PROGRAMS
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2026 KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL IN AUSTRALIA & TOURING PROGRAM Director Running Time120Minutes Screening Period 20 Aug 2026 - 25 Aug 2026
Welcome to the 17th Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA)! Discover the stories and creativity of Korean cinema as KOFFIA returns in 2026, proudly celebrating its 17th year. Presented by the Korean Cultural Centre Australia, KOFFIA showcases a diverse selection of Korean films across various genres, with all films presented with English subtitles. Audiences are invited to experience the unique perspectives, compelling narratives, and cinematic artistry of Korea's talented filmmakers. Following the success of previous years, KOFFIA's Touring Program continues to bring selected Korean films to communities across Australia through partnerships with local councils, offering free screenings beyond major cities and connecting audiences with the diversity of Korean culture through cinema. 2026 KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL IN AUSTRALIA DATE: 20–25 August 2026 VENUE: Event Cinemas, George St, Sydney KOFFIA 2026 Touring Program 1. Benalla DATE: 5 September 2026 VENUE: Benalla Cinema, 14 Mair St, Benalla VIC 3672 2. Temora DATE: 17 September 2026 VENUE: Temora Town Hall Theatre, Loftus St, Temora NSW 2666 3. Burnside DATE: 7–10 October 2026 VENUE: The Regal Theatre, 275 Kensington Road, Kensington Park SA 5068 4. Victor Harbor DATE: 10–11 October 2026 VENUE: Victa Cinema, 37–41 Ocean St, Victor Harbor SA 5211 5. Scenic Rim DATE: 16 October 2026 VENUE: Boonah Cultural Centre, 3 High St, Boonah QLD 4310 For more information and to book your tickets, please visit the official website; www.koffia.com.au
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2025 KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL IN AUSTRALIA & TOURING PROGRAM DirectorKOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE AUSTRALIA Running Time120Minutes Screening Period 21 Aug 2025 - 26 Aug 2025
Welcome to the 16th Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA)! Get ready for an extraordinary cinematic journey as KOFFIA returns in 2025, proudly celebrating its 16th year! We’re showcasing Australian premieres from Korea’s top filmmakers, promising an unforgettable experience. From thrilling dramas to heartwarming stories and captivating fantasies, our lineup is set to captivate audiences of all tastes. Presented by the Korean Cultural Centre Australia, this year’s festival spans multiple genres, with English subtitles for all films. Following its stellar debut, KOFFIA’s Touring Program is back for its second year, expanding to six incredible cities across Australia! From September to October, these communities will host free screenings of four handpicked films, sharing the magic of Korean cinema with regional Australia through local council partnerships. 2025 KOREAN FILM FESITVAL IN AUSTRALIA DATE: 21 – 26 August 2025 VENUE: Event Cinemas, George St, Sydney KOFFIA 2025 Touring Program 1. Benalla DATE: 13- 14 September 2025 VENUE: Benalla Cinema, 14 Mair St, Benalla VIC 3672 2. Toowoomba DATE: 14 September 2025 VENUE: The Strand Cinema, 163 Margaret St, Toowoomba City QLD 4350 3. Parramatta DATE: 26 – 27 September 2025 VENUE: Riverside Theatres, Corner Market &, 353 Church St, Parramatta NSW 2150 4. Alice Springs DATE: 3 – 5 October 2025 VENUE: Alice Springs Cinema, Todd Plaza, 11 Todd St, Alice Springs NT 0871 5. Victor Harbor DATE: 4 – 5 October 2025 VENUE: Victa Cinema, 37-41 Ocean St, Victor Harbor SA 5211 6. Whitsunday DATE: 11 – 12 October 2025 VENUE: Proserpine Entertainment Centre, 14 Main St, Proserpine QLD 4800 For more information and to book your tickets, please visit the official website; www.koffia.com.au
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2024 KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL IN AUSTRALIA & TOURING PRGRAM DirectorKOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE AUSTRALIA Running Time120Minutes Screening Period 22 Aug 2024 - 27 Aug 2024
Welcome to the 2024 Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA)! Celebrating its 15th year, KOFFIA offers an extraordinary cinematic journey with Australian premieres from Korea’s top filmmakers. From thrilling thrillers to heartwarming rom-coms and enchanting fantasies, our lineup promises to captivate audiences of all tastes. Presented by the Korean Cultural Centre Australia, this year’s festival spans multiple genres, with English subtitles for all films. We’re excited to introduce our first-ever touring program, bringing free screenings to Canberra, Benalla, Burnside, and Alice Springs. Join us and experience the richness of Korean cinema! 2024 KOFFIA ●DATE: 22 – 27 AUG 2024 ●VENUE: EVENT Cinemas, Geroge st. Sydney 2024 KOFFIA TOURING PROGRAM 1. CANBERRA ●DATE: 31 AUG – 1 SEP 2024 ●VENUE: Palace Electric Cinemas 2. BURNSIDE ●DATE: 10 – 13 SEP 2024 ●VENUE: The Regal Theatre 3. BENALLA ●DATE: 14 – 15 SEP 2024 ●VENUE: Benalla Cinema 4. ALICE SPRINGS ●DATE: 9 -12 OCT ●VENUE: Alice Springs Cinema For more information, please visit the official website; www.koffia.com.au
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KCCAU X SFF: KOREAN CINEMA CELEBRATION-NOLJA DirectorKOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE AUSTRALIA Running Time120Minutes Screening Date 14 Jun 2024
The most festive Korean cinema celebration returns in 2024! With K-Pop music, photo booth, hands-on activities, and more, enjoy the night filled with Korean Culture. Celebrate Korean culture and cinema, whether you’re a long time Korean film fan, or planning on enjoying Alienoid, It’s Okay, or House of the Seasons at SFF this year! The night will be filled with immersive Korean cultural experiences, including K-pop cover dance performance, K-pop random play dance, photo booth experience with K-style school uniform and accessories and free Korean calligraphy! DATE & TIME: Friday 14th June 2024, 19:30 – 21:30 (AEST) VENUE: Lower Town Hall PROGRAM: ●K-pop Cover Dance Performance ●K-pop Random Play Dance ●Photo Booth Experience with K-style Accessories ●Your Name in Korean: Personalised Korean Calligraphy Admission to this event is FREE, but booking is required to secure your spot. Click ‘HERE’ to book your spot!
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[WEBINAR] IM KWON-TAEK AND KOREAN FILM RESTORATION WITH CINEMA REBORN FESTIVAL DirectorKOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE AUSTRALIA Running Time120Minutes Screening Date 03 May 2024
Korean Cultural Centre AU is presenting a webinar to help introduce Australian audiences to Im Kwon-taek’s work. Guests, including film critic, academic and Korean cinema expert Russell Edwards, critic and Parasite subtitler Darcy Parquet, and Korean Film Archive head Prof. Hong-joon Kim will explore Im Kwon-taek’s career and the Korean Film Archive (KOFA)’s acclaimed program to restore and give global access to Korean filmmaking heritage. ●Friday 3 May from 2:00 PM AEST ●Free event, bookings essential Webinar Guests Originally from Massachusetts, Darcy Paquet has been living in Seoul since 1997. He first became active in the film industry as a journalist, launching the website Koreanfilm.org in 1999 and working as a reporter for Screen International and later Variety. He is the author of New Korean Cinema: Breaking the Waves (2010, Columbia University Press), and teaches at the Busan Asian Film School and the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. He also works as a Program Consultant for the Udine Far East Film Festival. Darcy has translated the subtitles for a wide range of Korean films including Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite (2019) and Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave (2022). Dr Russell Edwards has been a professional film critic since the early 1990s, reviewed for Variety (2003-2012) and served as President of the Film Critics Circle of Australia (2004-2006). A former advisor to the Busan International Film Festival, Russell is currently writing a volume on contemporary South Korean cinema as well as editing an essay collection on the films of Peter Weir. Hong-Joon Kim is currently a director of Korean Film Archive and a professor emeritus at Korea National University of Arts. He was Festival Director of the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival and Commissioner of the Korean Film Council from 2000-2005. His published books include I, a Filmmaker: Kim Hong-Joon’s Film Notes and Two or Three Things You Want to Know About Movies. Hong-Joon Kim is an award-winning director, and screenwriter of films including Jungle Story (1996) and A Rosy Life (1994). He hosted and co-wrote the television series Korean Classical Cinema Special. Kim was also an assistant to Im Kwon-taek during the 1990s, including on his 1993 film Sopyonje. Prof. Kyung Hyun Kim is a creative writer and current professor in the Department of East Asian Studies and Visual Studies, University of California Irvine, where he is the founding director of UCI’s Center for Critical Korean Studies. Kim is author of Virtual Hallyu: Korean Cinema of the Global Era, The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema (2004), Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of 21st Century (2021)), and the Korean-language novel In Search of Lost G (Ireo beorin G-reul chajaso, 2014). In 2000 he co-edited and wrote many of the chapters for Im Kwon-taek: the making of a Korean National Cinema, which was the first book published in English on Im and the first in English on any Korean filmmaker. Kyung Hyun Kim has worked with renowned directors such as Hong Sang-soo, Lee Chang-dong and Marty Scorsese. He has coproduced and co-scripted the feature films Never Forever (2007) which was in Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Main Competition and the remake of Kim Ki-young’s classic The Housemaid (2010), which competed in the Cannes Film Festival Main Competition. His co-scripted film screenplay, The Origins of a Detective (Hyeongsa eui kiwon), won the cash prize for the 2019 Best Film Development Project by the Korean Film Commission. He serves currently as a resident director/screenwriter for Being Built Together (BBT) which provides support to underserved Korean-speaking individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Cinema Reborn’s Im Kwon-taek season is presented with the support of the Australia-Korea Foundation and co-presented with the Korean Film Archive (KOFA). Film director Im Kwon-taek [임권택, Im Gwon-taek; b. 1936] made over 60 commercial Korean cinema features before deciding in the mid-1970s that he need to stop making ‘lousy’ films. By his final (and 102nd) feature, (Revive [화장] made in 2014), Im’s late-career, ‘honest’ filmmaking had pierced local censorship taboos, and gained international film festival invitations and critical attention for Korean movies in the west. Im Kwon-taek’s led the way for South Korea’s 21st century generation of international art house directing stars. Yet his career still featured affecting, strongly written and resonant local Korean movie box office hits. Parasite [기생충] director Bong Joon-ho has called Im Korean Cinema’s “own John Ford”. Sydney’s Cinema Reborn Festival is showcase four of Im Kwon-taek’s films, in recent restorations by the internationally renowned Korean Film Archive (KOFA). The season begins on Saturday 4 May (repeated Monday 6 May) with Sopyonje [Seopyeonje, 서편제] Im’s 1993 film on Korea’s p’ansori song tradition. Sopyonje screens as part of the 2024 Cinema Reborn Film Festival, running from 1 May at the Ritz Cinemas in Randwick, Sydney. Remaining films in the Im season (including his 1980 features Jagko [ 짝코] and 1996 Festival [축제]) will screen on Saturdays through May at the Ritz Cinemas in Randwick. Sopyonje (only) also screens as part of Cinema Reborn’s Melbourne season, screening from 9 May at the Lido Cinemas in Hawthorn. For more information on the Im Kwon-taek season see Cinema Reborn’s website [www.cinemareborn.com.au], The Ritz Cinema’s website [https://www.ritzcinemas.com.au/movies/sopyonje-1993] or the Lido Cinema’s website [https://www.lidocinemas.com.au/movies/sopyonje-1993]
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2023 KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL IN AUSTRALIA DirectorKOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE AUSTRALIA Running Time120Minutes Screening Period 24 Aug 2024 - 17 Sep 2024
Get ready to immerse yourself in the captivating world of Korean cinema as the highly anticipated 2023 Korean Film Festival makes its grand return to Australia! From heartwarming romances to pulse-pounding thrillers, this year’s festival promises an unforgettable cinematic journey that will leave you breathless. DATE & VENUE ●24~29 AUG 2023 / Event Cinema George st. (Sydney) ●1~3 SEP 2023 / Palace Electric Cinema (Canberra) ●7~11 SEP 2023 / ACMI (Melbourne) ●14~17 SEP 2023 / Elizabeth Picture Theatre (Brisbane) DETAILS & TICKETING Please check the official website via; https://koffia.com.au
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KCCAU X SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL: MEET KOREAN DIRECTOR KIM JEE-WOON OF COBWEB (GEO-MI-ZIP) DirectorKOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE AUSTRALIA Running Time120Minutes Screening Date 18 Jun 2023
Join us for a special event as we welcome the esteemed Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-Woon, renowned for his works such as A Tale of Two Sisters and The Age of Shadows. This exciting occasion will take place at The HUB following the screening of his latest film, Cobweb at the State Theatre. Kim Jee-Woon will engage in a conversation with Richard Kuipers, curator of the Sydney Film Festival, providing a unique opportunity to delve into the celebrated director’s career. Don’t miss out on this incredible chance to hear firsthand from one of Korea’s most brilliant directors. Cobweb promises to be an uproarious and clever film, revolving around a director’s obsession with reshooting the ending of his completed masterpiece. The film features the talented Song Kang-ho, known for his unforgettable performance in Parasite (SFF2019). Be sure to secure your spot and book your tickets to watch Cobweb at this year’s Sydney Film Festival! ●TIME&DATE: Sunday, 18 June, 12:15pm ●VENUE: The Hub, Lower Town Hall ●FREE, click ‘HERE’ to book your seats SPECIAL GUEST: Kim Jee-Woon DIRECTOR Kim Jee-Woon was a theatre actor and director before debuting with The Quiet Family (1988). Other films include: A Tale of Two Sisters (2003); A Bittersweet Life(2005); The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008) and The Age of Shadows (2016). FILMOGRAPHY (KOFFIA’s PICK) The Quiet Family (1998) Comedy, Crime, Horror A family opens a mountain inn where their first guest commits suicide. Suddenly all their guests befall horrible fates. The Foul King (2000) Comedy, Sport A wimpy, incompetent bank clerk decides to become a pro wrestler. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) Drama, Horror, Mystery After spending time in a mental hospital, a girl is reunited with her sister and returns home, only to see some truly strange events start to happen. A Bittersweet Life (2005) Action, Crime, Drama Things go wrong for a high-ranking mobster when he doesn’t proceed by his boss’s orders. The Good the Bad the Weird (2008) Action, Adventure, Comedy The story of two outlaws and a bounty hunter in 1940s Manchuria and their rivalry to possess a treasure map while being pursued by the Japanese army and Chinese bandits. I Saw the Devil (2010) Action, Crime, Drama A secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases. The Age of Shadows (2016) Action, History, Thriller Korean resistance fighters smuggle explosives to destroy facilities controlled by Japanese forces in this period action thriller. * Find out more about Kim Jee-Woon’s features, short films, and TV series HERE
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KOREAN CINEMA CELEBRATION: GEONBAE AT 70 SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL DirectorKOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE AUSTRALIA Running Time120Minutes Screening Date 16 Jun 2023
Join us for a special celebration of Korean Cinema during this year’s Sydney Film Festival at the HUB. Immerse yourself in Korean culture at our exciting party on Friday, June 16th, from 8:30 to 10:30 pm. This event is in conjunction with the screening of the award-winning Korean film, ‘A WILD ROOMER,’ which received the New Currents award at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in 2022. The night will be filled with immersive Korean cultural experiences, including trying on Korean school uniforms for photos, participating in traditional Korean games, and enjoying captivating K-Pop cover dance and singing performances. The evening will culminate in an electrifying K-Pop DJ party featuring Sydney’s K-Pop icon, Andy Trieu. To enhance your Korean culinary experience, complimentary Makgeolli and soju will be provided at the bar. Admission to this event is FREE, but booking is required to secure your spot. TIME&DATE: Friday, 16 June, 8.30 to 10.30pm VENUE: The Hub, Lower Town Hall FREE, Bookings essential PROGRAM ●K-Pop cover singing and dance performances by Sydney’s best groups ●K-Pop DJ party by Andy Trieu ●Korean School Uniform Trial and Taking Photos ●Playing Korean traditional games and board games ●Tasting Korean Makgeolli and Soju A WILD ROOMER + Director Q&A Lee Jeong-hong’s delightfully unconventional South Korean comedy of manners won the prestigious New Currents competition and the NETPAC Award at Busan. The not-so-wild ‘roomer’ of this offbeat charmer is Gi-hong, a goateed 30-ish carpenter who rents a room in the fabulously spacious but desperately sterile house of his landlord and drinking buddy Jung-hwan. Whilst he’s on the up financially, he’s much less adept socially. Gi-hong spends most of his free time hanging out with Jung-hwan and his enigmatic wife, Hyung-jun – which unexpectedly becomes a foursome when a stranger from the fringes of society steps onto the scene. Lee’s carefully composed visuals and the cast’s finely calibrated performances create an intriguing and wryly humorous portrait of a domestic dynamic being gently pushed beyond its comfort zone. Lee’s outstanding debut feature asserts him as a filmmaker to watch. BOOK Screening