The 2024 edition of the Korean Independent Animation Festival will run as part of Osaka Cinemascape 2024, which is organised by the Osaka Asian Film Festival.
Osaka Cinemascape is monthly project that commenced in September 2024 and will end after February 2025 ahead of next year’s Osaka Asian Film Festival. Cinemagoers will be able to watch wide range of high quality films will be screened under different themes – take the Making Waves: Navigators of Hong Kong Cinema strand in November.
For October, we have a bevvy of animated film from Korea which will be screened at Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka, on October 26 from 13:00.
After the first screening, there will be a talk with Choi Yu-jin, the long-time manager of KIAFA (Korean Independent Animation Filmmakers Association) and the filmmaker Izumi Ogawa (website) whose work, A Forest Fire, was shown at last year’s Korean Independent Animation Festival.
Korea is a bit of a powerhouse for high-quality animated shorts so this is a great opportunity to get an overview of where its animation industry and its people are at, particularly from Choi Yu-jin.
Tickets go on sale today so now’s a great time to look at the film’s programmed:
Lovely Girl 러블리 걸 (2018) 6 mins. Dir: Park Ye-na 박예나
Park’s film was programmed for Fantasia International Film Festival 2018. Her other works include episodes of the series Beauty Sick and her latest short film, Chewing, which played at Bucheon International Animation Festival 2021.
Synopsis: The sweet highs and harsh lows of that eternal moment, when boy meets girl. An internal affair, of sorts…
Battery Daddy 건전지 아빠 (2021) 6 mins. Dir: Jeon Seung-bae 전승배
Jeon is a graduate of Chung-ang University of Advance Imaging Science, Multimedia & Film, who works at Toyville Animation Studio as an animation director. His films include Saturday’s Apartment and, his most recent work, Battery Mommy.
Synopsis: It tells the story of how everyone relies on attentive Battery Dad to keep things well-powered and running smoothly, but when a field trip’s downpour hits, will he still have the power to save the day?
Things that Disappear 사라지는 것들 (2022) 10 mins. Dir: Kim Chang-soo 김창수
Things that Disappear competed at Annecy Festival 2022 and it won 2nd place for Best Animated Short Film at Fantasia 2022.
Synopsis: The story of an elderly person living alone in a redevelopment area holding a funeral for a dead cat on the street
The Cave 저주소년 (2022) 13 mins. Dir: Kim Jin-man 김진만, Cheong Ji-young 천지영
Kim and Cheong both run the Humhumu stop-motion animation studio website and have made multiple award-winning works. This one has played at multiple festivals, like Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, and it won the 2022 Seoul Indie-AniFest Animation Festival KIAFA Special Prize.
Synopsis: The boy longs for his father’s affection, but his father is only interested in fishing. One day, his father dies of illness, and the boy’s sense of loss turns into an obsession with his father’s belongings. In the imaginary cave, he curses on his father’s relatives who took his father’s bike and fishing rods, and succeeds in revenge. But the curse begins to eat the boy’s soul… It is a story inspired by the director’s childhood memories with his father.
Carnivorous Bean Sprout 육식콩나물 (2021) 4 mins. Dir: Seo Sae-rom 서새롬
Seo graduated from Animation Department at the Kaywon University of Art & Design and set up her own production company, Meow Swarm Studio.
Synopsis: A black comedy about an unidentifiable strange creature that will satisfy the desires of those who seek fear for sheer pleasure.
OUR 2 우리들의 2 (2019) 5 mins. Dir: Song Yung-sung
Song (website) is a graduate of Tokyo University of the Arts. His works are influenced by artists such as Vassilij Kandinsky, Robert Delaunay, and Henri Matisse. One of his latest works, Creative Evolution, in 2019 was awarded at the Mainichi Film Competition.
Synopsis: To commemorate the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death, the film reinterpreted the story of Dante and Beatrice’s re union, which followed from “La Vita Nuova” to the three parts of “Divine Comedy” (hell, purgatory, and heaven).
The Ark in the Desert 사막의 방주 (2021) 11 mins. Dir: Kim Areum 김아름
This looks to be Kim’s debut and it played at Bucheon International Animation Festival 2021.
Synopsis: This is the story of a farewell between Farah, who is an undertaker, and her granddaughter Mari. Farah has always taken care of others who have died, but now Farah’s own final hours are approaching. To Mari, who will be alone once she is gone, Farah tells a story about life and death.
The House of Loss 상실의 집 (2022) 9 mins. Dir: Jeon Jin-kyu 전진규
Jeon (website) graduated from the Korea National University of Arts before enrolling at the Tokyo University of the Arts where he made The House of Loss as his graduation work – it was co-produced by Koji Yamamura (Mount Head).
Synopsis: The elderly at the nursing home have their heads shaved. The protagonist who works there sees them but can’t read their expressions. However, from one instance, he finds himself looking closely at their faces.
The Starry Night 별이 빛나는 밤에 (2017) 9 mins. Dir: Lee Jong-Hoon
Lee (website) graduated from Korea Animation High School and worked in the animation department of the K-ARTS. Lee’s most recent film Architect A won the Audience Award (ages 8-14), Grand Prize (Short) at the New York International Children’s Film Festival 2023.
Synopsis: The starry night’ tells about the love that becomes clearer as time goes by, through the process of organizing his own life, loving an old lover.
Here are the links to the Korean Independent Animation Festival’s SNS feeds:
Main Website: https://hanakori.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/koreanimation/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hanakoriJP
Here’s my past coverage of the festival: