‘Embassy Line
Australian Film Festival to Kick Off Tuesday
The Australian Embassy said that the fifth Australian Film Festival will be held in Seoul and Pusan from April 24 to May 11.
The festival will show 10 new feature films and 14 short films including three that have been nominated for Academy Awards.
``Australia, like Korea, has a dynamic and innovative film industry,’’ Australian Ambassador Peter Rowe said. ``Over two weeks Korean audiences will be able to enjoy the work of many of Australia’s leading directors and finest actors, including Geofrey Rush, Toni Collette and Heath Ledger.’’
He stressed that the festival of short films contains the work of two internationally acclaimed Korean animators, the Oscar-nominated Park Sae-jong and Susan Kim, both of whom made their films in Australia.
In Seoul, the screening will be held at Cine Cube in Chongno from April 24 to 30 with an opening reception for invited guests on Tuesday night.
Cinematheque in Haeundae, Pusan, will run the films from May 4 to 11 with an opening reception on Friday night.
The 10 films are ``Ned Kelly,’’ ``Three Dollars,’’ ``Swimming Upstream,’’ ``Getting Square,’’ ``Somersault,’’ ``Japanese Story,’’ ``Thunderstruck,’’ ``Peaches,’’ ``The Range in the Placid Lake’’ and ``Dirty Deeds.’’
The 14 short films include ``Birthday Boy,’’ ``Ward 13’’ and the ``Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello.’’
More information is available on the embassy Web site at www.southkorea.embassy.gov.au.
China Cultural Center Takes One Week Off
The China Cultural Center in Seoul announced that it will temporarily close from May 1 to 7 during the Labor Day holiday.
The center said that all the regular activities including Friday movie screenings and study meetings on Thursday will be skipped during the period.
Since its establishment in Naeja-dong, central Seoul, in December 2004, the center has actively organized various events and classes for Koreans, including the Chinese language, calligraphy, painting, cooking, film screenings and martial arts.
For more information about the center, visit its Web site at www.cccseoul.org or call (02) 733-8307~9.
Fashion Show by Koreans Studying in Japan
The Japanese Embassy said that there will be a fashion show by Koreans who are studying fashion in Japan at the Lotte Hotel in central Seoul at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. next Monday.
The show, which is the 11th of its kind supported by the embassy, will mainly present students’ works and introduce fashion trends in Tokyo.
There will be also presentation about entrance to a Japanese fashion institution Munhwa.
Those who are participating in the event are enrolled in the institution. For more information, call the Seoul office of Munhwa at (02) 561-6708.