Kim Ji-hoon (김지훈)

HONG Sang-soo casts MOON So-ri

Source | 2009/06/12 | 0 comments | Permalink |

2002 Venice Film Festival's Best actress winner MOON So-ri will challenge herself this time with a leading role in director HONG Sang-soo's next project. Details about HONG's film are sparse. The celebrated indie director is known for improvisation, writing and rewriting while filming.
 
KIM Sang-kyeong has been cast in the male leading role. It will be KIM's third film with HONG after "On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate" in 2002, and "Tale of Cinema" in 2005. KIM also worked with directors like BONG Joon-ho ("Memories of Murder") and KIM Ji-hoon ("May 18").
 
HONG's latest feature film "Like You Know it All" was invited by Festival de Cannes. HONG's films are conveted by film festivals around the world. He garnered acclaim from his first films "The Day a Pig Fell into a Well" and "The Power of Kangwon Province" on.
 
MOON So-ri is well known for her acting skills which attracted LIM Soon-rye ("Forever the Moment") and KIM Tae-yong ("Family Ties" - "The Birth of a Fa...| More

Critics judge "Secret Sunshine" as 2007's best film

Source | 2008/09/11 | 0 comments | Permalink |

LEE Chang-dong's "Secret Sunshine" is voted the best film of 2007 by a select group of Korean culture and society critics. KIM Ji-hoon's "May 18" came in second and LEE Myeong-se's "M" completes an illustrious top three of in total twelve selected Korean films.

"Secret Sunshine" continued to cement LEE's name among the great auteur cineastes. The film accumulated numerous awards, culminating in JEON Do-yeon's best actress crown at Festival de Cannes.

"May 18" is exemplary how cinema can represent popular memory and assist in creating alternative histories. The popular film chronicles the Gwangju uprising from the point-of-view of the Gwangju citizens who were branded criminals and vandals by the military government and leading conservative newspapers.

"M" is an impressive technical achievement of great aesthetic beauty, containing a layered story which plays on memories, love, and reality.

The participants of the annual questionnaire consist of distinguished people from th...| More

Comedy, tragedy go head to head

Source | 2008/08/25 | 0 comments | Permalink |

With the Beijing Olympics over, broadcasting networks face the challenge of filling the void. Both KBS and MBC have already stepped up to the plate with two brand-new dramas: "Love and Marriage" and "East of Eden".

Despite the recent dismissal of the network's former head, Jung Yun-joo, KBS is determined to prove that it will continue to air quality shows. The channel's latest Monday and Tuesday night installment, "Love and Marriage", seeks to boost viewer ratings.

KBS faces some stiff competition. MBC, which failed to score high viewer ratings with their last Monday and Tuesday night series "When It's At Night, is aiming high with its epic drama, "East of Eden".

Featuring a star-studded cast, including heartthrob Song Seung-heon, this 50-episode series reportedly racked up 25 billion won ($23 million) in production costs. Like the novel by Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, this drama charts the tumultuous struggles between two households. The similarities, however, end there...| More

Theater Series Much Closer to Audience

Source | 2008/05/25 | 0 comments | Permalink |

By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter

In a recent television show, renowned actor Jo Jae-hyeon stressed the necessity of star-studded theater marketing in a recent to make audience turn to plays from musicals.

As if his dreams of boosting local dramas came true, a growing number of people are rushing to theaters in Daehangno, central Seoul.

This is because of "Yeongeuk Yeoljeon 2" (A Series of the Best Plays) now showing in the district. The plays started on Dec. 7 and will continue until Jan. 4 next year.

The best-play series project comes four years after the 2004 "Yeongeuk Yeoljeon 1" put 15 best picks selected from the works performed between 1980 and 2000 on stage.

The first one drew about 170,000 people over the year, contributing to boosting the theatrical drama industry in the district.

For the second series, a total of 11 plays are being staged. But this year's series are getting fresh input ― a star-studded cast with the efforts by its programmer Cho, and ...| More

Black House and May 18 to be released in Japan

Source | 2008/04/04 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Japanese Kadokawa announced the release dates of SIN Tae-ra's horror film "Black House" (Geomeun Jib) and KIM Ji-hoon's "May 18" (Hwaryohan Hyooga), the films will open on Japanese screens on April 5 and May 10, respectively.

"Black House", a domestic box office hit, stars HWANG Jeong-min ("You Are My Sunshine"/Neoneun Nae Woonmyeong) in an impressive psychological charged role as an insurance agent who gets drawn in a suicide case in a mysterious house. Director SIN's ("Brainwave") film is based on a Japanese novel of the popular horror writer Yûsuke Kishi.

After his "Mokpo, Gangster's Paradise", director KM Ji-hoon's next film "May 18" was highly anticipated and the film about the Gwangju civilian uprising against the military dictatorship was a box office success of 2007. The film's strong line-up includes AHN Seong-gi ("Silmido") and LEE Joon-ki ("The King and the Clown"). LEE enjoys great popularity in Japan and starred in the Korean-Japanese co-production "Virgin Snow" (C...| More