Hwang Kyoo-deok (황규덕)

2008/03/06 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

For the second year in a row, four Korean arthouse films will be presented to audiences in Japan through the Art Film Showcase in Tokyo. The eight-week series of screenings is sponsored by KOFIC and the Image Forum arthouse theater in Tokyo.

The showcase is an effort to introduce Japanese viewers to a wider spectrum of Korean cinema by presenting high quality works that would otherwise not receive a theatrical release in Japan. Each selected film will screen for two weeks in relay fashion.

The Art Film Showcase 2008 will open on March 8 with a screening of JEON Soo-il's "With a Girl of Black Soil" (2007). The film originally premiered in the Horizons section of the 2007 Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Art Cinema CICAE Award and the Lina Mangiacapre Award. The film tells the story of a single father who loses his job in a coal mine.

On March 22, NOH Dong-seok's "Boys of Tomorrow" (2006) will open its run. The story of two young men who struggle to ...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2007/10/07 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

BUSAN -- Premiere Magazine's 3rd Rising Star Awards recognized the talent of actors Daniel Henney ("My Father") and Kim Ah-joong ("200 Pounds Beauty") at at a Busan hotel, Saturday, at the 12th Pusan (Busan) International Film Festival (PIFF).

The private ceremony was very intimate, with close friends presenting prizes to awardees. Premiere Magazine chooses among works from the past two years, taking into account its artistic merit, popularity, influence and brand power, as well as input from online polls.

"This is a very special award. It's for acting, it's an acting award", said Daniel Henney, who gave a moving performance as a Korean adoptee in "My Father", a breakthrough role that showed he's more than just a pretty face. Director Hwang Kyoo-deok handed him the award.

Actress Kim Ah-joong's close friend and co-star Kim Hyeon-sook from "200 Pounds Beauty" gave a lengthy compliment before giving the star the prize. Kim starred as a talented ...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2007/08/16 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

They say first loves never die, and "For Eternal Hearts" immortalizes onscreen the allure and power of youthful passions. Dreams and remembrances delightfully converge in this haunting love story that transcends the borders of life and death, and leaps over the passage of time.

Su-yeong (Jeong Jin-yeong) is a quiet, middle-aged professor of German literature at a local university. At the request of his students, he reminiscently recounts his first love that stole his heart during his college days. As a young man Su-yeong was shy, naive and studious (Jeong Kyeong-ho). But his life is forever changed when he meets the wild and eccentric "Pippi" (Kim Min-seon).

He is crushed, however, when Pippi commits suicide in the name of love. But Pippi magically reappears before him and life starts to take a bizarre turn. It is believed here that when a person dies, the soul wanders around for 49 days before making the final passage to the other world. If it f...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2007/07/24 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Art-house, indie, and foreign importer Sponge Entertainment will release "For Eternal Hearts", HWANG Kyoo-deok's supernatural melodrama that World Premiered as the curtain raiser for this year's Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (July 12-21). The film will have a limited local release, August 9th at Sponge's independent theater chain called Sponge House. It stars JEONG Jin-yeong ("The King and the Clown"), JEONG Kyeong-ho ("Gangster High") and KIM Min-seon ("Memento Mori").

Written by HWANG, the film is a tale within a tale, narrated by Su-young, a forty-ish college professor recounting to his class the memory of his first love when he was a college student. Witnessing her die in the turmoil of the pro-democracy movements of that era, Su-young becomes confused when she reappears mysteriously. At the same time he meets a new love-interest, Suji and her motorcycle-riding brother. As the story develops, life and death, dream and reality weave seamlessly, leaving the aud...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2007/07/23 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

With the crucial summer season in full swing, Korean filmmakers are getting ready to mount counterattacks against Hollywood blockbusters in August. This time around, what is noticeable is Korean films' strategic discretion in selecting and diversifying genres.

In recent years, a handful of the so-called Korean blockbusters clashed with American counterparts, only to end up with not-so-spectacular results. "The Host", for instance, garnered a rare success at box office, while the majority of hit wannabes withered helplessly.

To find some niche ground and increase the odds for survival, major films releasing in August zoom in on selective genres such as sex, monster and horror. Of course, these genres are hardly groundbreaking, but considering the uniformity in genres of Korean films during the past summer seasons, the latest penchant for diverse genres is a welcome development.

"Temptation of Eve", for example, is not aiming to hit it big at box office. This four-piece ("Tempta...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?