2024 Astoria Film Festival: Korean Animation Series
Co-presented by the Korean Cultural Center New York & Astoria Film Festival
Friday, August 2nd @ 7:00pm
Saturday, August 3rd @ 3:30pm
Korean Cultural Center New York
(122 E 32nd Street, New York, NY 10016)
Ticket: FREE (RSVP REQUIRED)
* RSVP and seating are first come, first served.
* Limited same-day standby tickets available.
* All films featuring Korean dialogue will have English subtitles available.
The Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY) and the Astoria Film Festival co-present a ‘Korean Animation Series’ as part of the 2024 Astoria Film Festival. This event will feature a total of 11 outstanding short animations, including works invited to the Astoria Film Festival.
On opening day, Friday, August 2nd, nine selected animations covering themes such as family, society, and discrimination, all of which have been invited to various international film festivals, will be showcased. A Q&A session with the directors will follow the screenings. The next day, Saturday, August 3rd, nine animations suitable for all ages will be screened for the whole family to enjoy.
This screening will highlight several acclaimed Korean works, including director Seo Sae-rom's "Swimming," which won the Best Short Film Award at the Seoul Independent Film Festival; director Seo Pyung-won's "Getting Used to Loneliness," invited to the LA International Short Film Festival; director Noh Myo-jung's "Rally," which won the Best Family Short Film Award at the Tenerife International Short Film Festival; and director Kang Ap-sol's "Meet Again," invited to the official selection of the Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada.
For any inquiries, please contact the Korean Cultural Center New York at film@koreanculture.org.
Please read carefully below for more information:
* Ticket Holder
Doors open 30 minutes before showtime.
All seating is first-come, first-served.
Your tickets will be released to the standby line 10 minutes before the show, so we recommend you arrive early to secure your seats.
* Standby Entry:
There are a limited number of tickets available for the standby line day of, and additional seats may become available on a first-come, first-served basis only.
Standby line will form on the 1st floor at 122 E. 32nd Street, NYC.
We cannot guarantee admission for those in the standby line, but we will do our best to accommodate as many guests as possible.
◆ Programs Line-up
◆ Getting Used to Loneliness 혼자에 익숙해지는 법 (2023)
Pyoung won seo (서평원)
11m 48s
Synopsis
A big hole gets made in Sung-joon’s heart after he becomes alone. An unfilled emptiness dominates his daily life, and one day, Min-seok, a senior at the company, takes Sung-joon to the badminton court.
◆ Rally 랠리 (2022)
Myojung Noh (노묘정)
5m 14s
Synopsis
Tyrano, who was playing tennis alone, meets Brachi. They tried to play tennis together, but Brachi keeps falling while trying to hit the ball. Tyrano tries everything he can to prevent Brachi from getting hurt. But the more Tyrano struggles, the less interested Brachi is in playing tennis. Will they be good partners to each other?
◆ Breathing 숨 (2023)
Kyung-won Kim (김경원)
3m 29s
Synopsis
One starts to breathe. Inside his breath, he finds his way out.
◆ Swimming 스위밍 (2023)
Director/Writer: Sae Rom Seo (서새롬)
11m 9s
Synopsis
In the near future, even the subconscious mind can’t be hidden from the public eye of social media. This fake documentary-drama tells the story of a user of the real-time subconscious access app “Swimming” who tries to alter the subconscious thoughts of their ex-lover but ultimately blows up their own subconscious instead.
◆ Battery Mommy 건전지 엄마 (2023)
Seungbae Jeon (전승배)
8m 35s
Synopsis
Battery Mommy works at various stuffs such as soap bubble guns, cameras, and thermometers in the nursery. During the children's nap time of one winter day, Battery Mommy finds out the Christmas tree in the nursery is on fire. At the moment, she urgently runs to the fire alarm to safely rescue sleeping children...
◆ Home 우리집 (2022)
Yoochae Hwang (황유채)
5m 48s
Synopsis
‘I’ live with Mother who is suffering from an illness. ‘I’ wake up from a nightmare in the middle of the night and go to stitch up Mother’s wound, which is spilling water. Unable to handle it alone, the wound bursts. And, the rushing water from the wound sweeps ‘me’ away to take a short trip to the past. Through the journey, ‘I’ confront the emotion that ‘I’ tried to turn away.
◆ Goodbye, Woojoo 안녕, 우주 (2023)
Dahyun Jeon (전다현)
6m 19s
Synopsis
On a cold winter morning, Myeongkyung gets on a train with Woojoo and brings back her memories for a moment.
◆ Meet Again 재회 (2023)
Kang Ap-sol (강앞솔)
5m 4s
Synopsis
Hanbyul’, a 14-year-old troubled girl lost in adolescence, experiences a strange festival in the middle of the night. ‘Hanbyul’ runs away from home on her fourteenth birthday because she feels anger against her mom who does not even send a congratulatory text message. She runs for a while and walks into a strange alley. Then, Hanbyul sights a recognizable memory when she encounters a girl who leads a group of monsters in the strange alley.
◆ My Mother’s Story 내 어머니 이야기 (2023)
Soyoung Kim, Minhee Jang (김소영, 장민희)
15m 8s
Synopsis
Notsae” shares childhood stories with her daughter “Eunsung”. She reminisces about her first love who was drafted into the military, the day electricity first arrived in the village, and her dearly missed mother. As she unfolds memories, Notsae's longing for the irrevocable hometown deepens. Eunsung decides to illustrate her mother's life through a comic.
◆ The Day Spring Comes 봄이 오는 날 (2023)
Sooyeon Shin (신수연)
7m 25s
Synopsis
One spring day, dandelion seeds fly with their own dreams to bloom. But one timid dandelion seed doesn't want to sprout. However, he is swept away by the wind and enters the house of the grandmother who is a gardener. The seed meets flowers that welcome him in the garden. He gets the courage to move forward by staying with the flowers.
◆ 눈눈눈 Eyes (2023)
Hyokyoung Nam, Yoojae Choi (남효경, 최유재)
13m 50s
Synopsis
There is a child called 'Wilson' born with only one eye congenitally. Bright and positive, Wilson, who enjoyed drawing, becomes afraid of drawing due to repeated bullying by school kids at school. One day, Wilson discovers a strange creature in the school backyard and is led into a forest where unexpected events happen..
◆ ASTORIA Film Festival
Astoria Film Festival is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that was created to celebrate the diverse voices of the NYC community, and to celebrate the cultures they originate from. It is an international festival with a strong local and international community of creators. The Festival has 3 main divisions: Festival Events, AFFStudio, and AFFEducation.
Festival Events include the main festival in June at Kaufman Astoria Studios and Arri Rental, as well as live and virtual screenings and panels. AFFStudio employs local youth who have taken part in AFFEducation programs with social media content creation jobs for businesses around NYC, and AFFEducation provides film education workshops in local schools and community centers, where students ages 8-adult learn to ideate and create short films - from pitch to premiere.
For more information, visit https://www.astoriafilmfestival.org/. Follow @astoriafilmfestival on Instagram
Nina Fiore (Founder and Executive Director)
Nina Fiore is the Founder and Executive Director of Astoria Film Festival, which runs media events, media education, and media job experience programs throughout NYC, for ages 8-adult. Nina has a BA in Fine Arts and an EdM in Education and Developmental Psychology from Harvard University, and she has 25+ years of experience with content production for digital media, tv, and film, and afterschool education.. Nina has worked as a Senior Producer at Nickelodeon, Noggin, Sesame Workshop, PBS, MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount, CBS, VH1, Merrill Lynch, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Channel, and RespectAbility/Netflix. She also has over 25 years experience in After School Education, at Harvard's Mission Hill Afterschool Program in Roxbury, MA, at the Children's Aid Society in Harlem, NYC, Intel's Computer Classrooms, as part of an Educational Research Group at Harvard Medical School that worked with struggling Boston Public Schools, and as Director of Education, at Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queen. Nina currently also serves as Advisory Partner for both Motion Picture Tech High School in Queens and for the High School of Art and Design in NYC.
Bryan Korn (Animation Programming Director)
Bryan Korn is a Board Member and the Animation Programming Director for Astoria Film Festival. He is an Emmy, BAFTA, and Annie award-winning Writer/Producer of animation, currently Executive Producing a to-be-announced series at Sony Pictures Television - Kids.