Lee Chung-ryoul (이충렬)

"Old Partner" director Lee Chung-ryoul (left) and producer Ko Young-jae at the 7th Max Movie Awards on February 9, 2010. [Asia Economic Daily]

Korean documentary "Old Partner" won the trophy for best picture at the 7th Max Movie Awards on Tuesday.

"Partner" also took the prize for best movie poster at the annual event, which hands out its awards based on a survey on movie fans. A total 753,277 people participated in the survey conducted from January 5 through February 2 this year.

The acclaimed indie film -- which attracted over three million viewers in Korea during its limited theatrical release -- is about an old farmer couple and their lifelong friendship with an old partner, a 40-year-old ox....More

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

The past year was a fruitful one for local independent cinema, with Lee Chung-ryoul's documentary "Old Partner" rewriting box office history for the genre and Yang Ik-joon's "Breathless" blazing through international film festivals. The festivity culminates with the Seoul Independent Film Festival (SIFF), which continues through Friday in Spongehouse Myeongdong (Joongang Cinema).

The annual year-end event kicked off on Dec. 11 under the theme "Hit and Run". This year SIFF received a whopping record of 722 submissions, up about 100 from last year. A total of 45 works (34 shorts, 11 features) have been selected to compete for several cash prizes. The awards, including the grand prize, amount to 51 million won and will be g...More

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 humor...More

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, ...More

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 ...More