The 10th Annual Korean Film Festival Canada Celebrates a Decade of Resilience and Sustainability

Montreal, Quebec, May 9, 2023: Korean Film Festival Canada is set to tour its 10th annual edition (KFFC-10) May 15th to July 2nd, 2023 in three cities: Montreal, Kingston and Vancouver. KFFC-10 presents part two of the festival’s two-year theme, “Asian Art: Environments of Sustainability and Resilience”. Celebrating a rich 27-year history based in Montreal, the non-profit media art and artists-driven organization behind KFFC-10 offers public screenings of more than 60 of the best Korean, Asian-Canadian, and Pan-Asian art films and Asian media artworks throughout the months of May and June. The festival also offers many films, arts exhibitions and cultural events free of charge to provide a unique opportunity to rediscover and experience diverse stories. KFFC-10 special programs are as follows:

Five Masters: Where East Meets West

KFFC-10’s specially curated lineup “The Five Masters: East Meets West” presents remarkable documentaries that portray the work and the lives of five legendary artists from around the world. KFFC-10 invites our public to discover diverse artistic cultural perspectives in the arts. The four films that will showcase at Montreal’s McCord Stewart Museum include Les Oies de Jean-Paul Riopelle (2023) by Jean-Luc Dupuis, Lee Chang Dong: The Art of Irony (2022) by Alain Mazars, Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV (2023) by Amanda Kim, and The Man Who Paints Water Drops (2021) by Oan Kim & Brigitte Bouillot. A fifth film, The Art of Silence (2022) by Maurizius Staerkle Drux will be shown at Cinema du Parc.

Carte Blanche, a co-presentation with The International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA)

Co-presented by FIFA and curated by Andreina Aveledo, the four films in the “Carte Blanche” program include La somme de nos rêves (2021) by Jérémie Battaglia and Johanne Madore, and Les Oies de Jean-Paul Riopelle (2023) by Jean-Luc Dupuis.

Spotlight on Philippine Cinema

KFFC-10’s “Spotlight on Philippine Cinema” program, programmed by Alexi Fuentes, presents four films including A is for Augustin (2020) by Grace Simbulan. This special program highlights the brilliance of Philippine cinema, offering an immersive and insightful glimpse into diasporic experiences and Indigenous voices from Asia.

Declaration of May 18 as K-ART DAY

KFFC-10 declares May 18th to be K-ART DAY in commemoration of the democratic Gwangju Uprising struggles that broke out on this date in 1980 in Korea. KFFC-10 will present two films that capture the essence of the democratic movements: Peppermint Candy (1999) by Lee Chang-dong and Kim Kun (2019) by Kang Sang-woo.

The Statue of Peace (Comfort Women Statue)

An art installation project, The Statue of Peace by Kim Seo-Kyung and Kim Eun-Sung, also known as the Comfort Women Statue, has begun its journey from Korea to Toronto and will soon arrive in Montreal. This politically controversial and influential artwork will be exhibited at Montreal’s McCord Stewart Museum during KFFC-10, in conjunction with a screening of the film Comfort (2000) by Emmanuel Moonchill Park. The Statue of Peace will be exhibited in many other locations in Montreal until September 2023.

An empty chair beside the statue invites the public to sit beside the Girl and to support the call for redress for those who were made to serve as ‘comfort women’ during World War II. The public is invited to take a photo and share it on social media using the hashtags #statueofpeace and #justiceforcomfortwomen.

Asian-Canadian Films

New Asian-Canadian films to discover during KFFC-10 include the upcoming cross-Canada release of Golden Delicious (2022) by James Karman, Unidentified (2022) by Jude Chun, and A Touch of Spring (2017) by He Xiaodan. In addition, screenings of over 30 Asian and Canadian media artworks and short films will be co-presented in partnership with Dazibao, a contemporary art gallery in Montreal that has been promoting experimental and thought-provoking image practices for over 43 years.

AeW Awards

KFFC-10 will also be launching its first-ever Arts East-West Public Awards, honouring filmmakers for works that push boundaries, evoke emotions, captivate the imagination, and unite diverse perspectives. KFFC-10 festival audiences will be invited to vote for the best films in four award categories: SOIL, WAVE, CLOUD and EAST-WEST.

Short Films and Media Arts Exhibitions

In addition to the programs above, KFFC-10 features a full roster of intriguing and interesting programs, including a K-Classics collection curated by Kim Hong-Joon, Director of the Korean Film Archive, on the theme “Faith/Belief of Koreans as Spiritual Environment: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Shamanism”, as well as Asian-Canadian media art works and Asian short films.

Mi-Jeong Lee, Artistic Director of the KFFC-10 festival, shared: “Last year we made the decision to move our annual festival to coincide with Asian Heritage Month in the month of May. That was a big challenge, but we pushed through and we did it! So we’re walking into this new phase of being a spring festival, while exploring and integrating our mission to build a creative playground for Asian Canadian media arts and communities. As an artist-driven, non-profit organization, it is always critical for us to advocate for our Asian art communities and facilitate their inquiries. In response to that mission, we take into consideration the importance of our daily experiences, which inspire us to create everything we do in our organization. Right now our hard-working staff and volunteers are creating festival goods in preparation for our May events – all in the spirit of ‘WE HANDMADE.’ In addition to being the Artistic Director and founder of Arts East-West / Korean Film Festival Canada and the Asian Arts Publication Lab, Lee herself is an independent artist as well as a lecturer on Korean visual and media arts at Université de Montréal.