[INTERVIEW CONDUCTED IN LATE 2012… (as Part of the KCCUK / Korean Cultural Centre UK’s ‘Year of 12 Directors‘); Due to one or two reasons we can’t trace the original article – – – This ‘version’ posted in October 2018 – to include reference to her “LITTLE FOREST” movie and to tie-in with this year’s LONDON KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL (#LKFF2018)…]

Yim Soon-rye

[Director]

8293478431_48a67a54a8 — That’s Ms Yim Soon-rye (alongside her giant photo) – Oh & that’s ME / MMM to the right of the translator, my ‘sideburns’ trying to compete with theirs…

So…

Have you heard of YIM Soon-rye (?), or do I mean, LIM Soon-rye [or, of course 임순례]…?

I guess it depends how you use your tongue or more precisely, how you translate your Korean and/& Hangul [or should it be Hanguel…?! Oh, save that one for another day!]

But seriously, no matter how you say her surname of “임”, “LIM”, “YIM” or even “IM”, there’s no mistaking this female director’s firepower in the cinema world.

You see, whenever you read this article, you’ll probably have caught at least one of Ms 임’s films if you’re a lover of Korean cinema. And, whenever it is that you read this, way back in 2012 [and towards the end of 2012, that year of London Olympics mayhem!] we had the opportunity to interview Ms Yim / Lim / 임 / Im in a rare visit of hers to our not-so-fine capital city, and to quiz her on her films and filmmaking – Yes, even at this point in time, she’d achieved quite a lot.

If you’re reading this article in late 2018, or even after, you may also realise that it’s this wonderful filmmaker who made the award-winning, “LITTLE FOREST” starring KIM Tae-ri (yes, li’l Tae-ri… fresh from her roles in “THE HANDMAIDEN” and “1987: WHEN THE DAY COMES”), the always brilliant Moon So-ri and others. And speaking, or writing of Ms Moon So-ri, here is my / our interview with her from a few years ago:

https://miniminimovie.com/2013/04/06/moon-so-ri-interview-in-another-city/

And… yes, another “and”… although “LITTLE FOREST” is based on a Japanese manga series it looks pretty STUNNING – you only have to see the trailer to know this. PLUS, it’s at this year’s LONDON KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL!

Anyhow, back to 2012, the Year of 12 Directors and Ms Yim Soon-rye.

Ms Yim may have been the only female director out of the 12 but you could say that they saved the best until last!

It had already been one hell of a ride that year, and then this ‘First Lady’ of film-directing arrived…