{"id":645074,"date":"2026-08-19T07:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/645074\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T07:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:54:14","slug":"kim-jong-kwans-the-table-day-and-night-to-open-busan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/645074\/","title":{"rendered":"Kim Jong-kwan’s ‘The Table: Day and Night’ to Open Busan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe 31st Busan International Film Festival<\/a> (BIFF) has selected \u201cThe Table: Day and Night<\/a>,\u201d directed by Kim Jong-kwan<\/a>, as its opening film for the 2026 edition, marking the feature\u2019s world premiere.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film tracks four couples moving through different stages of love inside the same cafe over the course of a summer and autumn, told through low-key, conversational scenes. It follows Yoo-jin (Kim Minha<\/a>) and Hyeon-oh (Joo Jong-hyuk), who cross paths after visiting the cafe at separate times of day; Sang-mi (Han Sun-hwa) and Young-min (Chang Ryul), middle school friends reconnecting unexpectedly; web novelist Hye-jin (Shim Eun-kyung) and independent filmmaker Dong-nam (Lee Hee-jun), who find a creative spark between them; and idol trainee Na-kyeong (Jeon So-young) and her boyfriend Jong-su (Kim Dong-hwi), caught in a bittersweet moment together. The film leans on the cafe\u2019s constant churn of strangers coming and going to draw out each character\u2019s voice, temperament and quirks at a brisk clip.<\/p>\n

\n\tKim first drew notice for his handling of quiet emotional material. His 2004 debut short, \u201cHow to Operate a Polaroid Camera,\u201d earned the jury\u2019s special prize when it played at the Mise-en-sc\u00e8ne Short Film Festival. He followed that with the shorts \u201cSlowly\u201d (2005) and \u201cPhantoms of the Archive\u201d (2014) before making his feature debut with \u201cCome, Closer\u201d in 2010. His profile rose further when \u201cWorst Woman\u201d (2016) claimed the Fipresci Prize at Russia\u2019s Moscow International Film Festival. Since then he has built out a distinctive body of work through features including \u201cThe Table\u201d (2016), \u201cJos\u00e9e\u201d (2020) and \u201cShades of the Heart\u201d (2021), along with omnibus contributions to the Netflix original series \u201cPersona\u201d (2019), \u201cVestige\u201d (2022) and \u201cThe Killers\u201d (2024).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Table: Day and Night\u201d returns to the four-stories-one-space structure Kim used in \u201cThe Table,\u201d which played in Korean Cinema Today \u2013 Panorama at BIFF in 2016. <\/p>\n

\n\tBIFF said in a statement: \u201c\u2018The Table: Day and Night\u2019 is an elegant and assured film in which the cinematic interests, style, perspective, and world that Kim Jong-kwan has persistently explored as a filmmaker reach a provisional culmination. Without relying on excessive setups or dramatic turns, its greatest merit lies in how thoughtfully it captures the unique inner voices and emotions of its characters, as well as the subtle shifts in their relationships. Featuring a strong ensemble cast, including Kim Minha, Joo Jong-hyuk, Han Sun-hwa, Chang Ryul, Shim Eun-kyung, Lee Hee-jun, Jeon So-young and Kim Dong-hwi, the film brings together acclaimed performers and promising newcomers, showcasing their chemistry and ensemble performances to full effect. For its vibrant yet grounded tone, \u2018The Table: Day and Night\u2019 has been selected as the opening film for the 31st Busan International Film Festival.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKim is also preparing the local release of \u201cFrosted Window\u201d alongside the Busan premiere of \u201cThe Table: Day and Night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 31st Busan International Film Festival runs Oct. 6-15. The 21st Asian Contents & Film Market runs Oct. 10-13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has selected \u201cThe Table: Day and Night,\u201d directed by Kim Jong-kwan,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[49913,18,117,19,17,272904,272905,327,272906],"class_list":["post-645074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-busan-international-film-festival","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kim-jong-kwan","tag-kim-minha","tag-movies","tag-the-table-day-and-night"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117121100388656628","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}