Lee Jeong-gook (이정국)

11th PiFan Wraps With Awards

2007/07/20 | Source | Permalink |

The 11th Puchon International Film Festival drew to a close Thursday, after a successful 9-day run. Curtains closed with Indonesian director Joko ANWAR's Kala, a noir-ish crime thriller that was a huge hit in its homeland. PiFan's top prize, the Puchon Choice Best Film award went to Thai psychological thriller 13 by Chookiet SAKVEERAKUL. It also took home the European Fantastic Film Festival Federation Asian Award .

Best actor nods were shared between Thomas Kretschmann and Thomas Huber for their delectable performances in Martin Weisz's cannibalistic feature Grimm Love. Best Actress went to Charlene Choi in Hong Kong horror-melo Diary, by Oxide Pang. Runners up were and German cannibalistic feature Grimm Love by Martin Weisz. The Puchon Citizen's Choice award voted on by audiences, went to Yamashita Nobuhiro's The Matsugane Potshot Affair.

The best short film award, worth US$5,000, went to Juanito Under the Orange Tree by Columbian director Juan Carlos Villamizar. South...| More

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YOO Ji-tae on Short Shorts Jury

2007/06/05 | Source | Permalink |

The 9th Short Shorts & Asia 2007 Film Festival in Tokyo, Japan has named Korean actor YOO Ji-tae as a jury member. Running June 25th to July 1st in the Shibuya district, the fest will screen around 90 short films selected from approximately 2000. Actor YOO and other jury members will award films in three official categories: International Competition, Asia International Competition, and Japan Compeition. Each will receive a cash prize of 600 000 Yen and a further Grand Prize will be given to the best of the three, making it eligible for an Academy Award nomination in the following year.

YOO is one of Korea's most recognized actors, starring in films such as "Old Boy" (2003), "Antarctic Journal" (2005), "Trace of Love" (2006) and the upcoming "Hwangjin-y - Movie - 2007". The busy actor also has a hand in stage productions, acting in and directing a play earlier this year in Seoul. The multi-faceted YOO presented a short film he directed himself entitled "How Do the Blind Dream?"...| More

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Hollywood recycling Korean box office hits

2006/08/27 | Source | Permalink |

Korean films have in recent years been favored for remakes by foreign producers. Since 2001, copyrights of more than 20 Korean films have been sold abroad (whereas such cases were rare before then).
So far, three movies have been made over for non-Korean audiences, and two returned to Korea this month with noticeable changes from the original plots Korean moviegoers were familiar with.
First was a Thai remake called "The Letter", based on a 1997 tear-jerker of the same name ("Pyeonji" in Korean) directed by Lee Jeong-gook. The second remake heading to local theaters this week is a Hollywood romance called "The Lake House", an adaptation of director Lee Hyeon-seung's "Il Mare ("Siworae" in Korean)".
Directed by Phaoon Chandrasiri, "The Letter", which opened in theaters earlier this month, basically follows the storyline of the original hit, in which Park Sin-yang and Choi Jin-sil played a newly married celebrity couple.
Like the Korean movie, the Thai version unfolds the heartbreaki...| More

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