LEAFF 2025
timeless classics
In this strand, highlights include the newly restored 4K edition of Johnnie To’s iconic urban noir PTU (2003) — a taut, one-night descent into Hong Kong’s underworld, driven by razor-sharp style and powerhouse turns from Simon Yam, Lam Suet, and Maggie Shiu.
In partnership with the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute, LEAFF presents three luminous restorations — Lonely Seventeen (1967), Good Bye! Darling (1970), and The Story of a Small Town (1979) — tracing Taiwan’s shifting identity from youthful rebellion to bittersweet love and resilient community.
From the Korean Film Archive, three post-war masterpieces return to the screen — The Widow (1955), Madame Freedom (1956), and A Flower in Hell (1958). Curated by Kim Hong-jun, these films reveal Korea’s rapid social change of the 1950s through complex women navigating love, class, and modernity.
THE STORY OF A SMALL TOWN
Dir. Lee Hsing | Taiwan | 1979 | 94 mins | 18
Monday October 27, 20:45
London Cinema Museum Buy tickets →
Released on parole, Wen-hsiung seeks rebirth, mastering woodcraft and impressing his mentor, yet unexpected trials test him.
THE WIDOW
Dir. Park Nam-ok | Korea | 1955 | 94 mins | 18
Tuesday October 28, 18:00
London Cinema Museum Buy tickets →
A war widow struggles to raise her child alone while facing poverty and social judgment in post-war Korea. Her vulnerability draws the attention of men, but each encounter exposes the fragility of survival and female dignity. This pioneering film, directed by Korea’s first woman filmmaker, speaks to resilience in hardship.
PTU
Dir. Johnnie To | Hong Kong | 2003 | 88 mins | 15
Tuesday October 28, 20:00
London Cinema Museum Buy tickets →
One fateful Hong Kong night, a police tactical unit scrambles to recover a lost service revolver before dawn. Tension escalates through neon-lit alleys where shifting alliances and silent vendettas blur the line between cops and criminals. Johnnie To crafts a cool, razor-sharp urban noir drenched in mood and suspense.
LONELY SEVENTEEN
Dir. Pai Ching-jui | Taiwan | 1967 | 95 mins | PG
Thursday October 30, 18:00
London Cinema Museum Buy tickets →
At 17, Danmei loves her cousin, who dates her sister. A car accident leaves her traumatised and institutionalised. Pai’s debut blends vivid cinematography, humour, and policy constraints.
MADAME FREEDOM
Dir. Han Hyung-mo | Korea | 1956 | 124 mins | 18
Thursday October 30, 20:00
London Cinema Museum Buy tickets →
A married woman in 1950s Seoul is swept into a world of jazz bars, secret trysts, and modern temptation. As she seeks personal liberation, her family life begins to unravel, revealing the tensions of a society in transition. This stylish melodrama shocked audiences and redefined Korean cinema’s portrayal of desire.
A FLOWER IN HELL
Dir. Shin Sang-ok | Korea | 1958 | 86 mins | 18
Friday October 31, 18:00
London Cinema Museum Buy tickets →
In war-torn Seoul, two brothers clash when one falls for a cunning black-market femme fatale. Crime, survival, and forbidden passion entangle them in a bleak portrait of postwar moral decay. Shin Sang-ok’s noir-infused vision blends raw realism with haunting fatalism.
GOOD BYE! DARLING
Dir. Pai Ching-jui | Taiwan | 1970 | 96 mins | 18
Friday October 31, 20:00
London Cinema Museum Buy tickets →
A rebellious youth’s turbulent romance with a female band newcomer unravels, only for fate to reunite them years later. Pai blends Soviet montage, Italian neorealism and American melodrama.