Kim Seok-yoon (김석윤)

Three famous producers who gave birth to the most popular Korean sitcoms are set to speak at the Cultural Content Academy.

The Cyber Cultural Content Academy (http://contents.connect.or.kr), operated by the Korea Culture and Content Agency, has invited three well-known producers of Korean sitcoms to give an open lecture on, June 30, 2007, at 2 PM at the KOCCA building in Yeoksam-dong.

The speakers who will be expounding on the theme of the Korean sitcom's "Present and Future" are Noh Do-cheol, producer of ...More

One of South Korea's top two annual film awards ceremonies will take place June 8th in the city of Daejeon. The 44th Grand Bell Awards, which is televised nationally, will be accompanied by the week long Daejeon Film Festival which will showcase 66 domestic films including last year's sensational "The Host" and international film festival familiar "Family Ties" ("The Birth of a Family").

Last year, Lee Joon-ik's breakthrough commercial success "The King and the Clown" swept the awards. Popularity is ...More

Old Miss Diary - Movie

I always find it interesting that most films that have a single thirty-something woman as the heroine are either romantic comedies or thrillers. This is an alarming sign. It seems that women can no longer survive in films by being the star's trophy wife, but we still have a slight chance if we are willing to acknowledge the fact that we are ludicrous underdogs.
Why can't we tell our stories without ridiculing ourselves?
Women have to act fast. By the time an actress is in her 40s she will be lucky to star in a horror film as a virgin ghost staggering out of a television monitor. (See the Japanese film "Ringul".)
"Old Miss Diary - Movie" is a film adaptation of a television sitcom about a 32-year old bachelorette with lovable flaws. She has a vision of chopping off a man's foot after he accidentally hits her knee on a cramped...More

Year-end competition at the box office is intensifying with Korea's generally weak celluloid offerings faced with losing market share to foreign movies.

A noticeable change in December has foreign films faring quite well, while home-grown movies are struggling to bolster sagging ticket sales - an unsettling development for local studios which have relied on the unwavering appeal of Korean stars and filmmakers among audiences.

On Saturday and Sunday, three foreign films, "The Holiday", "Night at the Museum" and "Casino Royale" posted strong ticket sales, dominating the box office, while their Korean counterparts struggled to keep pace.

Although "200 Pound Beauty" performed well at the box office, other major releases such as "The Restless" were stuck with disappointing results.

With Korean movies losing steam, well-made foreign films are reasserting their storytelling power. "The Holiday" is a striking example. Released on Dec. 14, the romantic comedy about a wedding columnist (Kate Winslet) in England and a movie-trailer producer (Cameron Diaz) in Los Angeles is continuing to win the hearts of Korean moviegoers.

In the film, the two women with failed romances opt for the idea of swapping homes with each other. Jack Black and Jude Law play their counterparts, setting the tone for the movie as mostly amicable and occasionally comedic.

In addition to the solid script, director Nancy Meyers creates a drama where the main characters are encouraged to deliver heartfelt performances. The movie also offers a stron...More

In "Old Miss Diary - Movie", Choi Mi-ja (Ye Ji-won) struggles to find hope in her wretched life. She tries to grab any chance to make a living as a radio performer, but she gets few chances to show off her talent. She wants to have a great boyfriend, but almost all the men she dates dump her - without giving a reason. Oh, she's also 32 years old.

Her doomsday conclusion about her life is that there is little, if any, chance for her to live happily ever after with an extremely handsome man. How slim? Mi-ja's ballpark figure is less than the survival rate of a plane crash or being hit by lightening.

"Old Miss Diary - Movie", directed by Kim Seok-yoon, explores her slim "rescue-by-knight-in-shining-armor" chance with slapstick angles, and many of the devices designed to entertain the audience seem to work, thanks largely to ...More