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Mexican Embassy to present film festival The 11th Mexican film festival will take place at locations around the nation beginning this week at Seoul Art Cinema and culminating on Oct. 3 in Jeonju. The films for the festival are “Enlightened Blood” directed by Ivan Avilas Duerias, “Absence” by Alfonso Zuarez Romero, “My Life Inside” with director Lucia Gaja, “Wait for Me in Another World,” directed by Juan Pablo Villasenor and “The Old Thieves” by Everado Gonzales. The festival is in the Seoul Art Cinema from Aug. 31 till Sept. 10: in Gwangju, Sept. 8-10; in Daegu, Sept. 11 -13; in Daejeon, Sept. 16-18; and in Jeonju, Sept. 28-Oct. 3. Korean Traditional Music Classes for Foreigners Foreigners now have the chance to learn play traditional Korean musical instruments such as the “janggu,” “gayageum” or “haegeum” at the National Gugak Center (previously known as the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts) in Seocho, for a 12 week Saturday morning course beginning Sept. 04 till Nov. 20 from 10:30 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. The cost is 30,000 won. Applic

Busan beach opens for surf competition

By John Redmond With only days to go before the lifting of restrictions at all beaches in Busan, surfers are eagerly awaiting the annual Busan Surfing Festival this weekend, Sept 3-5 at Haeundae beach, subject to wave conditions. Although the sport of surfing in Korea is fairly recent, this year’s festival promises to be the best yet with corporate sponsorship and fun events. Mi-Rae Trading has contracted with Ocean and Earth, Spider High Performance Surfboards and Surfer Girl to bring new and innovative products to Korea which will be co-sponsoring the comp with Minossurf and a host of others. “This promises to be the biggest event yet,” said Megan Kim by phone to The Korea Times. “We have a lot of interest from overseas sponsors and have just confirmed Australian industry giants, Billabong, as a main sponsor for the event.” With summer crowds surging to coastal resorts, many beaches have restrictions when surfboards are allowed into the water. With an agreement with the Korean Surfing Association (KSA) and the United Surfers of Haeundae, authorities agreed

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Expat music scene thriving in Seoul

Band Tear Jerks to tour Taiwan By John Redmond Up until about seven years ago, the expat music scene in Korea was saturated by a handful of cover bands and a few solo performers, all adhering to a playlist dominated by classic hits and golden oldies. Acts were rated by the number of well known tunes present in the set list and some even had huge fan clubs and would tour the peninsula. For lovers of non-mainstream acts, the pickings were rather slim. Fortunately, a remedy to this situation was found in venues in the student neighborhood of Hongdae that began catering to a booming number of local independent acts in genres ranging from punk, ska, rockabilly, pop and folk. The majority of acts were Korean with a few expat/Korean combinations. Over time, a new generation of expats began to form bands of a slightly more indie persuasion. The major expat touring artists were still DJs on their way to or from other festivals in Asia. As more bands began to frequent the Hongdae scene at clubs like FF, The Spot, DGBD’s, Freebird and the now defunct Skunk Hell, venues in

Foreignline

Canada Night festivities due Saturday In celebration of Canada Night, festivities will take place at Cheonggye Plaza on Aug. 28, including live performances, food tasting, arts and crafts, and a Canadian film screening. The event is open to everyone, including foreigners living in Korea, Korean citizens, tourists and is sponsored by the Canadian Embassy and Seoul Metropolitan Government. Activities include outdoor screenings of Canadian animations and films, traditional Korean music and Canadian musical performances, exhibitions, events to experience Canadian culture and more. The films to be screened will include animations and Oscar-winning and -nominated short films selected by the National Film Board of Canada’ Canadian DJ Unjin, and local Led Zeppelin tribute band Over the Hill and Far Away will perform as well as Canadian media art group Purform. A photo exhibition and cultural experience event will be held featuring the 60th anniversary of the Korean War ― Canadian soldiers in the Korean War. Events to experience Canadian culture include free sampl

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(294) Places to visit ― Han River IIII

(293) Places to visit ― Han River III