After a year of tension, they finally came up with a modest compromise.
The 10th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival, which opened yesterday after 12 months of bureaucratic hurdles between the city government and the programmers, has gotten less edgy, but more "delicate", in the words of the festival's new organizers.
Evident changes have been made to the festival's programming this year to suit the taste of a broader audience base.
The festival, which had typically featured "B movies" for cult enthusiasts, shifted gears this year, to focus on the theme of "love", with the poster advertising the event featuring the subdued images of an angelic man and woman. The festival's special features section includes segments and workshop sessions related to big-budget, widely renowned films and companies with both mainstream and non-mainstream merits, including "Everyday Workshop" led by New Zealand's WETA Workshop team, responsible for the special effects for films such as Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "King Kong", and Disney's "The Chronicles of Narnia".
There will also be an "Audrey Hepburn Retrospective" featuring the films the actress was famous for, such as "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "My Fair Lady" and "Roman Holiday".
The festival's organizers aims to broaden their horizons on their public relations and commercial fronts, as well. This February, the festival heads, along with the city of Buchon, agreed to a business tie-up with the Internet "mini-homepage" site Cyworld to better promote the festival. There will be online events and preview showings for Internet users, as well as clubs and blogs to get visitors in tune with PiFan's activities. All this will be done jointly with the charity The Beautiful Foundation, and the festival will donate 1 percent of its total profits, as well as 1...More

Cinema Service, the film distribution company for domestic mega-hit "The King and the Clown" announced that April 18th, 2006 would be the last day of screening for the film. The Chosun period drama about a mad king and his court jester made history last month when it smashed all previous box-office records, ousting Korean War pic Taegukgi, to become the top grossing Korean film of all-time.

Cinema Service said that the final recorded numbers at the end of its nearly 4-month run was 12,301,289 ticket sales including 3,659,525 in Seoul. While a number of independent cinemas will continue to run the film, the distribution company said that it will consider t...More

Selling 12,301,289 tickets by April 18th, the Korean movie "King and the Clown" broke the former "Taegukgi" record and has newly earned its spot as the most viewed film in Korea.

Cinema Service, the film's distributor, announced that April 18, 2006 was the last day of viewing, with a final recorded, nationwide ticket sale of 12,301,289 including 3,659,525 in Seoul. They added, "Though some independent theaters are still showing the film, we consider the number of tickets sold by April 18th to be the final official figure".

"The King and the Clown" breaks the mold of an event film like ...More

The film "The King and the Clown", which made history in Korean movies by drawing more than 12 million viewers, will be expanded into many forms of licensed entertainment and other products.

The movie's producer Eagle Pictures and distributor Cinema Service have decided to launch a licensing business and signed a trust contract with the licensing company YZOO.

YZOO is seeking contracts with a publisher to publish educational comic books and novels based on the movie and with a character business to use the film's characters for stationery, cosmet...More

The film 'The King and the Clown' (director: Lee Joon-ik; Production: Eagle Pictures, Cineworld) has set a new box office record in Korean film history as of 5 PM on Mar. 5.

"Today at 5 PM, the total number of viewers nationwide has surpassed 11.75 million people, thus setting a new box office record in Korean film history". Cinema Service, the official distribution company for 'King and the Clown' made the official announcement. The previous record was 11.74 million viewers set b...More