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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Korean Cinema News (06/21-06/27, 2012)

Lots of great news pieces this week, chief among them the fantastic lineup for next month's PiFan!


SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT


PiFan Unveils Lineup!

Far too much to go through here but upcoming Korean omnibus Horror Stories will be opening the proceedings and the week will close with Takashi Miike's latest, For Love's Sake. Lots of interesting films in competition and plenty of Korean films will be screened over the 11 days. James and Marsh and I will be breaking down the program over the coming days over at Twitch and we will both be onsite, providing the most comprehensive coverage you're likely to find! (Modern Korean Cinema, June 27, 2012)



KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

5-Point Pictures to Release Happy Life in North America on DVD
Film distributor 5 Points Pictures is pleased to announce the acquisition of The Happy Life (2007), in an expansion of its association with CJ Entertainment. The film was directed by Lee Joon-ik (The King and the Clown, 2005) and stars Kim Yun-seok (The Chaser, 2008) and many more. The future Region 1 DVD release of The Happy Life will feature an upgraded English translation forthe feature film, as well as translated video extras from the original South Korean home-video release. (Modern Korean Cinema, June 27, 2012)

Silverdocs ’12: Planet of Snail Triumphs
Planet of Snail, about a deaf and blind poet and his wife, nabbed the Sterling Award for Best World Feature. The film also picked up the best feature doc award at last year’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. (Real Screen, June 26, 2012)

T.O.P to Play North Korean Assassin
Singer T.O.P of Big Bang is set to return to the big screen for the first time since his last movie 71: Into The Fire (2010). The 24-year-old boy band member is set to star in action/melodrama The Alumni alongside Han Ye-ri from the movie As One (2012) and 12-year-old actor Kim You-jung from this year’s hit drama The Moon that Embraces the Sun. (Joong Ang Daily, June 26, 2012)

Ahn, Lee Leave Permanent Impression on Hollywood
Korean actors Lee Byung-hun and Ahn Sung-ki became the first Korean actors to leave handprints and footprints in the forecourt of an iconic Hollywood theater. The two stars left imprints of their hands and feet outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, on Saturday as part of events held during the “Looking East 2012 Korean Movie Festival” from Saturday to Sunday. Ten Korean films including Unbowed (2012), Poetry (2010), and Thirst (2009), were screened during the two-day festival. (The Korea Herald, June 25, 2012)

Film Festival to Boost Korean Olympic Athletes
A sports film festival marking a show of support for Korean athletes in the London Olympics next month will be held from July 2 to 5 at the Daehan Cinema in Chungmuro, Seoul. The opening film is Forever The Moment (2007), based on the true story of the Korean women's handball team. Other films to be featured include Take Off (2008) Fighting Spirit (2011) and Pacemaker (2012). As One (2012) will close the festival. (The Chosun Ilbo, June 22, 2012)

Bumper Year for Adult-Oriented Korean Movies
The Korean film industry is enjoying a boom this year with the total number of viewers until Tuesday at 41.93 million, up over 10 million from the same period last year. And Korean films attracted more moviegoers than Hollywood blockbusters and other foreign films, accounting for 53.5 percent of the total number. One reason is the popularity of films that appeal to adult audiences. Some 13 Korean films drew over 1 million moviegoers this year, and five of them were rated R. (The Chosun Ilbo, June 21, 2012)

Jung Appointed as Head of CJ E&M’s Film Division
Korean giant CJ E&M Corporation has appointed former Showbox/Mediaplex executive Tae-sung Jung as head of the film division. CJ E&M’s film division was previously separated into domestic and international units, but they have now been merged into one entity, overseen by Jung. (Screen Daily, June 21, 2012)

China-North Korea Co-production Offers Glimpse of Life in Present-day North Korea
Officially billed as the first China-North Korea co-produced film during more than 60 years of the neighboring countries’ diplomatic relations, dance drama Meet in Pyongyang made its mark at the Shanghai International Film Festival by offering a glimpse of life in present-day North Korea, and attracted the interests from buyers in South Korea, Japan, and Europe. (The Hollywood Reporter, June 20, 2012)


INTERVIEW

Miss Conspirator Has Ko Hyun-jung in Unfamiliar Role
Actress Ko Hyun-jung returns to the big screen in the new action/comedy Miss Conspirator. Ko has typically played the role of strong female figures in positions of power, most notably seen in Queen Seondeok (2009) and Daemul (2010), in which she played Korea’s first female president. This time, however, Ko’s role has taken a 180-degree turn. In Miss Conspirator she plays a disoriented woman with a social phobia. (Joong Ang Daily, June 25, 2012)


POSTERS

The Thieves (Character Poster 1)

The Thieves (Character Poster 2)

The Thieves (Character Poster 3)

The Thieves (Character Poster 4)

Scary Story (Main Poster)

Neighbors (Main Poster)

The 5-Million Dollar Man (Poster 2)

The 5-Million Dollar Man (Poster 3)

A Company Man (International Poster)


BOX OFFICE


(Modern Korean Cinema, June 24, 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-upReviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

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