Quid Pro Quo

Well that's how it usually goes in this world, there's not much that comes for free. In a city where a pint of beer can cost three pounds plus for the privelege of sitting in the bland identikit environs of some ubiquitous chain pub, and a one stop bus journey costs over a pound, it's almost taken for granted that you have to pay above the odds in London. So it's refreshing and actually astonishing that the 3rd London Korean Film Festival is a free event, running for the duration of this week down at the Prince Charles Cinema (I was trying to think what the catch was - we wouldn't be released from the cinema until we'd help make an industrial batch of kimchi???).

Films featured include recent releases as well as acknowledged Korean classics such as 1960's Hanyo (The Housemaid). Four films a day are being shown, all selected to show different facets of Korean cinema in a bid to appeal to a wider international audience. In recent years Korean film has come to the fore in Asia and critical awareness has gradually grown following the success of films like Oldboy, which took the Grand Prix at last year's Cannes Film Festival. The quality and originality of some contemporary Korean film is testified by their proposed Hollywood remakes, eg Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo (My Sassy Girl), Janghwa, Hongryeon (A Tale of Two Sisters) and Oldboy, all of which must surely lose something of their originals' essence in the translation as remakes generally fail to match the originals.

Having been to quite a few film festivals, this one isn't as grand in scale as others but the organisation has been as good, especially in dealing with the numbers of people who are turning up given that it's a free event at a single venue (the tickets are released half an hour before each screening on a first come first served basis so there's some good queueing going on!). Overall, it's a fantastic free event which doesn't happen everyday and plus they give you a free bottle of bulgogi marinade sauce on entry, so you can run home afterwards and whip up a batch of bulgogi stir-fried beef for your dinner - what more could you ask for?!