11th Korean Film Festival Frankfurt
The 11th Korean Film Festival Frankfurt 2022 took place from the 20th to the 26th of October 2022. After the tenth anniversary edition in 2021, the festival in 2022 too was special for us: for the first time since the beginning of the corona pandemic, we were able to host the festival completely offline in two Frankfurt cinemas allowing the 3500 visitors to experience both the films as well as our cultural program to the fullest. Both in the Cinestar Metropolis and in the Eldorado, our visitors were able to enjoy around 21 short and feature films, as well as documentaries and animated films from Korea.
Motto and Thematic Focus
The motto of the festival ‘You Hit Pause, We Hit Play’ was intended not only to review the film year of 2022 but also to point to the struggle of our current time. More than two years of the corona pandemic have left its mark both in the cultural landscape, and in social life. Through the carefully curated film program of the festival, we wanted to give the visitors the opportunity to take a rest. In addition, the diverse selection of films offered an opportunity to approach different and exciting topics and encouraged the viewers to discuss and reflect about them. In addition to the motto, a special focus of the festival was on the topic of ‘mental health’. Unfortunately, mental health is an important, but still overlooked topic that deserves our attention. In recent years, South Korean filmmakers have increasingly addressed the issue of mental health, which is why we wanted to present this trend in our festival as well. The film Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 by KIM Do-young made the start. The movie was shown two months before the festival as part of a sneak peek screening – a Project K initiative that we would like to continue in the future. In addition, other films emphasizing the mental health focus were screened, including the documentary I Am More by LEE Il-ha, the drama Dust and Ashes by PARK He-kwon, and the feature film debut The Girl on the Bulldozer by PARK Ri-woong.
Film Program
The heart of our film festival were a total of 21 feature films and animation films, which, like last year, were made provided by the Korean Independent Animation Filmmakers Association (KIAFA). The selected animated films also reflected our special focus ‘Mental Health’. As the opening film, we were able to offer the viewers a special highlight: The long-awaited blockbuster Hunt. The movie was the directorial debut of LEE Jung-jae, who became known worldwide for his leading role in Squid Game. It was a special honor to welcome numerous guests on the opening night, including the Consul General of the Republic of Korea, Kyungsok Koh, and the Managing Director of the Kulturfonds, Karin Wolff. Unfortunately, the patrons Angela Dorn and Dr. Ina Hartwig could not attend due to tight scheduling, but both supported the film festival with a greeting in the program booklet.
We are pleased to inform you that many of the screenings were sold out beyond our opening film. The most popular films at the festival included The Roundup (LEE Sang-yong), Alienoid (CHOI Dong-hoon), Hansan (KIM Han-min) and The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die (CHOI Jae-hoon), that were all enthusiastically received by our visitors. It is also particularly important to the Festival to support young filmmakers. For this reason, we were especially happy to present the graduation film Hazi – A long wrong day by film student CHAE Ji-hye (Dortmund University of Applied Sciences) as a double feature with our last festival film, the award-winning The Novelist’s Film by HONG Sang-soo.
Film List
Film List Cinestar Metropolis
Film list Eldorado
List of animation shorts from KIAFA
| Egg Curry Rice | SEO Ji-hyun |
| Misery Loves Company | LEE Sasha |
| OolangOolang | JO Yeseul |
| A Plate For Me | LEE Haeli |
| The Ark in the Desert | KIM Areum |
Supporting Program
The city of Frankfurt has always been a special hotspot for the Korean diaspora in Germany. It is therefore important to us to represent Korean culture beyond film culture and to bring it closer to interested visitors. Due to the numerous booths, which where set up in the lobby of the Cinestar Metropolis between 20.10 – 23.10., the visitors were given the opportunity to engage with the various aspects of Korean culture as well as to exchange ideas with other visitors and the Project K team. Thanks to the cooperation with the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, we were able to offer our visitors Korean finger food as well as alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages over the three days. There was also a Hanbok booth, which was provided by our cooperation partner KTO, where visitors could try on traditional robes, as well as a craft booth particular for our young visitors where they could design pottery, fans and much more themselves. There was also a quiz booth with questions about Project K, the Korean film world and Korean culture, where visitors could win various prizes. The Korean Studies department at the Goethe University in Frankfurt provided interested guests with information about studying Korean Studies and gave them a first insight into the Korean alphabet, Hangeul. In addition, the K-Pop Dance Contest <re*play> took place again this year in cooperation with re*markable. Particularly the young audience was enthusiastic about the contest, which finally took place on site after two years of the pandemic.
Outside of the localities of cinemas, we also offered our guests a small cultural program in cooperation with Cafe Kyubang. From October 20th to 26th visitors could enjoy a wide variety of Korean drinks and dishes in the café and experience Korean food culture.
Project K would like to thank all supporters, sponsors, cooperation partners, Project K Family and Project K Supporter members for their support.
The Korean Film Festival 2022 would not have been possible without
Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Frankfurt, HessenFilm & Medien GmbH, Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange (KOFICE), South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), Korean Film Council (KOFIC), Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation , Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain GmbH, Kulturamt Frankfurt am Main, Arthouse Kinos Frankfurt, Cinestar Metropolis, Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen, FIDELIS Accounting GmbH, Hallyu-Com-on, Hyundai Motor Europe GmbH, CJ Mainfrost Foods GmbH, FrankfurtRheinMain Gmbh, Korean Book Services, Panasia (K-FOOD), JeollaNamdo, LH Brands, Alnatura, Kyubang Café & Gallery, Melody Party Box, Café el Luce, Mealkit Café Gongjakso, Seoul Dabang, Dasarang Chicken, KIAFA (Korean Independent Animation Filmmakers Association), re*markable