📅 Monday, Aug. 4-Monday, Aug. 25
🕓 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
📍 Northwest Film Forum: 1515 12th Ave., Seattle
💰 Suggested registration fee of $100
After delighting SIFF patrons a couple years ago, independent film programmer Hannah Baek’s series on South Korean cinema is back by popular demand and taking over the Northwest Film Forum for the month of August.
“This is a class for anyone who’s interested in Korean cinema, and everyone who misses college!” Baek told The Ticket. “There’s a huge audience that wants to discuss good movies in Seattle, as well as a huge hunger for Asian cinema.”
Baek’s welcoming and communal methodology is a breath of fresh air. “This series is purposely NOT a typical 101 course! Yes, we’re going to cover lots of important ground thematically, and yes, we’re going to talk about ‘Parasite’ and ‘Oldboy.’But we are also going to watch tons of incredible, less highlighted films from across a vast swath of film history. Korea’s first feminist film collective, a pulpy taekwondo Western from the 70s, a devastating documentary series collaboratively filmed with ‘comfort women’ and the ‘Korean Citizen Kane’ are all on the list! I’m there as a guide to supply history, films and theory, but I love how much we’ll discuss films and clips in class as a group.”
Baek especially wants to highlight “Save the Green Planet!” Jang Joon-Hwan’s 2003 sci-fi comedy. “Not only is this an incredible hidden gem that topically covers corporate greed, historical human violence, mental illness and alien invasions, but Yorgos Lanthimos’ English-language remake ‘Bugonia’ is coming out in theaters this October. Do your homework now and discuss the original with us!”
