Rarely are Italian movies shown in Korea, yet Italian cinema offers some of the best entertainment.

To highlight one of Europe’s proudest industries, the Italian Cultural Institute, the cultural wing of the embassy, is holding their annual movie festival throughout this month.

“We believe that the Korean public is young, curious and mature, and ready to welcome what foreign cultures have to offer. We do believe in the potential of Italian contemporary movies in Korea,” said the Center’s cultural attach, Luca Di Vito.

The festival aims to promote Italian film and to act as a commercial venture where a local importer can show one of the films at a local movie theater.

The seven films to be showcased are: “Piano, Solo” (Korean subtitles) on April 6; “Red Like the Sky” (Korean subtitles) on April 11; “The Unknown” (Korean subtitles) on April 13, “Texas” on April 18 (English subtitles); “Many Kisses Later” on April 20 (Korean subtitles); “The White Space” (English subtitles) on April 25, and “Break free” on April 27 (English subtitles).

All movies start at 7 p.m. and are free of charge at the Korea Foundation Cultural Center’s small but cozy theater (https://www.kfcenter.or.kr:444/english/).

“Local moviegoers will have a chance to watch movies that are generally shown at film festivals like the (Busan International Film Festival) but are not distributed in the local market,” Di Vito said.

By Yoav Cerralbo (yoav@heraldcorp.com)