The upcoming 60th edition of San Sebastian Festival will showcase the retrospective Flowers in Hell, on the Golden Age of Korean Cinema, which had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. It includes ten titles dating from the 50s and the 60s and will be accompanied by a monographic book published by the Festival, the Filmoteca Española and the Centro Cultural Coreano en España.
This season focuses on the so-called golden age of South Korean cinema when, despite the country’s precarious economic situation following the war with Korea and Park Chung-hee’s control of the military dictatorship, a film industry was developed capable of meeting the demand for popular films to satisfy the general public and of consolidating the careers of directors with different styles and interests: some showed the image of a developing modern society, while others denounced the harsh living conditions of the time.
Among the films making up the season are some of the most iconic in their day: Hanyeo / The Housemaid (1960) by Kim Ki-young, widely accepted as one of the masterpieces in the history of South Korean cinema; harsh and realistic chronicles of life in post-war South Korea such as Ji-okhwa / The Flower in Hell (1958) and Obaltan / Aimless Bullet (1961); the dramas Gwiro / Homebound (1967), Angae / Mist (1967) and Hyu-il / A Day Off (1968).
Film noir will also be present with Geom-eun meori / Black Hair (1964), thriller movies with Ma-ui gyedan / The Devil’s Stairway (1964) and cinema for youth with Maenbal-ui cheongchun / The Barefooted Young (1964). Dumangang-a jal itgeora / Farewell Duman River (1962), for its part, is an example of the typical local Manchurian western genre, adventure movies set in Manchuria and inspired by their American counterparts.
Following its screening at the San Sebastian Festival, the retrospective will travel to the Filmoteca Española’s Doré Cinema, where it will run in October and November.
KOREAN CULTURE FESTIVAL IN SAN SEBASTIAN
In addition, from 10 to 30 September, San Sebastian will host the Korean Culture Festival, which will include shows, concerts, exhibitions, storytelling and gastronomy events. The goal of this initiative of the Centro Cultural Coreano en España organized in collaboration with the Ayuntamiento de San Sebastián is to showcase the culture of the Asian country and has been held in different cities in Spain since 2018. During its celebration in various locations in San Sebastian, the festival will make Korean culture more present than ever in the city.
JI-OKHWA / THE FLOWER IN HELL
SHIN SANG-OK (SOUTH KOREA) – 1958
Cast: Kim Hak, Choi Eun-hee, Jo Hae-won, Kang Sun-hee
Living in an American military camp, Young-shik and his gang steal goods from the camp’s warehouse and sell them in the market. His younger brother Dong-shik arrives in Seoul with the view of persuading Young-shik to return to their hometown, but he instead settles down in the camp as well. Young-shik tries to get Dong-shik to go back to their hometown ahead of him and asks his girlfriend Sonia to marry him after he pulls off a big heist he is plotting. Sonia, however, has her eyes set on Dong-shik and seduces him while Young-shik and his gang are carrying out the heist.
HANYEO / THE HOUSEMAID
KIM KI-YOUNG (SOUTH KOREA) – 1960
Cast: Kim Jin -kyu, Ju Jeung-nyeo, Lee Eun-sim, Um Aing-ran, Go Seon-ae
A music teacher works hard with his wife and manages to buy a two-story house. When his wife grows weak from overworking as a seamstress to be able to afford the house, he hires a housemaid. When his now pregnant wife leaves to visit her family, the housemaid seduces him and conceives. The wife convinces the housemaid to tumble down the staircase and intentionally miscarry, and the housemaid, having lost the baby in the attempt, becomes increasingly violent.
OBALTAN / AIMLESS BULLET
YU HYUN-MOK (SOUTH KOREA) – 1961
Cast: Kim Jin -kyu, Choi Moo-ryong, Moon Jung-suk, Seo Ae-ja
The Song family lives in a shantytown. Cheol-ho suffers from a persistent toothache while supporting his pregnant wife and son, his younger brother, disabled by the war, two younger sisters, and his bed-ridden mother. The family tries to face the harsh reality until tragedy strikes.
DUMANGANG-A JAL ITGEORA / FAREWELL DUMAN RIVER
IM KWON-TAEK (SOUTH KOREA) – 1962
Cast: Kim Seok-hun, Hwang Hae, Moon Jung-suk, Um Aing-ran, Jang Dong-hee
Patriotic university students, led by their teacher, along with British friends leave their families and become freedom fighters in Manchuria fighting against the Japanese occupation.
GEOM-EUN MEORI / BLACK HAIR
LEE MAN-HEE (SOUTH KOREA) – 1964
Cast: Moon Jeong-suk, Lee Dae-yub, Jang Dong-hee, Kim Wun-ha, Chae Rang
Yeon-sil, who is married to a gang boss, is accused of adultery (though in fact, she was raped) with another gang member, an opium addict, a transgression for which she suffers disfigurement and expulsion from her husband’s side per the em>rules of the gang organization. She is thereafter forced to remain with the opium addict and work as a prostitute in order to support both of them.
MAENBAL-UI CHEONGCHUN / THE BAREFOOTED YOUNG
KIM KEE-DUK (SOUTH KOREA) – 1964
Jo Doo-soo, a member of a gang, helps Joanna, a college student who is about to have her handbag robbed by the bullies on her way home. Joanna is a diplomat’s daughter and living the life of the upper class; whereas, Jo Doo-soo wastes his days serving the gang. Attracted to one another because of their opposite lives, Doo-soo and Joanna quickly fall in love. Being a devout Christian, Joanna believes that if only Doo-soo changed his thoughts about the way he lives, he could be a new person.
MA-UI GYEDAN / THE DEVIL’S STAIRWAY
LEE MAN-HEE (SOUTH KOREA) – 1964
Cast: Kim Jin-kyu, Moon Jung-suk, Bang Seong-ja, Jeong Ae-ran, Choi Nam-hyun
Doctor Hyeon, a senior surgeon is having an affair with Jin-suk, a nurse who works in the same hospital. He decides, however, to marry the daughter of the hospital director with the aim of becoming his successor, but falls into a dilemma when Jin-suk confides her pregnancy to him. When in the middle of an argument with him she falls down a staircase and breaks her leg, he injects her with a sedative to induce unconsciousness and then drowns her in a pond in the hospital’s backyard. As soon as he marries the hospital head’s daughter, he is haunted by the specter of Jin-suk.
ANGAE / MIST
KIM SOO-YONG (SOUTH KOREA) – 1967
Cast: Shin Seong-il, Yoon Jeong-hee, Kim Jeong-chol, Lee Nak-hoon
Yoon Gi-jun marries the daughter of a pharmaceutical company president and lands an executive position, but feels bored with company life. His wife suggests that he should take a break and visit his hometown, Mujin, while she prepares for a shareholders’ meeting to promote him to managing director. After arriving at Mujin, Yoon Gi-jun recalls his past as a draft dodger and lung disease patient. He has an affair with Ha In-suk, whom he meets by chance at the house that belongs to the head of the tax office.
GWIRO / HOMEBOUND
LEE MAN-HEE (SOUTH KOREA) – 1967
Cast: Kim Jin-kyu, Moon Jung-suk, Kim Jeong-cheol
Choi Dong-woo is injured in the Korean War and becomes paralyzed in the lower half of his body. He serializes a novel about his marital relationship in the newspaper. As he despairs that he has not been a proper husband for 14 years, his wife, Ji-yeon, emphasizes that it was her choice to marry him, but his feelings of worthlessness do not dissipate. Ji-yeon frequents a newspaper office in Seoul to deliver his manuscript, and there a reporter called Kang, a new hire, makes a pass at her. One day, Ji-yeon, missing her train, meets Kang, and Dong-woo’s younger sister, who came upon the scene by chance, tells her brother. However, Dong-woo, who does not have the courage to break up with Ji-yeon, just changes the behavior of the heroine in his novel, while Kang proposes to Ji-yeon to make a new start for herself with him.
HYU-IL / A DAY OFF
LEE MAN-HEE (SOUTH KOREA) – 1968
Cast: Shin Seong-il, Ji Yun-seong, Kim Sun-cheol, Kim Seong-ok
Ji-yeon and Heo-wook are a couple. She is pregnant and the doctors advise her to have an abortion because she is ill. To pay for the abortion, Heo-wook steals money from a friend. While she is at the hospital he wanders in despair in Seoul’s streets.
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