South Korea has a deep history of stylish, subversive cinema. These filmmakers merge the pleasures of big-budget storytelling with a gleefully inventive approach to genre and biting social critique. Since the late 1990s, the K-wave or hallyu (한류) – an unstoppable, global takeover of Korean pop culture – has turned directors such as Lee Chang-dong ( Burning 2018), Bong Joon-ho ( Parasite 2019) and Park Chan-wook ( Decision to leave 2022) into household names.
From a rare 1940s wonder to golden age noir and recent landmarks on 35mm, Flowers in hell brings together over 20 titles from one of the most vital film industries in the world. Meet squirming octopi, avenging heroines and early K-pop stars in this retrospective of South Korean cinema.
