25 Oct – After taking a year off since its last appearance in Malaysia, the Korean Film Festival (KFF) is returning once again starting from this 26 October. KFF 2017 will be showcasing five of the best titles Korean cinema has to offer, including the opening film "The Suspect", which was screened at the opening launch of the film festival yesterday evening. "It is evident that this festival is very popular with Malaysians from the strong response," said GSC CEO Ms. Koh Mei Lee in her welcome speech. "When tickets for the Korean Film Festival were released for redemption last Thursday, the tickets were immediately snapped up within a few days. To date, we have recorded a redemption rate of over 95 percent for the 5 selected Korean titles. This, by far, is the best occupancy rate recorded for a film festival in our circuit."
"Needless to say, this is not unexpected as Korean culture has a big following in Malaysia," she added. This year's opening film, "The Suspect", stars Gong Yoo in the lead role. The actor is most widely known in Malaysia as the leading man in last year's zombie hit "Train to Busan", which is still the highest-grossing Korean film at the Malaysian box office. Other films that will be screened at KFF 2017 are "A Hard Day", "The Fatal Encounter", "My Brilliant Life" and "My Love, My Bride".
"I'm very thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase Korean films to our Malaysian friends," said H.E. Ambassador Dr. Yu Hyun-seok, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Malaysia, at the opening ceremony. Adding that this year's KFF is part of the Korean Cultural Festival 2017 currently taking place in Malaysia, the ambassador also shared that there are other activities being held such as Korean Music Night and Korean Drama Night (the latter to be attended by actor Sung Hoon), among others. The Korean Film Festival 2017 screenings will be held for free from tomorrow until this Saturday, 28 October, at GSC Pavilion KL.