Park Chan-ok (박찬옥)

MOON Seong-geun Cast in SONG Il-gon Horror

2008/02/26 | Source | Permalink |

Acclaimed actor MOON Seong-geun will take the lead role in "Sahwa" (meaning 'Royal Massacre') a horror from Cannes winning director SONG Il-gon. MOON has been a notable figure in the Korean film industry since the 1990's, when he starred in films by top new wave directors, PARK Kwang-soo ("Black Republic"), JANG Sun-woo ("Road to the Racetrack"), and in LEE Chang-dong's debut film "Green Fish".

MOON also provided memorable performances in such films as HONG Sang-soo's "Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors" and PARK Chan-ok's "Jealousy is My Middle Name". He came late to his acting career, having first spent time as a business man in Saudi Arabia. Throughout the 90's he was deeply involved in supporting the Korean film industry and served as Vice-chairman of the Korean Film Council in 1999.

In SONG's fifth feature, a Chosun dynasty-set tale of bloody power games between rival families, MOON will play the central role of a king beset by curses and vengeful murders. Supporti...| More

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Film festival looks at the birth year of Korean cinema: 1996

2006/03/19 | Source | Permalink |

Koreans have been making films for over half a century, but it wasn't until 1996 that the world noticed. And notice it did: Suddenly, programmers for major international film festivals around the world were talking about this new thing, "Korean cinema".
Domestic film critics say the "new wave" of Korean cinema started that year, as more directors began to seek a new and unusual aesthetic for their films, pushing subjects and styles beyond the bounds of popular taste.
The year is therefore convenient focal point for the film festival "Korean Cinema 1996: Ten Years of Memory", which runs at Seoul Art Cinema through March 26.
The festival's organizers certainly had a rich array of daring, breakthrough material to choose from. The screenings include the debut films of three directors, each of whom took radical approaches to filmmaking: "Three Friends", by Lim Soon-rye, explores Korean masculinity through the lives of three young soulless men who have a hard time adjusting to the social ...| More

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[PIFF] Korean, Thai Directors Win Top PPP Prize

2005/10/12 | Source | Permalink |

The 8th Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP) wrapped up its three-day schedule yesterday by handing out awards in Pusan (Busan).

Among 33 official projects _ 27 PPP projects from 19 countries and six New Directors in Focus (NDIF) projects by promising Korean directors _ eight projects were announced at the closing ceremony at the Paradise Hotel in Haeundae.

Both "Fairy Tale of a Picture Tree" by Lee Kwang-mo from South Korea and "Heartbreak Pavilion" by Thunska Pansittivorakul and Sompot Chidgasornpongse from Thailand won the Busan Award, the largest prize bestowed by the Pusan city government with $20,000 in prize money.

"Paju" by Park Chan-ok, which won the Kodak Award, received 20 million won ($19,000).

Ten million won ($10,000) for the MBC Movies Awards and $10,000 for the CineclickAsia Award were given to Hong Ki-seon's "Broken Piece of Mirror" and Afghanistan director Siddiq Barmak's "Opium War". French director Djamshed Usmonov's "To Get to Heaven First You Have to Die" grabbe...| More

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Brief History of Independent Films Screened in Seoul

2005/07/06 | Source | Permalink |

By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter

Representative works by 10 local independent filmmakers will be screened with English subtitles from Friday to July 12 at Seoul Arts Cinema.

The event, titled "Yesterday and Today (Ojewa Onol)", will show a total of 20 films in five days and also offer sessions in which directors talk about their works along with film critics and audiences at a cafe in the theater on July 11.

During the event, each director will introduce their two films, one from their early works and the most recent one.

It will be a good opportunity to see how each filmmaker's works have changed over the years and to check out how the trends of independent films have changed, organizers said.

The 10 directors include Choi Jin-seong, Kim Jong-kwan, Yoon Seong-ho, Park Chan-ok and Chegy.

Choi made a debut with a documentary film, which dealt with social problems and issues, but he has recently made a fiction film with touches of fantasy music.

One of his early wo...| More

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Local Filmmaker Wins Critics Prize at Rotterdam

2005/02/06 | Source | Permalink |

By Paolo Bertolin
Korea Times Correspondent

ROTTERDAM - Local filmmaker Whang Cheol-mean won a prize awarded by film critics at the closing ceremony of the 34th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on Friday.

Whang received the FIRPRESCI Prize, given by an organization of international film critics, for his film "Spying Cam (Frakchi)". The film was in the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition section of the event, which began on Jan. 26.

The Tiger Award, the top prize of the festival, was shared by three films: "The Sky Turns" by Mercedes Alvares, an intimate documentary on a shrinking Spanish village; "4" by Ilya Khrzhanovsky, a fresco of contemporary Russian decline; and "Nemmeno il Destino" by Daniele Gaglianone, a portrait of disadvantaged Italian youth.

Whang, who studied media and cinematography in Germany, has long been a prominent figure in Korean independent filmmaking and is the current director of the Korean Independent Film Association. But Whang said on th...| More

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