On Thursday 20 October, Film Fest Ghent is putting the spotlight on Korean film music in the unique concert Korean Composers. Scores for the films such as the Oscar-winning Parasite and the hit series Squid Game will be performed live. South Korean cinema will also serve as the focus of the 49th edition of the festival, which runs from 11 to 22 October.

Korean Composers

Film Fest Ghent is known for its distinctive focus on the art and craft of film music. The festival honours film composers from all over the world with the World Soundtrack Awards, the annual film music prizes presented during an awards ceremony & concert. The WSA brings together composers and other professionals to celebrate their work and to present it to a wider audience. This year, the World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert takes place on 22 October with Mark Isham (A River Runs Through It, Crash, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) as guest of honour. Two days earlier, on Thursday 20 October, Film Fest Ghent presents the film music concert Korean Composers, a concert dedicated to the crème de la crème of Korean film music.

Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by Maestro Dirk Brossé will perform live music by (amongst others) Jo Yeong-wook, the go-to composer of filmmaker Park Chan-wook. He wrote the score for films such as Joint Security Area, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, The Handmaiden, and Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook’s latest film, which is competing for the 2022 Palme d’Or). The composer often records his music in Belgium with an orchestra conducted by Dirk Brossé, as he did for the film Hunt (Lee Jung-jae), which will play out of competition at this year’s Cannes festival. Jo Yeong-wook will attend the concert in person.

The music of Jung Jae-il will also play an important part in the concert. Jung Jae-il has made a remarkable breakthrough in recent years thanks to scores for Bong Joon ho’s films Okja and Parasite, and the Netflix hit series Squid Game. His latest work can be heard in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Palm d’Or contender Broker.

Focus on South Korean Cinema

In October 2022, the 49th edition of Film Fest Ghent will celebrate South Korean cinema. For years, South Korean cinema has been a haven for high-quality, often subversive productions and has only gained in popularity in recent years. The immense popularity of Parasite by Bong Joon-ho and the Netflix series Squid Game is illustrative of the broader interest in the Korean wave.

This is reason enough for Film Fest Ghent to focus on South Korean cinema. It does so with a film music concert (Korean Composers), but also with a section in the film programme (Focus on South Korean cinema) and a retrospective (curated by Patrick Duynslaegher).

Wim De Witte, Programme Director FFG: “South Korean cinema has long been one of the world’s most interesting. That it is so popular now only confirms that. Moreover, South Korea has a very diverse film culture, with grand spectacles, gritty crime thrillers, stories with delicious twists and turns, but also smaller films such as Hong Sang soo’s. Cinema in South Korea is bursting with creativity and inventiveness, resulting in - amongst so many other things - exciting genre films.”

Practical

The film music concert takes place on 20 October in the Concert Hall of Music Centre De Bijloke. Tickets for the film music concert Korean Composers as well as for the World Soundtrack Awards 2022 are available at worldsoundtrackawards.com and filmfestival.be as from 21 April.

The focus on South Korean cinema is supported by the Korean Cultural Center (Brussels).