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2009/07/03 (GMT)
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 Lee Seung-yeon gave birth to a healthy, 2.9-kilogram (6.4-pound) baby girl last Tuesday.It's the first child for the actress, who tied the knot with a businessman in December 2007. Since her marriage, Lee has put her acting career on hold, working as a host for SBS Radio's "Cine Town". Late last month she left the show to prepare for her baby, handing the baton to Kong Hyeong-jin. ...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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Trekking out to a movie theater might seem a bit quaint in today's high-tech world, where it's often easier and cheaper to watch films over the Internet or on DVD players and portable video devices.
But there's a distinct - and rather important - difference between viewing films from your couch and catching a new release in a packed theater, according to internationally acclaimed Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. "It is like the difference between listening to Rolling Stones songs by yourself in your house and going to their live concert. The contact with the people is what really generates emotion", Inarritu said June 26 during a press conference to promote the opening of a cinema program at the Prada Transformer at Gyeonghui Palace in downtown Seoul. "I think that cinema is a communal experience. The energy of the room and the feeling that people in the room are connected are not something you can get watching a film on a TV or DVD in your house". Inarritu and U....| More | |||||||||||||||||
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'I think we've come out with an excellent piece worthy of the film's title'.- Ha Jeong-woo
Stories about people struggling against adversity have the power to move us. The effect is often compounded when sports are part of the story, when the characters push against their physical limits to reflect the emotional arc of the narrative. A good example of this kind of film is "Cool Runnings" (1993) based on the true story of the first Jamaican bobsled team to make it to the Winter Olympics. The Korean take on this story is the soon-to-be-released film "Ski Jump", or "Gukga Daepyo" in Korean, which tells the tale of Korea's largely unknown national ski jump team. The film's Korean title means "the national team". "I've had this plan to shoot a sports film for quite some time and I thought that the best way to show the difficulties the characters face and overcome would be through the ski jump team", director Kim Yong-hwa said in a press conference Monday in Daechi-dong, southern Se...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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 After several months on the lam in Japan, a key suspect in a criminal investigation into events surrounding the suicide of a Korean actress was handed over to Korean law enforcement authority yesterday.Kim Sung-hoon, the head of the late Jang Ja-yeon's management company, arrived at Incheon International Airport at 11:30 a.m. from Narita International Airport in Japan. He was taken into custody by police officers from the Bundang Police Precinct in Gyeonggi. Hidden behind sunglasses and a white surgical mask, Kim was dressed in a dark blue T-shirt, jeans, a black hat and white athletic shoes. He was taken to a van waiting outside one of the airport's exits at 12:06 p.m. and driven straight to the Bundang precinct. Investigators at the precinct said they are going to question Kim over charges against him related to the death of Jang and submit him to a written interrogation within 48 hours, the maximum time limit before a detention warrant is required under Korean law. The ...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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The biggest youth film festival in Korea will open with a bang next Thursday. A total of 124 films from 33 nations will be screened at the 11th Seoul International Youth Film Festival from July 9 to 15. The opening ceremony will take place at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and the movies will be shown at Seoul Cinema in Jongno-gu.
The catchphrase of the latest youth festival is "Whisper of the Heart" as a way to encourage young generations to learn to listen to others more and reach out to the wider world. Accordingly, most of the movies that are about young people aged from 13 to 18 will center on the themes of adolescence, family and growing up. The participating films are grouped into several sections. The Children of Heaven section presents movies for the whole family, allowing children aged from seven up. The It's Okay to be Different section shows documentary films from home and abroad and the Discovery of Korean Coming-of-Age section will feature youth films ...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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Drama original soundtrack plays an important part in the success of a drama. That is why top singers are invited to take part in the production of OSTs and famous scenes from the drama are included in the OST music videos.
A case in point is an SBS drama titled "Shining Inheritance", which is about to break past the 40% mark in ratings. The love story between the four main characters has earned such a huge following that a special music video is being produced for its theme song, "Love is Punishment". The new music video will be shown on national ! TV networks, cable TVs, and major online music sites, starting in early July. Top Korean singers like Bobby Kim and Lee So-ra, as well as today's hottest idol group Big Bang have taken part in the OST production of an MBC drama, "Friend, Our Story". The involvement of these talented musicians in the OST has brought attention and critical acclaim to the drama itself. Sometimes OSTs outperform dramas, as in the case of "Triple", a new...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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 Actress Choi Ji-woo has signed an agreement pledging 100 million won to the UP School Program of the Busan government's project aimed at improving the city's educational environment. The signing ceremony was attended by students from Deokmun High School for Girls--Choi's alma mater--along with her former teachers and education officials.The UP School Program was launched by the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education and the Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry to improve the educational environment in the city's schools. As of May this year, over 1,500 companies, organizations and individuals had donated 13 billion won toward the cause. The donations have been distributed to schools to improve students' learning environment and help low-income families. Jangan Elementary School, which was on the verge of closing due to a small number of students, has seen more students since it received the donation. Other schools have also greatly benefited from the campaign. They have expand...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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 By Chung Ah-youngStaff Reporter Celebrated author Gong Ji-young has released a new novel, "The Crucible" whose title was taken from Arthur Miller's eponymous play, based on the real events leading up to "witch trials" in the small puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Her new novel, which was first posted on Daum, the Internet portal site, from the end of last year for six months, also deals with an actual incident that happened at Gwangju Inhwa School, a special school for deaf and dumb students, in which educational workers, including the school principal, continuously sexually abused their disabled students in 2005. Set in Mujin, a fictional historical city where progressive and conservative values are in conflict, the book revolves around a school for deaf children who fall prey to collective sexual violence. The city frequently blanketed with fog is portrayed as a region that was once the Mecca of the democracy movement, but is now stricken with reckless nigh...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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 By Park Si-sooStaff Reporter Kim Sung-hoon, head of the late actress Jang Ja-yeon's former management agency, was extradited to Seoul Friday, 10 days after he was arrested in a hotel in Tokyo. Kim has been suspected of forcing Jang and other up-and-coming actresses to provide "sexual services" to showbiz and media heavyweights in exchange for their media exposure. Jang committed suicide in March. Kim had been hiding in Japan since December, defying repeated requests to return to Seoul for questioning. He will face charges of threatening and coercing the late actress to provide such favors, police said, adding that an arrest warrant will be sought for him by Sunday. Kim landed at Incheon International Airport around noon. Clad in a hat, dark sunglasses and a mask, the 42-year-old refused to answer journalists' questions over whether he admits to the charges against him and feels responsible for the actress's suicide. Police have said they will resume an investigatio...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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2009/07/02 | Permalink | |
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13th Puchon (Bucheon) International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) Opens July 16-26
By Lee Hyo-won Staff Reporter The number 13 is considered bad luck in many cultures but the Puchon (Bucheon) International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) relishes in triskaidekaphobia, or fear of the ominous digit. The genre film event opens its 13th edition from July 16 to 26 in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. Featuring a record lineup of 202 films from 41 countries, the special anniversary "is a chance to renew its `fantastic' spirit", PiFan festival director Han Sang-jun told The Korea Times in a recent interview in Seoul. "Fantastic films" are more than just about highflying fantasy, and also refer to the French word "fantasme", which means mental fixation or irrational belief. In the 1950s, Europe saw the birth of small-scale events celebrating such themes through horror, thriller and science-fiction genres, said Han. "Now fantastic film festivals have expanded their scope to include ...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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