I walked past the Korean Cultural Centre on The Strand and was beckoned in by a friendly face and the promise of topical photography and a crash course in Korean Culture.
The facilities are fantastic, there is a small gallery on the top floor, an auditorium for lectures and a media room with bright red PVC sofa’s where you can sit and view a wide selection of Korean Movies.
I only spent 30min’s in the place, but left with a free book which provided many interesting tidbit’s about Korean Culture.
- Korea invented Moveable Type and Lead Based Type. (No, not Guttenberg, I saw that documentary with Stephen Fry on the beeb too, and feel just as cheated!)
- The Korean Language is unique and extremely rational. (See video)
- Korea may have had the kindest king ever…King Sejong invented the language because he believed that people were committing crimes because they couldn’t read!
- Korean Cinema -Director’s Chan Wook-Park and Kim Ji-Woon are representative of the creative tour de force that are reinventing and warping the traditions of filmmaking.
- Kim Jong may be dead, and or close to death…
The film festival will be split between The Barbican in London and Fact Picturehouse in Liverpool.
Warning: The video below is horrendous, and the style is reminiscent of video’s that you may have been forced to watch in science class during the Eighties. If you are not harbouring any kind of childhood repression, click the button and watch one of the most condensed history segment’s that you are ever likely to stumble upon.
