Ki-Duk Kim's "Breath" : Bored Seoul wife Yeon (Zia) is gripped by a news story about Jang Jin (Chang Chen), a Death Row prisoner who has attempted suicide by stabbing himself with a sharpened toothbrush handle. Oddly drawn to him, Yeon heads to the prison to become his new best friend - and his unofficial interior decorator... As she brightens his cell with wallpaper and trinkets and his silent existence with song, a relationship develops that confounds observers. Driven by the same languidly offbeat romanticism that fuelled The Bow and 3-Iron, this is a beautifully unconventional love story.
Chan-Wook Park's "I'm A Cyborg But That's OK" : Young-goon (Lim Soo-jung) is a cyborg, and needs an electrical current to survive. It makes perfect sense to her, therefore, to cut open her wrist and plug herself into the mains; to eschew food in favour of licking batteries; and to only befriend other machines. The world at large seems to find her behaviour odd, however, and duly confines her to a mental hospital... There, she strikes up a touching bond with Il-sun (Jung Ji-hoon), who has an uncontrollable tendency to steal other people's souls. A musical romance unlike any other, with extraordinary visual ideas (hold on for the airborne Alpine yodeling sequence) and lovely performances from two of South Korea's most revered pop culture icons.
Gyeong-Tae Roh's "The Last Dining Table" : Taking as its themes the collapse of family values and the effects of global chaos, The Last Dining Table is a lyrical, meditative creation that fuses surreal imagery with a memorable soundtrack and a minimalist yet multi-layered narrative. The result is an enigmatic portrait of a seemingly unconnected group of characters in the outskirts and slums of Seoul - a grandmother who wants to divorce her dead husband, a mother who works in a mortuary, a father addicted to gambling and a teenage son who works as a cabaret singer. Employing sparse dialogue and stunning cinematography, director Roh Gyeong-tae allows his characters enough time to slowly divulge their stories, before finally uniting them in the film's shocking conclusion.
Sang-Soo Im's "The Old Garden" : Based upon a best-selling South Korean novel by Hwang Sok-yong, this absorbing drama follows the efforts of a former radical to reconcile his old beliefs with his new life. Imprisoned for seventeen years for his involvement in the anti-government riots of 1980, Oh Hyun-woo (Ji Jin-hee) emerges into a very different society. He retreats to the hiding place he once shared with his lover and fellow activist, Yoon-hee - but she's long gone, and only memories (in the form of vivid, beautifully-told flashbacks) remain. As vibrant and intense as it is thoughtful, this is a film in which to lose yourself.About EIFF : Started in 1947, the EIFF is one of the true homes of innovative and exciting cinema. For over half-a-century, the Festival has presented some of cinema's most important and exciting moments and played host to the world's greatest filmmakers.
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