Korean Cinema News (06/14-06/20, 2012)

A few items on PiFan this week and a number of new trailers, which now feature writeups (originally posted on Twitch).

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

PiFan to Hold Myung Films Retrospective

The lineup for next month's 16th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival will not be revealed for another week but we now have our first indication of some of the films that will screened at the event. PiFan will be holding a retrospective of the respected Korean production company Myung Films. The sidebar will be titled "Asian Major Studio Special Program: The Sun and the Moon of Korean Films, Myung Films" and will feature a cross section of some of the company's major works.

Those works that will screen include: The Quiet Family (1998), Happy End (1999), The Isle (2000), Joint Security Area (2000), Waikiki Brothers (2001), A Good Lawyer's Wife (2003), Bloody Tie (2006) and Cyrano Agency (2010). Myung Films was founded in 1995 and has built a reputation as an enabler of some of the country's best behind-the-scenes talent as it has fostererd early films from Park Chan-wook, Kim Jee-woon and Im Sang-soo. In addition to the films, there will also be some special sessions with various Myung representatives as well as actors and directors from their past films.

Some great films worth seeing on the big screen and I look forward to the full lineup on June 26!The lineup for next month's 16th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival. (Modern Korean Cinema, June 20, 2012/Twitch, June 20, 2012)

16th Puchon International Film Festival Launches Teaser Trailer

Things are starting to heat up for the 16th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (which will be taking place July 19-29) now that a brand new teaser trailer has been released. It's a well-designed and whimsical little montage but does not give any hints as to what may feature in the lineup. However, included is an image of a QR Code and I'm curious to see how these will be integrated into the festival. Will they be used for the tickets or do they have something else up their sleeve?

The press conference for the event will take place on Tuesday, June 26th and I'm dying to see what will turn up on the schedule as both myself (@pierceconran) and James Marsh (@Marshy00) will be covering and live-tweeting the event for Twitch! (Modern Korean Cinema, June 20/Twitch, June 17, 2012)

TRAILERS

Bloody Fight in Iron-Rock Valley

The Korean indie western Bloody Fight in Iron-Rock Valley, which won awards for Best Korean Indie Feature and Best Asian Genre Film at last year's Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival, is getting ready to debut in Korean theaters on July 12 and below is the new trailer.

The story is pretty basic and centers around a man who lost his family as a child and has just been released from prison following 12 year of incarceration. Naturally he is hellbent on revenge...

The trailer, which is packed with atmospheric standoffs and lots of other goodies, looks like a lot of fun. I've only heard good things and while it is only just being released in Korea, it will also be screening at this year's New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF). So if you're in town and looking for a good time I suggest you give Bloody Fight in Iron-Rock Valley a go. (MKC, June 20, 2012/Twitch, June 17, 2012)

Conspirators

Here's a brandnew teaser for an upcoming Korean film called Conspirators that up until now wasn't on my radar. It's a dark thriller about organ harvesters operating on a cruise ship (I think)... and it looks fantastic! The film stars Lim Chang-jung (Miracle on 1st Street, 2007), Daniel Choi (Cyrano Agency, 2010) and Oh Dal-su, one of my favorite Korean actors who will also be appearing in this summer's The Thieves.

Conspirators is helmed by Kim Hong-sun, who appears to be yet another rookie director selected to produce a studio film in Korea, many have been forgettable but some have made strong impressions, like Kim Min-suk back in 2010 with Haunters. There's a lot of potential here even with so little actual footage in the teaser, and while I may be getting ahead of myself, I have a feeling this may turn out to be one of the summer's surprise Korean hits. (MKC, June 20, 2012/Twitch, June 14, 2012)

Ghost Sweepers

A new teaser has been released for the upcoming film Ghost Sweepers, a supernatural horror comedy which follows Korean cinema's proud tradition of mashing together every film genre known to man.

Ghost Sweepers is about a group of shamans who come together to oust a ghost in a village. The film sounds like a lot of fun and though I can't say I was too crazy about director Shin Jung-won's previous film Chawz (2009) there seems to be plenty going for this project. Not least the presence of young star Lee Je-hoon (The Front Line, 2011; Bleak Night, 2011; Architecture 101, 2012), everything he touches seems to turn to gold!

That said I admit that I was mightily confused by this trailer which is pretty much a series of promotional stills backed by a heavy metal song. I can't read the titles but there's zero footage to be found. There is no release date as of yet but I think the film will bow later this summer. Check out the teaser below but it looks like we'll have to wait a little longer for the main trailer for some real footage! (MKC, June 20, 2012/Twitch, June 16, 2012)

Two Moons

Last summer Korea failed to deliver a decent new horror film and this summer looks like more of the same. Well no actually, it looks worse. Don't judge a book by its cover they say but this new teaser for Two Moons, the next K-Horror offering (scheduled for next month), elicited little more than a yawn from me and I think I will be giving it a miss.

From what I understand the film is about people who are stuck somewhere... that's it. Would love to give you more info but that's all I found and I also don't care. Whatever happened to great films like Memento Mori (1999), A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), Epitaph (2007) and Possessed (2009)? Sigh... (MKC, June 20/Twitch, June 15, 2012)

POSTERS

5-Million Dollar Man (Character Poster 1)

5-Million Dollar Man (Character Poster 2)

5-Million Dollar Man (Character Poster 3)

Bloody Fight in Iron-Rock Valley (Main Poster)

Deranged (Poster 2)

Soar Into the Sun (Teaser Poster)

Two Moons (Main Poster)

BOX OFFICE

Concubine Seduces the Box Office For Second Straight Week

(Modern Korean Cinema, June 17, 2012)

Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (Korean Standard Time) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

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