Soon-young lives with her mentally handicapped father, unscrupulous uncle, and Soon-Ja, her younger sister. When an uncle arranges Soon-young’s adoption to American family for money, the younger sister, who adores her Barbie doll and dreams of one day living in America, decides not to let the adoption happen.

Youn-ho, who is about to be engaged to a longtime girlfriend, discovers that his mother has run away. Soon a loan shark comes calling. Now he must find his mother in order to survive.

Seventeen-year-old Wan-deuk has every reason to be a rebellious and troubled student. Though he has a disabled father, a runaway mother, and comes from a desperately poor family, he never loses a fight. Wan-Deuk meets teacher Dong-Joo, who inspires him take up kickboxing.

If you haven’t seen K-Horror, then you don’t know what scary is! To set the mood for Halloween, we will be screening Epitaph , a Korean horror film famous for its intricate plot and visually stunning cinematography.

Yeonghwa is the Korean word for film, and since South Korean cinema now features prominently in every major international film festival, it is a good word for cineastes to know. Korean film tends to blend technical excellence with idiosyncratic expression and an entrepreneurial spirit?filmmakers often write and direct their work, and both actors and filmmakers benefit from the country’s homegrown “star system”?while embracing a wide variety of styles and subjects. Korean cinema is generally made for a national audience, so its vision is rarely diminished by compromises in the name of global appeal.

This third edition of Yeonghwa includes several distinctive contemporary narratives?from superior genre films to unclassifiable features by some of Korea’s renegade filmmakers?along with two features, drawn from MoMA’s collection, by Korean film pioneer Shin Sang-ok.

Trailer credit: Bongkeun Kwon

Introduction and all film summaries: Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator of Film, MoMA

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

Thursday, September 20 through Sunday, September 30

MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)
11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019
(212) 708-9400
http://www.moma.org

All TICKETS through MoMA

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All films in Korean with English subtitles, unless otherwise noted.