“And the Best Actress Award goes to Jeon Do-Yeon for the…Secret Sunshine movie!” “And the Jury Award goes to Park Chan-Wook for ‘Thirst’!”These expressions may already be familiar to you during global movie award ceremonies. One of the best actresses in Korea, Jeon Do-Yeon won the Best Actress award at the 60th Cannes Film Festival for her movie ‘the Secret Sunshine’ directed by Chang-dong Lee in 2007. Also, at the 62nd CannesFilm Festival, Korean film ‘Thirst’ directed by Chan-wook Park won the Jury Prize in 2009. Korean film industry first garnered serious international recognition in 2002 at the Venice Film Festival, where the film ‘Oasis’, a romantic movie, won the second prize award. There is also ‘Oldboy‘, another Korean film to achieve international recognition when it came in second place at the Cannes Film Festival. The story traces the life of a man who is put into solitary confinement by someone he does not know. He lives there for 15 years until he is released and given five days to discover the bizarre reason for his cruel entrapment. The international demand for Korean Films has been increasing for the past 10 years. And I could go on and on, talking about other great movies made in Korea.One of the most representative films for Koreans is called ‘Tae GukGi’, which means “the National Flag of the Republic of Korea”. This is a movie about two brothers who accidentally get involved in the Korean War. The movie attracted millions of movie enthusiasts around the world. Despite not twinning any international awards, it is still recognised as one of the best Korean movies. For us, it is not just a movie, it is a way for Korea to reach out to the World and share our history.The movie was once screened at the Korean Culture Centre in Kigali and Rwandans were really touched by the story. To discover Korean Cinema, you are most welcome at the Korean Cultural Center, which offers a variety of interesting entertainment activities from comedy, action, to romance movies.
