Pitt to Host Korean Film Festival April 9–12

PITTSBURGH—Filmmaker and Professor So-young Kim of Seoul National University and Professor Kyungsoon Lee of Chonnam National University will speak as part of the University of Pittsburgh Korean Film Festival, to be held

April 9–12.

Pitt's Film Studies program, English department, Asian Studies Program, and University Center for International Studies cosponsor the festival, which will afford a rare glimpse into various aspects of Korean cinematography.

Ellen Bishop of the English department and Film Studies program will introduce the speakers prior to each movie's screening.

Kim, who has published extensively on such subjects as gender roles and sexuality in cinema, will speak before the world premiere of her documentary, I'll Be Seeing Her: Women in Korean Cinema, at 1 p.m. April 9 in Room 1P56 of Posvar Hall, 230 S. Bouquet St. Kim's latest documentary has been accepted for screening at Hong Kong's International Film Festival, which runs April 8-23.

Take Care of My Cat, a film by Jae-eun Jeong, will be shown at 7 p.m. April 10 in the Seventh-Floor Auditorium of Alumni Hall, 4227 Fifth Ave. Released in 2001, the movie details the changing dynamics of female friendship as five girls each painstakingly make the transition to adulthood. This film was included in the 31st New Directors 2002 series presented by The Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Department of Film and Media at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

A Petal, the 1996 release by filmmaker Sun-woo Jang, will be screened at 7 p.m.

April 11 in the Seventh-Floor Auditorium of Alumni Hall. A Petal recounts the Gwangju Massacre of 1980, when unarmed civilians were killed by government troops during a violent military coup. The film's release drew student and activist protests over the government's silence regarding the killings, which led to the opening of previously classified files detailing the incident. Lee will speak before the film and hold a question-and-answer session after its showing.

The film festival concludes April 12 in the Seventh-Floor Auditorium of Alumni Hall with two films by director Kwon-taek Im. Chunhyang, which will be shown from

1 to 4 p.m. is the retelling of a Korean folktale about a forbidden love between a high-caste girl and a lower-class boy. Chihwaseon, which will be shown from 8 to

11 p.m., is the story of a 19th-century artist who stretches the limits of traditional Korean art through his search for Confucian-like transcendence. Im won the 2002 Cannes Film Festival Best Director Award for his work on Chihwaseon. Lee will introduce each film and hold question-and-answer sessions after its showing.

Lee is a tenured professor of English at Chonnan National University in Gwangju, South Korea. She teaches courses in English literature and film.

Kim has published articles on Korean cinema, gender and sexuality in the cinema, and women in Korean cinema. She has been a visiting lecturer at the University of California-Berkeley and is an associate professor of cinema at Korean National University for the Arts.

For more information, call Andrea Campbell at 412-624-6564, or send an e-mail to acamp@pitt.edu.

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