Kim Tae-gyoon (김태균)

KIM Tae-gyoon's Vampire Thriller Higanjima

Source | 2009/11/03 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Showbox Mediaplex, a South Korean sales, finance and distribution major, will handle international sales on Korea-Japan co-production "Higanjima", which had its world premiere in Pusan this October. The Japanese-language film is directed by KIM Tae-gyoon, known best for his tragic North Korean refugee drama "Crossing", which was Korea's choice for consideration in the 2008 Oscars Best Foreign Film category.

Higanjima is a live-action adaptation of a manga by Koji Matsumoto, which was originally serialized in a youth magazine and turned into a text-based adventure for the PSP in 2005. Tetsuya Oishi (Death Note) wrote the screenplay. It is the tale of a teenager named Akira who travels to creepy Higan Island to find his missing older brother with the help of several friends. To their dismay, vampires inhabit the island and no one has ever escaped alive.

Warner Bros is to release "Higanjima" in Japan on January 9, 2009. Korean distribution has yet to be announced. Showbox will h...| More

"Crossing" Director's Manga Adaption Higanjima Set for Release

Source | 2009/10/23 | 0 comments | Permalink |

"Higanjima", the Japanese manga adaption just recently seen at Pusan will be released January of 2010. The film is directed by KIM Tae-gyoon, responsible for Korea's 2008 Best Foreign Language entry, "Crossing" (2008). The screen play has been adapted from the manga by Tetsuya Oishi of Deathnote fame.

On the Higan (meaning island in Japanese) a teenager named Akira played by Hideo Ishiguro has lost his older brother (Dai Watanabe). The island however is a dark, scary place full of vampires and no one has ever escaped alive. Director KIM also helmed "Volcano High", another successful manga adaption in 2001.

David Oxenbridge (KOFIC)...| More

BONG Joong-ho's 'Mother' to be Korea's Foreign Language Entry at Oscars

Source | 2009/08/14 | 0 comments | Permalink |

The Korean Film Council has selected BONG Joong-ho's "Mother - 2009" as the country's next Foreign Language entry at the Oscars. Although not hitting the box office highs of the director's previous film "The Host" (2006) with its 13 million admissions record, Mother still managed to pull in 3 million admissions and premiered to critical acclaim at Cannes. Compared to the black, bloody ravages of PARK Chan-wook's vampire thriller "Thirst", the parochial sentiments of the farmer-and-cow documentary Old Partner and the violence of indie drama "Breathless", the other Korean films considered, "Mother - 2009" walked the fine line between being colloquially Korean and yet universal enough to appeal to international audiences and judges.

Although deemed as a thriller the movie examines wider social issues and ramifications when a mother, who loves her son too much, will do anything for him. "Mother - 2009" stars veteran Korean TV actor KIM Hye-ja as a woman in a small Korean town who has ...| More

A universal lament for the world's displaced

Source | 2009/04/17 | 0 comments | Permalink |

When one sits down to watch a movie like "Crossing" - the story of a man who leaves North Korea to help his wife but never makes it back, and of his young son's long journey to find him - despite all the suffering and horror, one naturally expects everything to work out.

But in Crossing, almost nothing does.

Kim Yong-soo (Cha In-pyo) is a once-famous North Korean football player who now works in a coal mine in South Hamgyong Province. He lives in a small earthen house with his wife and son, Jun-i (Sin Myeong-cheol).

Yong-soo and Jun-i lead difficult but happy lives, playing football together and marveling at the technological wonders their family friends have smuggled in from China. (Jun-i is awestruck when his friend, who has a slight crush on him, shows him an automatic pencil sharpener.)

But Yong-soo's wife is stricken with tuberculosis due to malnutrition, and because she is also pregnant, she requires special medication that is unavailable in North Korea. With his smug...| More

Crossing Goes to Palm Springs

Source | 2009/01/09 | 0 comments | Permalink |

KIM Tae-gyoon's "Crossing", the touching tale of North Korean defectors, has generated a lot of international interest, and will screen this month at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in California, U.S. The film will play in the Awards Buzz category, a competition section for foreign films submitted to the Academy Awards.

"Crossing" is South Korea's choice for consideration as Best Foreign Film nominee at the 2009 Academy Awards. The film will vie among 50 features in the Awards Buzz line-up. A special jury of international critics will convene to present the prestigious FIPRESCI to the winning film. In addition to the Best Foreign Language Film of the Year prize, the jury will award prizes for Best Actor and Best Actress from the Awards Buzz category.

The Palm Springs festival runs January 6 – 19. "Crossing" will screen on January 14 and 15 at the Palm Springs Regal cinema venue. It tells the story of Kim Yong Soo, a coal miner who secretly crosses into China ...| More