed time to be established. After observing and speculating the abject moments of the restoration process, finally, it was completed.

The life of Kim Jong-boon, who has been a peddler in Wangshimni for 50 years, is admirable. At the age of 83, she no longer has to earn a living at her street stall, but she keeps working because she still has customers.

An investigative reporter seeks to expose the whereabouts of a slush fund belonging to the former president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak.

My parents were real estate developers and dealers in the 1980s. They achieved the ‘middle class dream’ thanks to the development boom. However, the Asian financial crisis swept everything away.

I, a lesbian filmmaker, encounter people yelling at me to disappear from this world. It is a time of hatred in South Korea. LGBTQ people are the easy targets for hatred. In searching for what makes a marginalized life livable, I embark upon a journey. I encounter a double life of Lee Muk, a 70-year-old Korean “Mr. Pants” and precarious lives of a Japanese lesbian couple, Ten and Non, after 3/11. As an ever-growing number of citizens are becoming the targets of 'witch-hunting' in Korea, true faces of the haters slowly begin to unfold.

STEP INTO THE RINK WITH YU-NA KIM AS SHE AIMS TO MAKE HISTORY AS ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST FIGURE SKATERS

QT aka Quinn Thomas is an international pop star and CEO of "Super Natural" energy drink ‘Drink QT’. We Join QT as she journeys to South Korea to explore new ways in which we communicate through tastes and flavours using her research to inform a multi-sensory debut performance in Seoul.

BIASes follows BIAS NYC, a party that uniquely fuses K-pop & underground club music while spotlighting queer & trans culture, as they prepare to make their debut in Seoul. Co-founders Sammy & Julian have poured everything into creating the inclusive community they've always yearned for, but will it embrace them back?

Kicking off in Seoul in January 2024, ATEEZ’s monumental world tour, TOWARDS THE LIGHT : WILL TO POWER, ignited Japan, North America, Europe, and beyond with unstoppable energy. Now, its breathtaking opening chapter returns, reborn on the big screen. From powerful performances of signature hits like "WONDERLAND (Symphony No.9 “From The Wonderland”)”, "Crazy Form", "Say My Name", and "Guerrilla" to mesmerizing unit and solo stages showcasing each member’s unique color, ATEEZ’s overwhelming energy takes over SCREENX, 4DX, and ULTRA 4DX where available. The voyage towards the light sets sail once again!

Interpreting an event of ROKS Cheonan corvette, torpedoed and sunken by North Korea, this documentary rebuilds the event with a different insight. No one can tell if the investigation of Cheonan has reached compelling conclusion. But the film tells and reveals how unreasonable Korean society is.

The public yearns for a hero who will solve the economic crisis, and MB bursts onto the scene. However, what made voters excited now makes them disappointed. How the then voters were seen from the MB’s perspective? A political documentary that makes people laugh and cry.