Lee Jang-ho

October 27, 2019, the 100th anniversary of Korean cinema. However, while preparing for the stage of reenactment of the first Korean film known as 'Fidelity Vomiting', the biggest controversy that will shake up 100 years of Korean film history comes to the surface... The best sleight of hand in the history of Korean cinema unfolds over the 'first Korean movie'!

Hong Kong, 1978. South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee is kidnapped by North Korean operatives following orders from dictator Kim Jong-il. Her ex-husband, film director Shin Sang-ok, undertakes her search, but soon after he is kidnapped as well. In 1983, after living through years of tribulations, Kim Jong-il puts them in charge of the North Korean film industry in the hope of gaining international recognition.

A Christian missionary group is abducted by Islamic rebels. In fear for their lives, the group slowly sees their faith in each other slip away.

"A Journey with Korean Masters" is an omnibus film compiling four shorts created by directors who once dominated Korean cinema: Park Chul-soo, Lee Doo-yong, Lee Jang-ho, and Chung Ji-young. This modest project is the product of collaboration between professional and amateur actors of all ages and the masters. The aim was to promote the city of Seoul and the harmony of old and new. The project began as a promotional event, but its cinematic quality is equal, if not superior, to any Korean films officially invited to BIFF this year. That is by no means simply being polite. This special screening is the perfect opportunity to enjoy the unique characteristics of masters experiencing a cinema renaissance in their twilight years.

A Personal Essay on Cinema in Korea by Jang Sun-Woo

A strange man appears in Pagoda Park. His name is Young-sung. Another man stands in a corner, carefully takes in his every move and tapes him with a camcorder. His name is Ahn Sang-gi, a self-proclaimed film director. Young-sung spots a high school girl and begins to follow her. Her name is Jin-kyung. The three meet in a cafe and become inseparable in a matter of hours. Madame Sul-hee, owner of an exclusive club, introduces them to many high level officials. Young-sung begins to tell fortunes for the many individuals they meet including a powerful politician to a corrupt national hero and Sang-gi collects fees. In the midst of all this, Jin-kyung schemes to get pregnant with Young-sung's child, and Sang-gi is convinced that he is close to realizing his dream of becoming a film director. Little do they know that Young-sung's clairvoyance is not permanent.

The life of a woman through the tumultuous years of Korea's modern history.

A singer's walkman is accidently exchanged with that of a stranger who later turns up dead. The dead man was a drug dealer and the singer finds himself hunted by both the police and the dealer's gang

An isolated, depressed widower in search of meaning and redemption and still trying to come to terms with the circumstances of his wife's death three years earlier is gradually making his way towards her home town near the Korean border when his path crosses that of a dying company director (whose last wish is to go home to the same village to die) and his nurse.

An isolated, depressed widower in search of meaning and redemption and still trying to come to terms with the circumstances of his wife's death three years earlier is gradually making his way towards her home town near the Korean border when his path crosses that of a dying company director (whose last wish is to go home to the same village to die) and his nurse.

X's unconditional love for fascinating writer Y starts during her high school days. X, who left her hometown after her mother's remarriage begins to work in a dress shop. Her affections for Y lead her to give herself to him. On the year baby Y' turns 5, she reunites with Y on his birthday but he does not remember her. When baby Y' dies from illness, X sends Y an account of her 12 year love and ends her life.

Hye-sung grew up poor but he has a gifted talent for baseball. Eom-ji has watched over him since they were young. Hye-sung falls in love with Eom-ji but when she transfers to another school, they don't see each other for years. Hye-sung and Eom-ji meet again at a baseball field but Um-ji is now the girlfriend of the exceptional hitter of high school, Ma Dong-tak. Hye-sung competes endlessly with Dong-tak over Eom-ji. But he ends up with a serious shoulder injury and gives up baseball. Then Manager Sohn Byung-ho gathers up dismissed baseball players and forms a team. Manager Sohn puts his team through extreme training and Hye-sung returns to the baseball world. He competes once more with Dong-tak, who is by Eom-ji's side.

Hye-sung grew up poor but he has a gifted talent for baseball. Eom-ji has watched over him since they were young. Hye-sung falls in love with Eom-ji but when she transfers to another school, they don't see each other for years. Hye-sung and Eom-ji meet again at a baseball field but Um-ji is now the girlfriend of the exceptional hitter of high school, Ma Dong-tak. Hye-sung competes endlessly with Dong-tak over Eom-ji. But he ends up with a serious shoulder injury and gives up baseball. Then Manager Sohn Byung-ho gathers up dismissed baseball players and forms a team. Manager Sohn puts his team through extreme training and Hye-sung returns to the baseball world. He competes once more with Dong-tak, who is by Eom-ji's side.

Er Woo Dong translates to "entertainer," a rough approximation of the duties of 14th-century Korean courtesan Er Yoon Chang. After a lifetime "in service," Er Yoon Chang retires to a faraway village. Meanwhile, her powerful father, ashamed of his daughter's lifestyle, dispatches an assassin to do her in. Er Yoon Chang is protected by her faithful deaf-mute bodyguard, but only up to a point.

Ja-young is a flutist. When her father has a child out of wedlock, her mother regards sex as a sin out of anger towards him. Ja-young grows up under her mother's exceedingly oppressive notions.

Ja-young is a flutist. When her father has a child out of wedlock, her mother regards sex as a sin out of anger towards him. Ja-young grows up under her mother's exceedingly oppressive notions.

Beginning with the suicide of a film director, this work represents the Korean New Wave Cinema movement that focused on criticizing the Korean society in the 1980s through satire and humor. The journey taken by the characters, who lead low lives at the margins of the society, award them with a sense of liberation, however brief.

A group of widows come with several frauds and scams in an effort to cheat the system which marginalizes them and to make a better life for themselves and their children.

In 1910, Korea suffers the humiliation of being annexed by Japan. Young patriots form an independence group called Bukrogun Jeongseo. General Kim Jwa-jin as well as freedom fighters such as Lee Bum-suk, Na Jung-jo are burning with nationalistic spirit. Japan takes over Manchuria. In order to destroy the freedom fighters, Japan employs the Manchurian bandit, Jang Jak-rim, and starts plotting their destruction. Risking their lives, the freedom fighters engage in a bloody battle at Chungsan-ri under the extraordinary leadership and burning patriotism of General Kim Jwa-jin. Despite being greatly outnumbered, the freedom fighters are triumphant.

Yo-han is the son of a Christian minister. Following his father's career, he joins the seminary without much enthusiasm, then drops out. After doing his military service as a KATUSA, he teaches at the U.S. educational center. When he is given a job teaching in America, he hastily marries in preparation for the move. He is suddenly struck blind, then begins contemplating suicide. Instead he has a religious vision and dedicates himself to the ministry, and opens a church for the blind.

After being released from prison, both Lee Jong-Bae and Moon Do-Seok, who served imprisonment at the same prison, plan to commit crime with carbine rifle having no butt plate. They succeed in the first crime, but kill a person so that Moon regrets his wrong doings. But, Lee commits the second crime to hurt persons. Lee's wife advises Lee to deliver himself to the police, but Lee neglects her advice.

After being released from prison, both Lee Jong-Bae and Moon Do-Seok, who served imprisonment at the same prison, plan to commit crime with carbine rifle having no butt plate. They succeed in the first crime, but kill a person so that Moon regrets his wrong doings. But, Lee commits the second crime to hurt persons. Lee's wife advises Lee to deliver himself to the police, but Lee neglects her advice.

Young-ae is a prostitute who obsesses over money after losing her daughter to illness. Her co-workers are jealous of her. When a prostitute named Mrs. Kangwon dies after giving a birth, Young-ae takes the baby under her care and leaves the brothel district. Although she struggles to make ends meet and provide a home for the child, the child is taken away by the authorities because she is single. She decides that her old life is the only ground for living she has and returns to it.

Three friends, Duk-bae, Chun-sik, and Kil-nam, work each at a suburban Chinese restaurant, a barbershop, and a motel. The three friends are clueless about their future. They just share the drinks and love stories. Kil-nam is in love with Jin-ok working at a hair salon and Chun-sik is after Yu who also works at the barbershop. Naive Duk-bae's mind is torn between Chun-sun who works at a factory and an uptown girl Myung-hi. Their daily lives are never quiet. Chun-sik goes to jail for assault and Kil-nam departs to serve in the military. Three of them part with a promise that they will never give in to the hardships of life.

A butterfly flies from the mountain to the city. Sang-Kyu, who works in a company, buys a house in the suburbs and lives with his wife and daughter, Yun-Jeong. But Yun-Jeong becomes a somnambulist because of the illusion of a butterfly flying to the house. Sang-Kyu happens to know Mi-Wu, a singer, who loves Song Cheol-Ho but wanders in her life after his death. On the other hand, Yun-Jeong regains her consciousness with the help of an English psychicist and a nun. After Sang-Kyu has a sex with Mi-Wu, he falls out of the window and loses his consciousness. As she feels affection for Sang-Kyu, Mi-Wu becomes a butterfly in the soul world and leaves him.

Young-Hu and Young-Wuk are half brothers and felt uncertain intimacy even though their personalities are totally different. At the first moment he saw Min-Jeong, Young-Wuk's girl friend, Young-Hu fell in love. He avoided her intentionally but the day his biological mother remarried, he happened to spend a night with her in a complicated feeling. After that Young-Hu got the blues due to sense of guilty and Young-Wuk was despair as Min-Jeong confessed him she loves Young-Hu. As he found Min-Jeong's pregnancy, Young-Hu hated shady new life and made fun of Min-Jeong and himself. Thus enraged Young-Wuk madly drove his car to the running train with Min-Jeong.

A woman slowly drinks herself to death as she is physically and emotionally used by one man after another.

Suk-hee's mother is remarried to a man who has a son a year senior than Suk-hee. The two don't get along well first, but soon they grow intimate. Suk-hee learns, though, that she needs to give up her love for her mother's happiness. One day she leaves her mother and her new family, and goes on her way to her hometown, where she sees a Zelkova tree.