Kim Tae-sik (김태식)

Daytime Drinking North American Rights Sold

Source | 2008/10/09 | Permalink |

In what can be seen as a breakthrough for independent Korean cinema, local sales outfit Fine Cut sold all North American rights to NOH Yeong-seok's "Daytime Drinking" during the Asian Film Market (Oct. 3 – 6) at the Pusan International Film Festival.

Japan's Eleven Arts signed the title and plans to release it in up to 30 cities across the US and Canada. Noh's film recently screened in Toronto, Locarno where it won special mention and the NETPAC award, and Jeonju where it won the JJ Star Korean Cinema Award.

The low-budget film, made for US$ 10,000, has already recouped its initial investment in festival prize money. The film has yet to receive a domestic release.

Also during PIFF's Market, Korea's Mirovision sold remake rights to KIM Tae-sik's 2007 feature "Driving With My Wife's Lover" to US production company Circle of Confusion. Mirovision was highly active during the fest, generating interest in its horror title "Death Bell" as well as announcing a project it plans t...| More

The parlous state of the movie industry

Source | 2008/10/09 | Permalink |

'Investment has been too hasty in the past and that has caused problems. But the problem now is a lack of creativity'.

BUSAN - Dark clouds overshadowed the opening of this year's Pusan International Film Festival. The suicide of one of Korea's most beloved actresses, a perceived crisis in the nation's once booming film industry and tensions in the global economy were a distraction that muted the festivities.

When news broke on Day 1 of the festival that the actress Choi Jin-sil had tragically killed herself and rumors circulated as to the cause and the circumstances, several reporters and celebrities canceled their trips at the last minute or returned to Seoul shortly after the festival opened. The sense of loss and despondency in the southern port city was palpable.

A visit to the Asian Film Market, which took place during the festival, seemed to sum up the mood. Last year, 460 film production companies came to Busan - "Busan" was formerly "Pusan" and the film festival reta...| More

Top directors assemble for short film fest's jury

Source | 2008/06/13 | Permalink |

The Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival (MSFF) assigned a high profile jury consisting of Korea's leading mainstream and independent directors. PARK Jin-pyo heads a jury further comprised of: KIM Tae-yong, KIM Yong-hwa, JO Chang-ho, KIM Hyeon-seok, KIM Tae-sik, KIM Han-min, JEON Gye-soo, CHOI Dong-hoon, and NA Hong-jin.

The Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival will open its doors on June 26 at Yongsan CGV in Seoul. The festival will finish on July 2. Among the upcoming directors, the festival also screens actor YOO Ji-tae's directorial short film effort "Out of My Intention" (Nado Moreuge) in the competition section.

PARK Jin-pyo directed "You Are My Sunshine" (Neoneun Nae Woonmyeong) and "Voice of Murderer" (Geu Nom Moksori). KIM Tae-yong received acclaim for his "Family Ties" ("The Birth of a Family", Gajokui Tansaeng). KIM Yong-hwa was the man behind the box office hit "200 Pounds Beauty" (Minyeoneun Gwereoweo). CJO Chang-ho competed at several international film festivals with "Th...| More

Art Film Showcase 2008 to screen in Japan

Source | 2008/03/06 | Permalink |

For the second year in a row, four Korean arthouse films will be presented to audiences in Japan through the Art Film Showcase in Tokyo. The eight-week series of screenings is sponsored by KOFIC and the Image Forum arthouse theater in Tokyo.

The showcase is an effort to introduce Japanese viewers to a wider spectrum of Korean cinema by presenting high quality works that would otherwise not receive a theatrical release in Japan. Each selected film will screen for two weeks in relay fashion.

The Art Film Showcase 2008 will open on March 8 with a screening of JEON Soo-il's "With a Girl of Black Soil" (2007). The film originally premiered in the Horizons section of the 2007 Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Art Cinema CICAE Award and the Lina Mangiacapre Award. The film tells the story of a single father who loses his job in a coal mine.

On March 22, NOH Dong-seok's "Boys of Tomorrow" (2006) will open its run. The story of two young men who struggle to ...| More

A Selective View on 2007

Source | 2007/12/28 | Permalink |

2007 offered some fine Korean films, although journalists had a tendency to focus on the decreased numbers and percentages for Korean films; "Driving with My Wife's Lover", "Hansel and Gretel", and "M" are – arguably – among this year's outstanding films.

The three films display diversity in Korean cinema and also interesting commonalities. In varying degrees they seize upon the opportunities offered to them by science in an imaginative way in order to explore different dimensions of reality.

We no longer see the world as that privileged place created by a god(s) for humans. Earth is part of the universe and obeys its laws. Subsequently, classical physics' clockwork universe has been challenged by Einstein's relativity and the 'strange' world of quantum physics.

Without applying the incorrect and dangerous notion that everything is relative, the curvature of space and time, and quantum physics' overthrowing of what used to be logical thinking according to the common Aristot...| More