TEN MONTHS Up for Kau Ka Hōkū Award 

Long a supporter of Korean film, whether big or small, this year’s Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) is screening 21 Korean works in its program. 11 features, spanning the commercial and indie realms, and a further 10 shorts are included in this year’s program.

Among the features, Namkoong Sun’s pregnancy drama Ten Months (2020) is vying for the Kau Ka Hōkū Award. The film premiered at last year’s Jeonju International Film Festival. Also from Jeonju, but this year’s edition, is the indie drama Kim Minyoung of the Report Card from directors Lee Jaeeun and Lim Jisun. The film earned the Grand Prize at Jeonju this year.

Among mainstream titles, HIFF is screening Kim Jihoon’s disaster comedy Sinkhole, Yoon Jaekeun’s SF-thriller Spiritwalker (2020), Lee Wontae’s political crime drama The Devil’s Deal, Pil Gamsung’s action-thriller Hostage: Missing Celebrity and Im Sangsoo’s Heaven: To the Land of Happiness, which was part of the Cannes Film Festival selection last year and served as this year’s opening film at the Busan International Film Festival.

Other indie features in the lineup include Long Day, the new film from prolific arthouse filmmaker Cho Sungkyu, Cho Kyoungho’s Good Deal, Kwak Minseung’s Rolling and Junho, a Korean-American co-production from director David Seok Hoon Boo.

Included in the short film selection is Georgia (2020), the Sonje Award winner from last year’s Busan International Film Festival. 

This year’s HIFF kicked off on November 4 and will run till the 28th.