Park Yeong-hoon (박영훈)

The show goes on for pop star turned dancer

Source | 2007/03/30 | Permalink |

Will she be dancing or not?
After Eugene (Kim Eu-gene - Yoo Jin), an original member of the dance trio S.E.S., fractured a rib during practice, no one knew whether she would be able to do her new Latin spins on stage during the Korean musical "Dancing Princess".
But there is no need for worry, the spokesperson for Culture Cap Media said Wednesday, adding that the pop singer would only delay her musical debut by a few days.
She was initially planning to take the stage tomorrow night, but instead she will appear starting April 4.
Until then, Yang So-min, with whom she shares the role, will appear in every performance.
"Innocent Steps", adapted from a 2005 film of the same name, is about an ethnic Korean girl, Cha-ryn, from a rural part of China, who gets involved in a sham marriage.
Her fake husband is a modern dance performer getting ready for an important dance competition.
Eventually, she learns to dance with him and becomes his new partner. Eugene will be playing Cha-ry...| More

Korean Films at Shanghai Int. Film Festival

Source | 2006/06/16 | Permalink |

A record 11 Korean features will be shown in the official selection of this years 9th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) to take place June 17th to the 25th. Among them PARK Jin-pyo's 2005 film You Are My Sunshine will run in the official competition section for the Jin Jue Award. Another Korean film, Jo Chang-ho's The Peter Pan Formula has been selected as a candidate for the Asian New Talent Award.

Two Korean directors KWAK Gyeong-Taek ("Friend", "Typhoon") and BONG Joon-ho ("The Host", "Memories of Murder") have been invited to sit on the Jin Jue Award jury which will this year be presided over by French director Luc Besson. Other directors on the jury include Stanly Kwan and Gabriella Salvatores.

9 Korean films will be showing in SIFF's Panorama section with its slogan, 'a great party for films around the world'. Included are KIM Ki-duk's "The Bow", MIN Gyoo-dong's "All for Love" ("My Lovely Week"), PARK Chan-wook's Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, LEE Woo-cheol's "Cello...| More

[Festival] The Samsung Korea Film Fest Begins (Florence March 31 to April 10)

Source | 2006/03/24 | Permalink |

The Samsung Korea Film Fest Begins

Florence March 31 to April 10 the fourth edition of the South Korean Cinematography festival in Italy


Florence - Return to the Korea Film Fest, the traditional spring appointment with South Korean cinematography, coming together this year for it's fourth edition. The Festival, strengthened by renewed collaboration with Samsung Electronics Italia, will assume, for the 2006 edition, the name 'Samsung Korea Film Fest' (www.koreafilmfest.com http://www.koreafilmfest.com ). The Festival - organized by artistic director Riccardo Gelli, president of the association 'Taegukgi' - Exchange of Tuscan and Korean Cultures, in collaboration with Stensen Cinema - will take place in Florence from march 31 to april 10 in three halls: Auditorium Stensen (march 31-april 6), Alfieri Atelier (april 6-9), Cineteca di Firenze (april 10). Among the main viewings and contemporary classics, the festival, the only of it's type in all of Italy, will offer another 20 film...| More

Film industry suffers from stars' fee dispute

Source | 2005/07/05 | Permalink |

A dramatic dispute between film directors and film stars highlights how soaring guaranteed payments for actors could cripple Korea's film industry -already struggling with a shrinking share of the domestic market - and taint the image of the Korean Wave, an Asia-wide surge in the popularity of Korean culture.

Not long ago, Korean filmmaking was touted as a thriving business, with locally made high-quality films outsmarting Hollywood blockbusters at the box office and grabbing awards in the world's major film festivals. Korea's film industry is valued at 717 billion won and boasts an 18-percent annualized growth rate, but in recent months, the market share of Korean movies has declined amid an overall slump in ticket sales.

Korean movies' share in the local box office hit a new low of 43.6 percent in June, down from 59 percent in May and 69.8 percent in April, according to the Korean Film Council and IM Pictures. The figure is respectable compared with other foreign cinema marke...| More