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by Nigel D'Sa
While Hollywood seems to be gaining ground at the Korean box office in 2008, a growing number of Korean stars are invading Hollywood's home turf this year, bringing Korean talent into view on the world stage. Local celebrities such as Jeon Ji-hyeon, Lee Byeon-heon, Jung Ji-hoon ("Rain"), Jang Dong-gun, and Korean-American Daniel Henney are currently filming or have already wrapped roles in major US studio productions.
Actress Jeon, going by her English name Gianna Jun, recently completed the shooting of her lead role in "Blood: The Last Vampire", a US – Hong Kong co-production set in the Tokyo of 1970. Jeon plays Saya, a vampire working for a covert US government agency that hunts and destroys demons. She is assigned to a military school where she must find out which of her fellow classmates is a demon in disguise.
The English-language horror-thriller will be model-turned-actress Jeon's Hollywood debut. Rising to celebrity status with her 2001 Korean feature...| More |
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June 3, 2008 (Los Angeles) - Now in its third year, the Korean Film Council's Filmmakers' Development Lab confirmed today the appointment of this year's Mentors, and also announced the five successful finalists who are this year's Fellows.
The Filmmakers' Development Lab (FDL) is an initiative of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) to pair industry professionals and emerging filmmakers from Korea and the Korean diaspora to help realize their English language projects. The Fellows are chosen from open application and project submission process.
The program begins with one-on-one mentoring at an intensive one-week script development Lab which will be held in late June in Jeju Island, Korea.
The Fellows and their projects are then brought to Independent Film Week (previously IFP Market) in New York in September, and to the Co-Production Forum at the Pusan International Film Festival and Asian Film Market in Korea in October.
Throughout, Fellows are given opportunities to netwo...| More |
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 Korean leading man Jang Dong-gun will team-up with Kate Bosworth and Geoffrey Rush in New Zealand in November to shoot the international project "Laundry Warrior". JANG will portray a warrior on the run who encounters an alcoholic (Rush) and a beautiful woman with a secret, played by Bosworth.
Writer/director Sngmoo Lee (Lee Seung-moo)'s fantasy action film starts shooting on November 12 and the project is in the hands of producer Barrie Osborne who was also onboard of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Laundry Warrior is Lee's feature film directorial debut.
Korean special effect houses will collaborate with the famed New Zealand Weta Digital in post-production. KMI and LEE Joo-ik will handle the distribution rights of the film in Korea and Japan, interest in the film is reportedly high.
Yi Ch'ang-ho (KOFIC)...| More |
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Officiating in Los Angeles at the opening of the first representative office of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) outside Korea, Chairperson Ms. An Cheong Sook today announced the line up of Fellows and Mentors for the second KOFIC Filmmakers Development Lab aimed at emerging filmmakers of Korean and Korean descent in the diaspora.
The Filmmakers Development Lab chooses five emerging filmmakers from submitted scripts. These Fellows are matched with individual Mentors drawn from the film industry in Korea and the United States. The Fellows and Mentors spend a week in Hawaii in one-on-one sessions developing their scripts. The Fellows and their projects are then presented to producers, financiers, production companies at the Independent Feature Film Market in New York in September, and at the Pusan International Film Festival in Korea, in October. The Lab and its activities are wholly funded by the Korean Film Council, and held in partnership with the Academy for Creative Media at the ...| More |
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 Actor Jang Dong-gun will make his Hollywood debut in a Korean-U.S. fantasy-action movie called "Laundry Warrior". Hollywood producer Barrie Osborne, who made "The Matrix" and "The Lord of the Rings", will partner with Lee Joo-ik, the CEO of Boram Entertainment and the producer of "The Seven Swords" and "A Battle of Wits", to make the US$30 million film.
Jang will act alongside Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi when the movie starts filming in the U.S. next month. Korean director Lee Seung-moo will helm the production. Boram Entertainment and Jang are planning to hold press conferences in Korea and in the U.S. this month to release further details. ...| More |
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Production department 
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