'Long-lost cinema' returns to screens in Seoul

SEOUL, June 26 (Yonhap) -- They might not be equipped with the most comfortable
chairs or the latest in audio technology as in multiplex cinema chains, but
smaller theaters in Seoul are luring film buffs this spring with long-lost
classics from all over the world.

Prada Transformer, a newly constructed steel art house situated in the front
courtyard of Seoul's Gyeonghui Palace, will screen 14 classics and contemporary
films for two weeks beginning Saturday, all selected by renowned Mexican auteur
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
The selection by the Oscar-nominated creator of "Amores Perros," "21 Grams" and
"Babel" includes Danish director Carl Dreyer's "Ordet," U.S. director Charles
Burnett's "Killer of Sheep," Argentine Lucrecia Martel's "La Cineaga" and South
Korean Kim Ji-woon's "The Good, the Bad and the Weird," organizers of the event
said in a press release Friday. Inarritu hopes to visit Seoul during the two-week
event.
Prada Transformer, designed by Rem Koolhaas, is part of an ongoing pure arts
project by Italian Fashion brand Prada that opened on the grounds of the
16th-century Korean palace in April. The 20-meter-high steel venue, combining
four different transformable structures, is considered one of the most unusual
pieces of architecture to be spotted in Seoul.
The Seoul Art Cinema in Nakwondong, central Seoul, will hold a "Spanish film
festival" from June 30 through July 12, screening 11 films made in the European
country from 2005 through 2007. The annual event, established in 2003, is
co-sponsored by the Korean Association of Cinematheques and the Spanish Embassy
in Korea.
The selection includes Julio Medem's 2007 release "Chaotic Ana," Isabel Coixet's
"The Secret Life of Words" and "The Silence before Bach" directed by Pere
Portabella."
The Goethe-Institute Korea, Germany's culture center in Huamdong, Seoul, has been
screening classic TV crime series, relatively unknown to Korean fans.
Starting with "Taxi to Leipzig," the center will screen seven series through
early September once every two weeks.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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