Chunhyang (2000) - 춘향뎐

2008/05/09 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Welcome back.
It's time for our weekly culture corner and our resident reporter Lee Jeewon joins me in the studio.
Good morning Jeewon.
Hi Sunhee.

Our first item is the latest rendition of a Korean poem written in 17-45 which later branched out to become novels songs and performing arts pieces.
With more than 280 different editions the story of Chunhyang is titled either Chunhyang-ga or Chunhyang-jeon depending on the genre.
It's a love story between a daughter of a former Gisaeng or Korean geisha and an aristocratic member of the literati during the Joseon Dynasty.
The National Theater of Korea showcases its Korean classical opera version until tomorrow.
It premiered in 19-02 and has improved over the years.
This year's production team has replaced Chinese proverbs with modern language to make it easier to understand and casts multiple storytellers for the same reason.

Interesting and I think Korea's performing arts scene could use more traditional Korean cultural works....

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2008/05/07 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Traditional Korean music singer cum actress Oh Jeong-hae is one of the true artists of today. Her refined appearance and heartrending voice embody traditional Korean beauty.

Debuting through the old fashioned Miss Chunhyang pageant and best known for her appearance in the film 'Seopyeonje', she is foremost associated with a tidy image after donning hanbok (Korean attire). But casual Western clothes also suit her well. Any fan of Korean film will remember her in Seopyeonje, a sensational hit of the time, in which she painstakingly acted out her singing role.

Over the years, she has done many different things -- appearing in dramas, films, hosting a radio show and teaching at university -- in places all over the country, including Seoul and the Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces.

Singer turned Actress Pursues Diverse Activities

Oh was afraid that her distinguished singing talent would limit her acting career, which is why she delved into different activities. For instance, she ...

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2008/03/21 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

In the last few years, Korean films, TV dramas and pop music have become immensely popular abroad, a phenomenon known as the Korean Wave. This is the 25th in a series of essays by a select group of scholars and journalists looking at the spread of Korean pop culture in Southeast Asian countries and beyond. - Ed.

"Hallyu", or the Korean Wave, marks the long overdue re-emergence of Korean culture into the global arena. Korean culture's newfound international vogue situates South Korean cinema, TV melodramas, K-pop, and computer games as active participants in the transformation of world culture.

These "domestic" electronic audio-visual cultural creations are no longer limited to just the Korean peninsula and the global Korean diaspora despite that they are produced in the Korean language - a language that is not one of the globalized imperial languages such as English, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese.

Despite this linguistic barrier, hallyu is now a recognized agent of gl...

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2008/03/19 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

'Restoring this silent film is a tremendous achievement for the Korean Film Archive, which has been working hard to find films from the colonial period'.

Even pros get nervous.
After 18 years in the industry, Kim Young-mi said restoring the movie "Cheongchuneui Sipjaro" ('Crossroad of Youth') was one of the most exciting projects she had worked on, but also one that filled her with trepidation.
"I could hear my heart pounding when I got to work each day", said Kim, 38, who works at the film conservation center in the Korean Film Archive. Her job is repairing damaged film, getting rid of scratches and markings.
"This was the first time I had ever worked on a film this important", she said.
Crossroad of Youth is the oldest Korean film in existence, an honor that previously went to Yang Ju-nam's 1936 film "Mimong (Illusion)", which was discovered in China in March 2006.
But "Crossroad of Youth", a silent movie directed by Ahn Jong-hwa, was made two years earlier.
?"We didn't kno...

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2007/12/17 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Korean movie director Im Kwon-taek receives this year's Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) on Saturday (Dec. 15).

The award is a retrospective tribute to influential filmmakers from the West, the Arab world, and the East. Last year, Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone, Syrian film maker Nabil El-Maleh and Bollywood heartthrob Shah Rukh Khan were honored.

Im is one of the most renowned film directors in Korea, some of his works including "Seopyonje" (1993) about Korean musical Pansori and "Chunhyang" (2000) an old love story. ...

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