Shiri (1999) - 쉬리

Asian Stars Team Up to Help China

2008/05/26 | Source | Permalink |

By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter

Korean star Park Jin-young and director Kang Je-gyu, and Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan have come together to assist Chinese people battered by the massive earthquake that occurred May 12.

Top pop singer and producer Park and director Kang are joining with Chan to create an Asian version of "We Are the World", which touched people's hearts back in 1985 to help famine relief efforts in Ethiopia.

The project will be carried out under the theme "Asia is one, We Love Asia", and will be produced by Kang at the request of Chan. Kang is renowned for directing hit movies "TaeGukGi" (2003) and "Shiri" (1998).

Park will participate as the music producer and according to Park's agency, JYP Entertainment, the singer has already finished the main song that will be used in the project.

"Chan proposed a project that would show the unity of Asia. We have agreed to work on a song that will raise spirits during a difficult times in Asia, following the earthqu...| More

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Books Map Out Korean Film History

2008/04/25 | Source | Permalink |

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

Korea is increasingly becoming an important film market ― ranking sixth and seventh in the world in terms of audience size and ticket sales, respectively, according to the Korean Film Council.

Last week, the Asia junket for the anticipated blockbuster "Iron Man" took place in Seoul ― the second big Hollywood event to be held here the one for since last summer's "Transformers".

In international film festivals, more and more Korean filmmakers and actors are stealing the limelight, notably actress Jeon Do-yeon (2007 Cannes Best Actress) and directors Kim Ki-duk (2004 Best Director awards at both Venice and Berlin), Park Chan-wook (2004 Cannes Grand Prix) and Im Kwon-taek (2002 Cannes Best Director, 2007 Dubai Lifetime Achievement Award).

Local production companies and investors are now out to play in the big league. Last year, Shim Hyung-rae's "D-War" marked the first widely released Korean film in the United States, while domestic ...| More

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[THE HIGH TIDE OF THE KOREAN WAVE(32)] Spain discovers Korea and cries out for more

2008/04/22 | Source | Permalink |

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 32nd 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.

Korea - both North and South - has long been unfamiliar to most Spaniards. Rising tensions between the two Koreas, derived mainly from nuclear development by North Korea, were the only news we heard from Korea. Before that, we knew a little about the Korean War in the 1950s, but did not know the cause of it.

In the 1960s, a famous comic depicting the war led by the "good" Americans against the "bad" communists was published and accepted by the anti-communist regime of Franco. This is how Spanish people of that era remember the Korean War.

But the majority of Spaniards may still have difficulty finding Korea on a world map. High-level visits from the King of Spain, poli...| More

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[THE HIGH TIDE OF THE KOREAN WAVE(25)] Hallyu: the Koreanization of world culture

2008/03/21 | Source | Permalink |

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...| More

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Korean Actress Kim Gains Spotlight in the United States

2008/03/11 | Source | Permalink |

Despite having been an established actress in her native South Korea for almost 10 years, Kim Yoon-jin's star is still on the rise. Her career in Korea started out with parts in TV dramas and quickly advanced into film with her debut in the groundbreaking Korean film "Shiri" (1999). It was her role in this blockbuster that earned her star status and she was cast in other Korean films such as "The Gingko Bed" (2000), "Iron Palm" (2002), and "Diary of June" (2005).

In 2004, she scored the role that would allow her to break through on the Hollywood scene – the character Kwon Sunhwa on the hit TV series Lost. Kim plays a Korean woman whose characteristics defy those of conventional stereotypes typically attributed to Korean women. Just as the viewers find with each of the main characters on the show, there is more than meets the eye with Sun. Each of the characters on Lost is inherently a "good" person despite having made some questionable choices in life – and Sun is no exception. Her ...| More

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Yes, she is great in both American and Korean film and TV. And she has been so engaging and charming on The View. She is an excellent Asian Representative to other nationalities and cultures. siggirl 2008-03-13 14:54:56