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Votes : 2 | Rating : 9.33 |
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PIFF starts second decade with panache (Source)
LJ Film and Focus Features Join Hands (Source)
Prime Entertainment Expands (Source)
Three Korean Hit Movies Bring Hope to Industry (Source)
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By Ines Cho
BUSAN ― With silver waves rippling beside the sandy beach and a balmy ocean breeze gently caressing the cinephiles strolling around town, Haeundae, the sunny side of South Korea's second-largest city, proved a perfect setting for Asia's best-known film festival. The Pusan International Film Festival, or PIFF, which celebrated its 10th anniversary by throwing a big bash last year, is more subdued this year but nevertheless shows an unfaltering spirit.
"This is a new beginning of the next decade to come for the festival, built on a 10-year strong foundation", said Kim Dong-ho, the globe-trotting director, who was never left alone by the camera-thrusting press whenever he appeared on the seaside lawn of the Paradise Hotel.
The goal for the festival's second decade is to return to its original mission of promoting Korean films, and such emphasis was evident on the red carpet as well as in the choice of the opening film, "Trace of Love", a Korean melodrama to be relea...| More |
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Korean company LJ Film and U.S.-based Focus Features have agreed to the joint production of the film The Julia Project (working title), a film about the American Julia Mullock, wife of the last Korean crown prince Kyu LEE. The film will be LJ Film's most ambitious project to date.
LJ Film and Focus Features will produce together and equally share the film's $20-25 million budget. English will be the main language for the film and it is aimed at an international audience, with overseas rights handled by Focus. For this project, Focus will work together with the American branch of LJ Film.
The director and cast have yet to be attached, but it is expected that a screen writer who will do final revisions of the script will be announced soon. The film is scheduled to be released in 2007.
Both LJ president Lee Seung-jae and Focus president James Schamus acknowledged each other's qualities in filmmaking as the reason to partner up. Lee added that he hopes that it "will help forge new...| More |
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Innotz / Prime Entertainment, a new player in the Korean film industry, just got bigger, after taking over the well-established production company Korea Entertainment. The latter is known for its commercial hits Mapado, The Art of Fighting, and My Tutor Friend. Innotz, a Korea Stock Exchange-listed subsidiary of the Prime Group, bought out 100% of Korea Entertainment's stocks for US$15 million.
Innotz, formerly a software-focused company, announced this year that it would launch a powerhouse called Prime Entertainment that would manage production, distribution, investment, talent management, and exhibition. It made news after its acquisition of art house production company LJ Films. The merger was made official on March 10th, with LJ Films CEO LEE Seung-jae now to head the production sector of Prime Entertainment. LEE was executive producer of films such as Sundance competitor The Peter Pan Formula and Kim Ki-duk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring. Through the merger Innot...| More |
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A troika of Korean films that opened within the last four weeks is blazing a trail at the box office. "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance", which opened on July 28, "Welcome to Dongmakgol" (Aug. 4) and "48 Hours Live Broadcast" - "The Big Scene" (Aug. 11) had drawn a total of 8.18 million viewers as of Wednesday, and their respective producers expect the trio to break the 10 million barrier this weekend or early next week.
That three films in completely different genres should be enjoying such a harvest in as many weeks is seen by the movie world as a good omen for Chungmu-ro, Korea's Hollywood. The industry had been on the brink of crisis due to financial problems, controversy over the power of star actors and an offensive by Hollywood blockbusters, with the viewer share of Korean films plummeting to 32 percent in July. With the three films, it has bounced back quickly to 64 percent as of Monday, according to CGV statistics.
Of the three, "Welcome to Dongmakgol" is the most popular, dr...| More |
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The warning lights are flashing on Chungmu-ro, the center of Korea's film industry as public funding runs out. The liquidation date for most of the W260 billion (US$260 million) movie fund for film production between 2000 and 2002 comes up at the end of this year, and the Small and Medium Business Agency's anticipated first-round contribution of W250 billion to the film fund has come out to no more than W7 billion.
The movie fund was an idea hatched by the film world following the Asian financial crisis of 1997, when the Small and Medium Business Agency, Korean Film Council and other government agencies and private investors came together to set up a fund to boost film production. Under the Kim Dae-jung administration, W260 billion were raised, and the fund became the seed money behind the renaissance of Korean film. CJ Entertainment and Showbox Mediaplex, the two biggest patrons in the film world, invested W85 billion and W36 billion respectively in film production in 2004 alone....| More |
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