These are ten films you shouldn’t miss at the Korean Film Festival Frankfurt which will take place from October 25 – 29, 2023 in Frankfurt, Germany.

Confession by YOON Jong-seok – Korea | 2022 – 105 minutes
When YOO Min-ho’s (SO Ji-sub) lover KIM Se-hee (Nana) is found murdered, the successful software developer becomes the prime suspect in the investigation of her murder. Insisting on his innocence, Min-ho seeks to hire the accomplished lawyer YANG Shin-ae (KIM Yunjin) to defend him. Innocent or not, there is more to the murder than Min-ho would like to admit … (KFFF 2023)

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Gyeong-ah’s Daughter by KIM Jung-eun – Korea | 2022 – 119 minutes
After the young teacher Yeon-soo (HA Yoon-kyung) breaks up with her boyfriend, he uploads a private sex tape of the two on the Internet and sends it to her friends and family. Yeon-soo’s overprotective mother Gyeong-ah also sees the video, which puts their relationship to a severe test. Yeon-soo can no longer work as a teacher because she is afraid of being recognized by her students or colleagues. At the same time, she fights for her rights and the punishment of the perpetrator. Without being exploitative, the film depicts the devastating psychological and social consequences for victims of such a crime. (KFFF 2023)

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Hail to Hell by LIM Oh-jeong – Korea | 2022 – 109 minutes
Na-min (OH Woo-ri) and Sun-woo (BANG Hyo-rin), both outcasts and victims of brutal bullying, decide that suicide is the only way out of their hopeless situation and decide to come together for a suicide pact. When they find out that their ex-bully Chae-lin (JUNG Yi-ju) is living a seemingly happy life in Seoul, they decide to travel to the capital to have their revenge. However, Chae-lin is now a member of a Christian group and feels guilty about her past as a bully. Will Na-min and Sun-woo stick with their plan for revenge? (KFFF 2023)

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Next Sohee by July Jung – Korea | 2022 – 138 minutes
Sohee is an energetic and dance-loving eighteen-year-old high school student. She is about to graduate and go on a field placement, which begins to change her gradually. Detective Yujin, who has returned to work after a long absence, discovers a new fact during an investigation and follows its traces.​ (SIWFF 2023)

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Past Lives by Celine Song – Korea | 2023 – 106 minutes
In the Korea of their childhood, Na-young (Greta Lee) and Hae-sung (Teo Yoo) are best friends – and maybe even something more. The two have a bond that remains even into adulthood. But then Na-young’s family’s move to Canada separates the two. Years later, they reconnect over the internet, and though their bonds seems as strong as before, again they part ways. It is not until much later that Hae-sung and Na-young, who now calls herself Nora and is married to writer Arthur (John Magaro), meet again in New York, where past and present collide. (KFFF 2023)

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Phantom by LEE Hae-young – Korea | 2023 – 133 minutes
The film Phantom by director LEE Hae-young is set during the Japanese colonial period in Korea in 1933 when the anti-Japanese organizations were active in the dark. It centers around a failed assassination attempt on a new Japanese parliamentarian. Fife suspects, also called the Phantom, are taken to a remote hotel in a fortress and interrogated one by one to identify the Phantom. From now on, all five suspects try to protect their lives and their identity. The fight for survival begins. (KFFF 2023)

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Smugglers by RYOO Seung-wan – Korea | 2023 – 129 minutes
Korea in the 1970s: a chemical plant is built in the peaceful seaside town of Guncheon. Due to the sea pollution the chemical plant is causing, Guncheon’s haenyeos, female divers who harvest seafood underwater, are in a financially difficult situation. To make a living, the haenyeos get involved in a risky deal: smuggling illegal goods out of the sea. Everything seems to be going well at first, until the haenyeos encounter a tragic accident. (KFFF 2023)

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Soulmate by MIN Yong-keun – Korea | 2023 – 123 minutes
Based on a Chinese movie with the same title, the film depicts the ups and downs of the relationship between two women born in 1988, Mi-so (KIM Da-mi) and Ha-eun (JEON So-nee). Their relationship starts to change when Ha-eun falls in love with her classmate Jin-woo (BYEON Woo-seok) in their late teenage years. The free-spirited Mi-so leaves for the city to pursue an adventurous life while Ha-eun stays in her hometown to lead a quiet life, and the two gradually grow apart. Soulmate skillfully tells the story of two friends growing together and finding themselves. (KFFF 2023)

The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra by PARK Syeyoung – Korea | 2022 – 65 minutes
The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra features sequential stories of multiple people. But one thing connects them. All come into possession of the same mattress. After a while, the mattress is constantly banished by its owner to the streets before someone else takes it with them. As the film progresses, it becomes clear why. Due to a growing fungus inside, the mattress seems to develop a life of its own. With each new home, the fungus continues to grow. It physically attacks his owners on their spine and seems to develop into a human creature itself. (KFFF 2023)

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Walk Up by HONG Sang-soo – Korea | 2022 – 97 minutes
Byung-soo (KWON Hae-hyo), an acclaimed film director, visits, together with his daughter Jeong-su (PARK Mi-so), an old friend, Ms. Kim (LEE Hye-young), a successful interior designer. The three of them meet in a small, multi-story building owned by Ms. Kim, and chat, eat and drink. Afterwards, Ms. Kim gives Byung-soo and his daughter a tour of the building. She introduces each room on every floor. And floor by floor, short stories unfold, centered on Byung-soo.

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