HanCinema's Korean Blog - Korea's Diary, Pictures, Reviews

Marvel's "Iron Man 3" has jolted Korean cinephiles into action after a lethargic month at the movies. The popular comic book franchise opened with 2,202,252 admissions, taking in more than 80% of all tickets sold over the weekend. That's more than the combined admissions count of the top films in the last four weeks! It was also given a fair bit of support from the cinema houses, opening to an incredible 1,380 screenings around the country ("The Berlin File" was only other film this year to enjoy such a release, and it opened with just 894). It's an impressive response from both the industry and the Korean public, but such a top-heavy weekend resulted in a dismal performance by everyone else in the chart...More

By personal request, Park Ki-yong requested that the moderator be Tony Rayns, a personal friend of his. Due to the necessity of having to translate Rayns' questions into Korean, the session is shorter compared to others. Still, it gives a fairly accurate portrait of what "Garibong" is about.

Q: Why did you want to make "Garibong"?

A: I've always been interested in the Chinese population of South Korea. While working commercially in film, I lived for an extended period of time in one of these Chinatown neighborhoods and became really engrossed with the day-to-day of their normal lives...More

"Replica" from Youth Voice project

Today has definitely been my most fruitful at the Jeonju International Film Festival so far. Not only can I tell you about the films I saw today, you can actually watch most of them right now! I had the chance to view two collections of short films from the Youth Voice project, which helps teenagers develop short films of their own original design. A lot of these are just plain great- especially considering that they were written, designed, and filmed almost entirely by teenagers. Some of my favorites are below. All of these come with English subtitles, and while they aren't of the best quality, it's easy enough to understand what's happening...More

Although its official release date is still a long way off (early October 2013), Spike Lee's "Oldboy" has finally given us something to look at. A poster teaser was recently released that shows little more that twenty red scratches, along with the controversial titling: "A Spike Lee joint" (whatever that means). Indeed, since it was announced that Park Chan-wook's award winning film was to be given the Hollywood 'bump', fans and critics alike have been very vocal in asking the very simple and obvious question-Why?...More

Park Moon-chil is the director of "My Place" which aired at the 2013 Jeonju International Film Festival. The following is a paraphrased summary of the Q&A session following the screening I attended.

Q: When did you finish shooting?

A: The final Skype interview excerpts peppered throughout the film were done in February of 2013. Obviously, filming has gone on much longer than that, and budgetary constraints have been a big limitation. However, since finsihing, my sister has gotten a job, not as teacher, but working at a day-care...More

"Garibong" by Park Ki-yong

I got the chance to see the 2013 Jeonju Digital Project. Every year, JIFF finds and funds three directors on a specific theme. This years- strangers. The only other requirement is that they must be over thirty minutes in length- not quite feature length, these pictures all capture a specific, interpolated idea...More

After the screening of "Paparoti" on April 26th, Yoong Jong-Chan was available to take questions about the movie. Below is a paraphrased transcript of the session. Film critic Choi Gwang-Hee moderated the exchange and also answered questions. The statements of both are combined here for the sake of convenience.

Q: In promotional materials for the movie, scenes in a swimming pool are clearly visible. Why was this not in the final cut?

A: We ended up replacing it with the toilet scene, which served the same purpose in the story. We felt that the swimming pool scene went too far with its content, and the actors were also uncomfortable having to bare so much skin...More