17th New York Asian Film Festival

Jun 29 - Jul 15, 2018

FilmsGuestsTalks & EventsSchedule & Tickets

Photo: © CJ Entertainment

1987: When the Day Comes

1987

This epic, tightly plotted political thriller is the most ambitious film to-date by acclaimed director Jang Joon-hwan (Save the Green Planet). Set in 1987 and based on a true story, the film follows events that led up to the June Democratic Uprising in Korea, triggered by the death of a student protestor during a police interrogation, which the authorities conspired to cover up. Compelling and star-studded, including Kim Yoon-seok, NYAFF’s Star Asia Award recipient, the film gives the blockbuster treatment to a turbulent period for a thrilling ride that never loses sight of the human drama at its core.

Director: Jang Joon-hwan
Cast: Gang Dong-won, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo, Kim Yoon-seok
Languages: Korean with English subtitles
2017; 129 min.; DCP

SCHEDULE:

Saturday July 7, 9:00pm
Film Society of Lincoln Center

Q&A with director Jang Joon-hwan and actor Kim Yoon-seok in attendance; Kim will receive the NYAFF 2018 Star Asia Award

Jang Joon-hwan
장준환

Jang Joon-hwan made his directorial debut with 2001 Imagine, an intriguing 1994 short film about a factory worker who thinks he is John Lennon reincarnate. His first feature was the cult science fiction film Save the Green Planet! (2003). After making short films Hair (2004) and Love for Sale (2010), he returned to feature films one decade later with dark revenge thriller Hwayi: A Monster Boy (2013) featuring Kim Yoon-seok (NYAFF Star Asia 2018). Jang reunites with Kim for his third feature 1987: When the Day Comes in a politically charged thriller about the beginnings of democracy in South Korea.

Star Asia Award
Kim Yoon-seok
김윤석

Like Song Kang-ho and Choi Min-shik, Kim Yoon-seok had a successful career as a stage actor long before becoming an unlikely movie star. His big screen breakthrough came almost two decades later as a ruthless gambler in Choi Dong-hoon's Tazza: The High Rollers (2006). He is best known internationally for his role in Na Hong-jin’s The Chaser (2008, NYAFF 2011) as a morally ambiguous cop-turned-pimp hunting down a serial killer. Always reliable, he is a recurring actor in the films of Choi, Na and Jang Joon-hwan. Jang's 1987: When the Day Comes, with a career-best performance by Kim, screens at NYAFF this year.