London Korean Film Festival competition

The London Korean Film Festival (LKFF) is returning to cinema screens across London for its 16th year, running from 4 to 19 November 2021.

With the biggest programme dedicated to Korean cinema outside of the country itself, the festival is proud to present a rich and diverse line-up showcasing the year’s biggest box-office hits, independent cinema, women’s voices, animation, documentary, award-winning shorts, plus a Special Focus celebrating the career of iconic actor and 2021 BAFTA and Academy Award winner Youn Yuh-jung (Minari).

In Front of Your Face: After impetuously running off with a lover to the United States many years ago, former actress Sangok (Lee Hyeyeong, herself recently something of an absentee from the big screen) has suddenly returned to Seoul. She is staying with her sister Jeongok (Cho Yunhee), doing mindfulness exercises, and hoping to meet up with director Jaewon (Kwon Haehyo), perhaps belatedly to revive her moribund career.

With its title referencing not just the many scenes of one-on-one dialogue, but also something hidden in plain sight, prolific writer/director Hong Sangsoo’s latest seems, with its unspoken secrets and its film-world metacommentary, to be typical of his œuvre, even as it gently subverts many of his characteristic tropes. For here, in a bar pointedly named ’Novel’, the characters drink Chinese liquor rather than the usual soju, and the film’s grave themes are lightened by Sangok’s life-affirming laughter.

The London Korean Film Festival 2021 takes place from 4 November to 19 November. Find out more and buy tickets.

To be in with a chance of winning tickets to In Front of Your Face simply email filmcompetitions@bfi.org.uk with KOREA in subject header by Monday 8 November.