"Karlovy Vary," a Korean film by director Lee Yong-seok invited to the 17th SOHO International Film Festival, will screen for free at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10, in Theater 15 at Regal Union Square in Manhattan. Admission, which originally started at $5, is now completely free, and there is no booking fee. It is the film's first screening in the U.S., and after it ends, Lee, who has traveled from Korea, will talk with the audience.
"Karlovy Vary," a Korean film by director Lee Yong-seok invited to the 17th SOHO International Film Festival, will screen for free today, Saturday, Oct. 10, at 4:30 p.m. in Theater 15 at Regal Union Square (850 Broadway) in Manhattan. The festival said this morning that it had made admission to the film, which was originally ticketed, completely free. It is the film's U.S. premiere.
Just enter your email to secure a seat; no booking fee
Reservations are made on the festival's official booking page. Go to the address below, choose the number of tickets and enter your email address to secure your seats.
sohofilmfest.eventive.org/schedule/6aac766a2de5cf00aab8a604
When NY&NJ checked the page directly, the price per seat was listed as $0, and the booking fee was also $0. Tickets for the film previously started at $5. The checkout step includes a separate field for a donation to the festival, but it defaults to $0 and is optional, so seats are secured even if you do not donate.
With only a few hours until the screening, seats may fill up early. Rather than showing up at the theater without a reservation, it is safer to reserve a seat in advance.
A Film That Can Only Be Finished in the Czech Republic, and the Budget Has Vanished
The protagonist, Seong-jae, is an aspiring film director. He writes a screenplay set in Karlovy Vary, a spa town in the Czech Republic, wins awards in several competitions and finally secures a production budget and begins shooting. One day, as he is preparing to leave to shoot the final scenes after safely finishing the Korean portion, all of the remaining budget vanishes without a trace. With no money and no way to give up on the film, Seong-jae and his friends set out to find a way to finish it without ever setting foot in Karlovy Vary.
Karlovy Vary is a spa resort in western Czechia and the host of the largest film festival in Central and Eastern Europe each summer, a name that is like a dream stage for anyone who wants to make films. The starting point of this film is that a work named after that place is actually about people who cannot go there.
Q&A with Director Lee Yong-seok After the Screening
The running time is 119 minutes, with Korean dialogue and English subtitles. After the screening, Lee, who flew in from Korea to attend the festival, will take the stage to talk with the audience. The screenplay was co-written by writer Kang Hae-ji and Lee. The 17th SOHO International Film Festival runs from Oct. 7 to 13 at the same theater.