Epitaph (2007) - 기담 (奇談) (Gi-dam)

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

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

The Daejong (Grand Bell) Film Festival ― Korea's equivalent of the Academy Awards ― holds its 45th edition with small film festivals May 24-28 in Seoul and Tokyo before the big award ceremony here June 27. Organizers announced the lineup of movies including 56 works that will enter the competition round in a press conference Tuesday.

This year a total of 56 works were submitted of which 30 will be selected for preliminary judgment beginning today through May 28. The final judgment will take place starting June 12 at Seoul Theater, Jongno-3ga, inviting ordinary citizens as jury members.

The jury will include nine film specialists and 50 civilians who will choose prizewinners for Best Film, Best Actors, Best Supporting Actors and Best New Actors. Anyone can apply for a spot in the jury through the Web site www.daejongsang.com. The award ceremony will take place June 27 at COEX, southern Seoul.

Unrelated to the awards, the Daejong Fil...

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2008/04/19 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

By Nigel D'Sa
Contributing Writer

The 9th Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) is nearing, and an impressive line-up of films has been announced for this year's event.

Set in its picturesque namesake city in Jeollabuk-do (province), JIFF runs May 1-9, bringing together innovative and independent films and filmmakers from around the world.

This year's program boasts a record total of 169 films with opening night going to Manda Kunitoshi's The Kiss in its International Premiere.

Japanese writer-turned-director Manda has already gained notice and won prizes at Cannes for his previous films, making this latest work highly anticipated.

JIFF's curtain-closer will be the Korean omnibus film "If You Were Me 4", produced by the National Human Rights Commission.

Each film in the series has a human rights issue as its theme with past concerns ranging from discrimination to forced surgery and bringing together a group of talented directors.

This year's project fe...

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2008/04/16 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Ten Korean features will have their World Premiere at the Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) this spring. Now in it's 9th edition the festival will run May 1st – 9th in the attractive and historical city of Jeonju, in North Jeolla province.

Korean highlights include documentary director KIM Dong-won's latest, "63 Years On", about the 'comfort women' enslaved by the Japanese military in stations across Asia during WW2. The film provides an historical investigation along with interviews with victims still living in Korea, China, and the Philippines. KIM is best known for his 2003 film Repatriation which raised the documentary genre to commercial prominence in South Korea.

In the Korean Cinema on the Move section, presents 10 new independent features mostly by debut directors. Among the most interesting are "Synching Blue" by SEO Won-tae, a director whose shorts films have garnered praise for their visual arrangements. This HD feature is about a man who seeks comfort i...

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2008/04/04 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Among the new slate of talented young Korean directors, the brothers JEONG Beom-sik and JEONG Sik are among its leading exponents; the latest development around their debut film "Epitaph" (Gidam) is the sale of its distribution rights to North America (TLA Releasing), Hong Kong (Celestial Movies Channel) and Japan (CCRE) by Studio 2.0 at the Hong Kong Filmart.

Studio 2.0 also sold the rights of "Highway Star" (Bokmyeon Dalho), starring CHA Tae-hyeon, to Hong Kong (Celestial Movies Channel), China (H.G.C.) and Vietnam (Diamond Cinema). Animation "Aachi and Ssipak" was picked up by Spain's Notro and "Lovers of 6 Years" (Yooknyeonjjae Yeonae Joong) with KIM Ha-neul will be released in Vietnam (Diamond Cinema).

TLA Releasing describes its prized acquisition "Epitaph" as, "Beautifully lush, Korean supernatural, psychological horror", and, "A reinvention of Korean horror and moving it into a refreshingly, new direction". JIN Goo ("A Dirty Carnival"/Biyeorhan Geori), KIM Bo-kyeong ("W...

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2008/03/18 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

The internationally acclaimed Korean film "Secret Sunshine" (Miryang) grabbed the spotlight at the second annual Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong, picking up three top awards including Best Film.

"Secret Sunshine", which is about a young widow moving to her late husband's hometown, beat other Asian films such as the controversial thriller "Lust, Caution", Hong Kong's "The Sun Also Rises" and Japan's "I Just Didn't Do It".

Actress Jeon Do-yeon won Best Actress, adding another award to her collection, which includes several Korean acting awards and the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival last May. She won over Korean actress Kim Yun-jin and Chinese actress Tang Wei.

"I don't usually need time to recover from most of the roles I portray. But this time, because my character was so damaged, it took some time to recover from it", Jeon was quoted by the Associated Press, after winning the award.

The film's director Lee Chang-dong...

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