I moved this past week and was without internet and phone for a few days until a few moments ago, so I apologize for the delay in this cycle of industry news. Some festival news, a couple of good features, box office analysis, and a couple of trailers make up this week's content. Again sorry for this taking so long, next week I'll be back on track and this will be more thorough!
KOREAN CINEMA NEWS
The Korean Wave (also known as Hallyu) has spent the last decade sweeping across Asia but could it now have seeped into North Korea. A new report from two academics claims that it has, recent defectors have confirmed that people are purchasing films on the black market and tuning their sets illegally to view programming from below the border. Could this be a portend of things to come? (Reuters, April 29, 2011)
The popular Jeonju International Film Festival got underway last Thursday. Over at theoneonefour.com, Marc Raymond counts down his 10 most anticipated, including an early screening of Bela Tarr's new and perhaps final film, The Turin Horse, a Lee Myung-se retrospective, and much more. (theoneonefour.com, April 26, 2011)
At the age of 72, veteran actor Kim In-moon has passed on after a long battle with cancer. He started his career in 1967 with Barefoot Glory and worked more-or-less nonstop for the rest of his life. Due to his acquired handicap, he set up the Korean Disabled Actors Association, which he was greatly praised for. (hancinema.net, April 25, 2011)
Arirang reports that the Korean film industry is losing ground to emerging powers such as China and India. The industry has reacted by opening centers in Los Angeles and Beijing. In addition a meeting will be held at the end of this month to discuss the current state of affairs, 200 are expected to attend. (arirang.co.kr, April 26, 2011)
Master director Lee Chang-dong writes an editorial for the Cannes Film Festival about the evolution and themes and the Korean film industry. (Cannes Film Festival, April 2011)
Journals of Musan continues to rake in awards, this time at Tribeca where it has won its director Park Jeun-beom, the first narrative feature award. (April 29, 2011)
TRAILERS
New trailers have been released for Korean films premiering at Cannes:
BOX OFFICE
Thor has a strong opening in Korea with over half a million admissions, while Fast Five in its second week is inches away from the one million mark. Meanwhile Suicide Forecast and Clash of the Families are still going strong after a few weeks of in release. Korean war film In Love and the War got off to a decent start with over 100,000 tickets sold, while Sunny and The Apprehenders chalked up some mid-level numbers. (hancinema.net, May 1, 2011)
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 (GMT+1) 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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