Lee Chung-ryoul (이충렬)

"Old Partner" to Open in Japan

Source | 2009/10/22 | 0 comments | Permalink |

The sleeper surprise of early 2009, documentary "Old Partner" is to get a limited release in Japan this December. Korean sales and distribution company Indiestory announced that Siglo, the Japanese exhibitor that picked up rights to the film, will release it on three screens in the bustling Tokyo boroughs of Shibuya, Ginza and Shinjuku.

The low-budget HD documentary, directed by LEE Chung-ryoul, follows the daily hardships and humors of an old farmer, his feisty wife, and their long-serving but old and ailing cow. The film drew an unexpected 3 million admissions at the start of the year becoming both the highest grossing documentary and independent Korean film released locally.

Indiestory also announced sales deals for "Old Partner" to Taiwan and HK/China at the Asian Film Market, a business hub that runs in tandem with the Pusan Int'l Film Festival that wrapped up Oct 16.

Nigel D'Sa (KOFIC)...| More

Film Council Selects 'Mother - 2009' for Academy Award Submission

Source | 2009/08/11 | 0 comments | Permalink |

The film "Mother - 2009" by Bong Joon-ho will be submitted for consideration for next year's Academy Awards. The Korean Film Council on Monday announced the selection to compete for the Best Foreign Language Film in the 82nd Academy Awards in 2010.

Six films were initially chosen as candidates. The others were "A Frozen Flower" by Yoo Ha, "Thirst" by Park Chan-wook, "Breathless" by Yang Ik-joon, "Old Partner" by Lee Chung-ryoul, and "Bronze Medalist" by Park Geon-yong.

The KFC said, "The final decision came down to choosing between 'Mother - 2009' and 'Breathless', and based on the artistry of the film, the influence of the distributor, the reputation of the director and the level of recognition of the film, we chose 'Mother - 2009' in the end"....| More

Pusan's Asian Cinema Fund Selects 25

Source | 2009/08/10 | 0 comments | Permalink |

The Pusan International Film Festival's organizing committee has announced the selection of 25 projects for its Asian Cinema Fund (ACF) 2009. Under three categories, Script Development, Post-Production, and Asian Network of Documentary(AND), ACF will support 10 Korean and 15 Asian projects.

ACF also announced the launch of 2 new funds which take effect in 2010. The first is the Overseas Korean Project Fund which is designed to assist Korean filmmakers residing abroad. KO Young-jae, CEO of Studio Nurimbo, which produced the hit documentary "Our School", initiated the fund. A total of US $83,000 will be made available.

Also added from next year is the AND Distribution Support fund, created by LEE Chung-ryoul, the star director of "Old Partner". His endowment of $83,000 will be used to to provide distribution aid to 1 Korean film and also to support acquisition of local distribution rights for 2 Asian films.

Among the notable Korean directors selected this year for ACF s...| More

Korean documentary 'Old Partner' receives award overseas

Source | 2009/06/22 | 0 comments | Permalink |

A cow usually lives for about 15 years on average. Here's a moving tale about a cow that lived for nearly 40 years.

The Korean feature-length documentary film "Old Partner" (2008) received a Cinematic Vision Award at the 2009 SILVERDOCS Documentary Festival held in Washington, DC from June 15 to 22. "Old Partner" illustrates the tail-end of a life-long friendship between the 79-year-old farmer Choi and his almost 40-year-old cow in a remote South Korean village.

SILVEROCS is one of the most renowned documentary festivals in the world, and is co-sponsored by AFI and the Discovery Channel. The Cinematic Vision Award goes to a feature-length documentary with the best visual presentation to the story.

Director Lee Chung-ryoul is to receive US$2,500 in cash and $4,000 of in-kind services from motion-picture laboratory Alpha Cine.

Earlier this year, the film also received an Emerging Arts Award at the 16th Hot Docs-Canadian International Documentary Festival (April 30 to May 10),...| More

Indie "Old Partner" exceeds 2 million milestone

Source | 2009/03/06 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Even though its success was initially totally unexpected, it has nowadays become normal to expect records and milestones from "Old Partner". Like the tough and loyal old ox and his diehard owner the independent documentary ploughed on despite big budget competition. On the national holiday 1 May, LEE Chung-ryoul's countryside observation reached the 2 million viewers mark.

The first independent film to top Korean reservation websites and the box office maintained its number one spot for a second week. In addition, LEE won the Best new director award at the prestigious 45th BaekSang Arts Awards ceremony on Friday 27 February.

"Old Partner" was released on Friday 15 January and according to Korean Film Council's (KOFIC) data, the film recorded 1,765,023 viewers on 27 February. The documentary garners about 150,000 viewers on a weekend's day. The feat of 2 million viewers for an independent film was reached in merely 46 days.

"Old Partner" was initially released on a modest sev...| More