This week is Modern Korean Cinema's largest edition of the Korean Cinema News update. A whopping 64 articles were culled for many sources and include coverage of the recently wrapped Busan Film Festival, the 48th Daejong Film Awards (by yours truly), major news articles on the continuing
Silenced scandal, eight interviews and Q&As, and a host of new trailers and posters.
Enjoy!
KOREAN CINEMA NEWS
Toronto Reel Asian Int Film Festival Unveils Lineup
Rotterdam Tiger Award winners Journals of Musan, by South Korean director Park Jung-Bum has been booked into the Toronto festival include Rotterdam Tiger Award winners
Journals of Musan. (
The Hollywood Reporter, October 12, 2011)
Finecut Does a Raft of Sales in Busan, Mipcom
Seoul-based sales company Finecut has announced its recent deals done at the Asian Film Market and Mipcom which include the animation Leafie selling to Portugal, Russia and Indonesia. (KOBIZ, October 13, 2011)
Storm, Life and Poonsang head to Rome
A trio of Asian films have been selected for the main competition at the International Rome Film Festival (27 Oct – 4 Nov 2011), and the festival has a wide scattering of Asia-Pacific titles through its many different sections. In main competition are Gu Changwei's
Love for Life, Juhn Jai-hong's
Poongsan, and Fred Schepisi's
The Eye of the Storm. (Film Business Asia, October 13, 2011)
Won Bin’s The Man From Nowhere is This Month’s Most Popular Movie on Hulu
Many of you have probably heard about or seen Won Bin’s epic 2010 action-drama movie,
The Man From Nowhere. The film has won numerous awards in Korea, such as Best Actor, Best New Actress, Most Popular, Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography, and much more. (allkpop, October 12, 2011)
Hawaii International Film Festival Kicks Off With Korea's Oscar Submission
This year’s opening night film is the Korean submission for the Oscar’s Best Foreign Language film
The Front Line. It will screen at 8 p.m. on Thurs., Oct. 13 at Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 Theatres & IMAX. (
Hawai'i Magazine, October 12, 2011)
Silent For Too Long
For some years, South Korea has punched far above its weight in the film industry. Directors here, however, tend to lament the fact that the Korean flicks that do well with Western audiences tend to be of the more extreme variety, such as the admittedly excellent
Oldboy (2003), or anything by Kim Ki-duk. (
The Economist, October 11, 2011)
CJ Launches Direct Distribution in Vietnam
CJ E&M Pictures, part of CJ E&M Corp, has begun direct distribution of its own film titles in Vietnam, the fourth territory where the South Korean giant self-distributes theatrically. Released last week (7 Oct), motor bike action comedy
Quick was the first title to be handled under the new arrangement. (Film Business Asia, October 13, 2011)
South Korean Film Shooting at Briarcliff High School
Films trucks are back at Briarcliff High School on North Druid Hills Road, but it's not MTV's
Teen Wolf this time around. A South Korean film production is currently shooting at the shuttered school for part of this week, DeKalb County School System spokeswoman Joye Burton said. The movie is called
Papa. (Patch, October 12, 2011)
Korea Contents Fund Showcase at Busan
At the 16thBusan International Film Festival (BIFF) and the 6th Asian Film Market, fund managers presented a variety of options for filmmakers at the Korea Contents Fund Showcase yesterday. BIFF Festival Director LEE Yong Kwan opened the event with a message of welcome and thanks. (KOBIZ, October 12, 2011)
BEXCO effect for Asia Film Market?
Asian Film Market 2011 showed distinct growth this year with its relocation to BEXCO. Opening on October 10, the number of participants increased 39% from last year and the number of sales booths jumped 67%. As of the second day, there were 1,100 registrants, up from 789 the year before. “This year, the number of market screenings increased from 47 to 64, with 60 films on show up from 39 in six theaters as opposed to four,” said Art Film Market organizers. (KOBIZ, October 12, 2011)
"Change" was the key word at this year's Busan International Film Festival, and not just because the organizers finally succumbed to the host South Korean port city's request to change the name from "Pusan." Lee Yong Kwan took over as festival director from founder Kim Dong Ho, who is credited with turning BIFF into Asia's biggest and most important film festival. But the main news was the opening of the Busan Cinema Center, a huge facility that has been in the works for more than a decade. (The Japan Times, October 14, 2011)
Korean Film Festival Shows Asia’s Big-Budget Dreams
For a glimpse of where South Korea’s movie industry is headed, one only need wander through the new home of the country’s biggest film festival. The sprawling Busan Cinema Center – which government officials describe as “beautiful,” “grand” and a “masterpiece” – is a testament to the country’s ambitions. (
The Wall Street Journal, October 14, 2011)
New Look Busan Film Festival Draws to a Close
The Busan International Film Festival drew to a close on Thursday, with the 2011 edition featuring numerous firsts, but leaving question marks about the festival’s direction going forward. This year marked the inauguration of the new $150-million Busan Cinema Center, designed by Austrian architects Coop Himmelblau, a dedicated facility that will serve as the festival’s permanent home. (
The Hollywood Reporter, October 13, 2011)
Busan Film Festival Highlights Politics, Pizzazz
Asia's most renowned film festival drew to a close in the South Korean port city of Busan on Friday, with films from new directors in Iran and the Philippines capturing its main prizes in an affirmation of the event's focus on emerging Asian talent. (Reuters, October 14, 2011)
The Serious Side of Song Hye-kyo
For Song Hye-kyo, the days of the romantic roles may be a thing of the past – for now. The 28-year-old beauty spoke yesterday at a press conference for her role in director Lee Jeong-hyang's
A Reason to Live, where she portray's a hurt woman questioned between the right and wrongs of capital punishment after losing her fiance. (Busan Haps, October 10, 2011)
Korean War Still Haunts SKorea's Top Filmmaker
The Korean War ended nearly 60 years ago, but it still haunts South Korea's most celebrated filmmaker. Speaking in an interview Friday on the sidelines of the Busan International Film Festival, Im Kwon-taek said he did not imagine he would be so successful when he was a boy selling combat boots on the streets of Busan while the city was besieged by North Korean forces in a 1950 attack. (Boston.com, October 7, 2011)
Asian Film Market Closes With Record Results
The 6th Asian Film Market 2011 closed last night after four days at its new venue, the BEXCO (the Busan Exhibition Convention Center). The market combined sales companies and BIFCOM locations and post-production services this year and saw an increase of 113% in exhibitors’ booths and 38% more participants than last year. (KOBIZ, October 14, 2011)
Why South Korea's Action Movies Blow Hollywood Out of the Yellow Sea
These may seem golden times for the action movie. An only slightly embalmed-looking Arnold Schwarzenegger is merrily tweeting from the Bulgarian set of
The Expendables 2, while his co-star Bruce Willis has announced a return to the fray with a fifth
Die Hard. Or perhaps that all strikes you as a little short-termist. However much fun is had in the meantime, it can't be a sign of good health for any genre to become so reliant on men who have clearly, to use the cinematically correct parlance, got too old for this shit. (
The Guardian, October 14, 2011)
Asian Filmmakers Explore New Forms of Collaboration
Bustling with thousands of press, cinephiles and film aficionados, the port city of Busan turned into a place promoting the latest collaborative film projects of many Asian production companies during the 16th Busan International Film Festival during the past week. First on the list was
Yang Gui Fei, a joint production including Korea, China and Japan. Produced by the state-run China Film Group Corporation, Korean filmmaker Kwak Jae-yong, famous for his 2001 hit
My Sassy Girl, is at the helm of the 18-billion-won ($1.5 million) film. (
Joong Ang Daily, October 14, 2011)
Asia's top film festival drew to a close on Friday after nine days packed with screenings that left audiences enthused over the future of the region?s movie industry. The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) rolled out the red carpet to a cast of A-list stars and showcased more than 300 productions from all over the world – but it has been the local films that have left cinema-goers buzzing. (AFP, October 14, 2011)
Asia's Top Film Festival Troubled by Rain Leaks
Organizers of Asia's top film festival vowed that its closing ceremony would still go ahead Friday despite rainwater leaking into the lavish new multiplex that has been the showpiece for this year's event. Rainwater poured from at least a dozen cracks Friday in the Busan Cinema Center, a $156-million theater that has hosted the Busan International Film Festival since last week – worrying movie fans and prompting organizers to express regret and convene an emergency meeting. (Bloomberg Businessweek, October 14, 2011)
Eduardo Noriega Is Villain in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Last Stand
Arnold Schwarzenegger has had to face some menacing villains in his time. Who can forget the unstoppable and unrelenting Robert Patrick in
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the ultimate all seeing evil Gabriel Byrne as
The Devil in End of Days, the madness of the Christmas Day shopping spree in
Jingle All The Way, or even a clone of himself in
The Sixth Day? (Whatculture!, October 13, 2011)
Seduced by Choked, Asia’s Busan Film Festival Transforms
For the past sixteen years, the Pusan International Film Festival has often featured fireworks on its opening nights. This year, however, was a little different. The multicolored lights flashing over the heads of audience members were still impressive, but they were electronic, a vast LED light-show that ushered in a year of change for Asia’s largest film event, which concluded with the world premiere of Harada Masato’s
Chronicle of my Mother. (indieWIRE, October 14, 2011)
Authority and Power in Korean Cinema
The representation of authority in modern Korean cinema has me perplexed. The power and agency public organisations should hold is lacking, with institutions being portrayed as weak, incompetent, and unprofessional. This is not a judgement but rather an observation that recent films such as
The Crucible and
Poongsan have confirmed. Political corruption, police incompetence, and individual responsibility seems to be some of strongest themes running through contemporary Korean cinema. (hancinema.net, October 15, 2011)
Films to Strengthen Local Asian Communities
The San Diego Asian Film Festival was created with one mission in mind: to foster better understanding of the different cultures within the Asian community. With the festival’s 12th year beginning next week, the mission remains the same as San Diegans continue to learn. (Patch, October 14, 2011)
Na Hong-jin a Judge For the 13th Mumbai Film Festival
Na-Hong Jin, who received numerous awards and acclaim for his films
The Chaser (2008) and
The Yellow Sea (2010), is on the jury for the 13th Mumbai Film Festival. (bollywoodhungama.com, October 14, 2011)
In Pusan, a Heroine, a Villain, and 23,000 Extras
It’s about a woman alone on a crane in a naval construction site, in Pusan, since the 6th of January. We’re in October and she’s still up there. Meaning she lived on that crane, 35 meters high, during 8 months, without electricity (at least until July, to be confirmed now) including in the awfully freezing winter and the amazingly rainy summer. For what ? (Timeless, bottomless, September 30, 2011)
Film Underscores Koreans' Growing Anger Over Sex Crimes
At an appeals court in the southwestern city of Gwangju in 2006, a school official was convicted of raping a 13-year-old deaf girl and sentenced to one year in prison. When the verdict came, an outraged middle-aged man, also deaf, let out an incomprehensible cry from the galley, signaling frantically with sign language. (The New York Times, October 17, 2011)
On BIFF 2011 Menu: Films About Monsters and Men Who Love Men
This year’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) yet again offered cineastes a diverse menu of films. Bulletin Entertainment had the privilege of watching some of these and we present here reviews of those we found most interesting. (Manila Bulletin, October 17, 2011)
Breaking Up Is Not So Very Hard to Do... If Done Online
25-year-old Tu Weiming specializes in acting as a "break-up" agent. In other words, he is paid by one half of a couple to tell the other that the relationship is over. Tu launched his business in November last year after watching the Korean film
Sad Movie (2005), in which the hero plays the same role. (
China Daily, October 17, 2011)
48th Daejong Film Awards
The Daejong film awards are the oldest and most prestigious film industry awards in Korea. They are essentially the Korean oscars and they will soon be celebrating their 50th edition. Just like the Oscars, they feature musical performances, celebrity presenters, and a host of other similarities. (Modern Korean Cinema, October 17, 2011)
Ex-Teacher Accuses Dogani School of Murdering Students
A former teacher at a special school for the deaf, which has been criticized over a sexual assault and rape scandal, claimed two students there were abused to death and buried secretly about 50 years ago. The revelation comes amid public anger against repeated rapes and sexual harassment by school staffers on students after the film
Dogani, titled
The Crucible in English, based on the true story, was released recently. (
The Korea Times, October 17, 2011)
Johnny Knoxville and Forest Whitaker Join Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kim Ji-woon's The Last Stand
The world has become a much stranger place with word that Johnny Knoxville, Forest Whitaker and Luis Guzman have joined the cast of Kim Ji-woon's Arnold Schwarzenegger led picture
The Last Stand. (Twitch, October 17, 2011)
Denver Film Festival, Focus On A National Cinema: South Korea
Though still a stranger to the multiplexes and only an occasional visitor to arthouses, South Korean cinema is (and has been for decades) a staple in film festivals around the world. And while what we get here in the States tends toward the outrageous (
The Host, 2006;
The Good, The Bad, The Weird, 2008;
I Saw the Devil, 2010), the industry is wildly diverse. (denverfilm.org, October 2011)
A biography of Korean director and studio head Shin Sang-ok, who worked both sides of the peninsula's north-south divide. (
Variety, October 17, 2011)
Another acting heavyweight joins the top stars in Bae Yong Joon’s management agency, Key East Entertainment. It was reported that actress Im Soo Jung, most recently seen in the Cannes entry
Come Rain, Come Shine with Hyun Bin has signed with Key East. Im Soo Jung was formerly under the management of Sidus HQ. (soompi, October 17, 2011)
Korean Films Top Sitges Festival
Director Na Hong-jin was named best director for his action-thriller
The Yellow Sea (2010) in the official competition section and the team of brothers Park Chan-wook and Park Chan-kyong was awarded best motion picture for their fantasy-horror film
Night Fishing in the Noves Visions category. Director Ryoo Seung-wan’s
The Unjust (2010) won the best motion picture award in a category recognizing movies produced in Asia and director Oh Sung-yoon’s animated film
Leafie received an award for best Sitgest family film in the Gertie Award category for animation. (
Joong Ang Daily, October 18, 2011)
South Korean Sex Crime Movie Highlights Nation’s Anger
In 2006, four teachers and administrators at a South Korean school for the deaf were convicted of raping or sexually molesting at least eight students, ages 7 to 22. Due to the country's lenient sentencing for sexual abuse, only two of the four officials served jail time. The case received limited attention at the time, but a new film based on the story has helped to fuel the nation's growing outrage. (Jezebel, October 18, 2011)
The Daejong Film Awards
Often referred to as ‘The Korean Oscars’, the 48th Daejong Film Awards were held in at the Sejong Center in Seoul on Monday the 18th. As usual, the red carpet was rolled out for the stars and for their fashionable entrances. Here are pictures of the actors, actresses, and couples that attended. (Hanguk Yeonghwa, October 18, 2011)
S.Korea Writer Hopes Hit Film Brings Legal Changes
The South Korean author of a novel turned box-office hit about teachers who sexually abused disabled students has vowed to fight to the end to change what she says are outdated and weak sex crime laws. (moneycontrol.com, October 19, 2011)
BIFF Organizers Clash Over Festival Expansion
“It started with Oh In-hye’s revealing outfit and ended with an embarrassing leak.” This was the curt assessment offered by a film company president on the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), which wrapped up last Friday. The subject of the lament was a variety of construction problems, including leaking rainwater on the last day at the exclusive Outdoor Theatre in Busan’s Haeundae neighborhood, which poured cold water, so to speak, on the 2011 festival’s fine selection of films. (
The Hankyoreh, October 19, 2011)
Korean Director Lee Chang-dong Gets Major Drama From Thwarted Lives
South Korea boasts the most interesting film scene in the world right now, and part of the reason it’s so interesting is that, on the surface, it’s not that interesting. That is, there is no particular stylistic flash or groundbreaking type of work or new school of cinema you can attribute to the nation’s filmmakers. (
Baltimore City Paper, October 19, 2011)
Press conference for
A Reason To Live took place at the 2011 Busan International Film Festival on October 8, 2011. Appearing as speakers are director Lee Jeong-Hyang, actress Song Hye-Kyo, and actress Nam Ji-Hyun. AsianMediaWiki editor Ki Mun was there and transcribed/translated the session. (Asian Media Wiki, October 8, 2011)
Kim Kkobbi (Interview) – Flowerain Is My Middle Name
Kim Kkobbi, the actress & star of many varied films such as
Ghost Theatre (2006),
Breathless (2008),
Jealousy Is My Middle Name (2002), and the forthcoming release,
Ashamed talks to Mini Mini Movie. (Mini Mini Movie, October 15, 2011)
Meet the Taekwondo Family in Prachya Pinkaew's The Kick
If your not fluent in the Korean language, then you'll miss out on what the cast of Prachya Pinkaew's martial arts comedy
The Kick is talking about in terms of their individual role. Don't worry because atleast there is some footage of Taekwondo action goodness to keep the uninitiated happy. (Twitch, October 14, 2011 -
Korean)
Listening to Korean Cinema: The VCinema Show
The VCinema Show is a well established podcast, which has recently released its thirty-fifth episode. An accessible mixture of chat and opinion along with a strong knowledge of their subjects, a typical episode of the podcast focuses on one specific film which is discussed in terms of background, cast and crew, and country of origin. The VCinema podcast manages to cover a mix of titles from across Asia that you may of heard of, alongside titles that you possibly won’t. (New Korean Cinema, October 16, 2011)
BIFF: King of Pigs Q&A
Q&A for
The King of the Pigs took place after a screening of the movie at the 2011 Busan International Film Festival on October 14, 2011. Appearing as speakers are actor Yang Ik-Jun, actress Kim Kkobbi and director Yeun Sang-Ho. AsianMediaWiki editor Ki Mun was there and transcribed/translated the session. (Asian Media Wiki, October 14, 2011)
Interview With Actor So Ji-sub
Korean entertainment news purveyor 10 asia conducts an interview with So Ji-sub, star of
Always, which recently opened the Busan International Film Festival and will open wide this week. (10 asia, October 17, 2011)
Forgiveness Should Not Be Forced: Lee Jeong-hyang
Director talks about issues of capital punishment and domestic violence in her upcoming film. She made a highly successful debut with a charming romantic comedy in the late 1990s, and enjoyed another box-office home run with a heart-warming tale of a grandmother and a grandson in 2002. (The Korea Times, October 16, 2011)
An interview from enewsworld with Punch star Park Hyo-joo. The film opens wide this week in Korea. (enewsworld, October 17, 2011)
To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
