A Bittersweet Life (Movie - 2005)

The Busan Film Festival Visits the U.S.

Source | 2009/11/13 | 0 comments | Permalink |

The Busan Film Festival and the Chapman University Dodge College of Film and Media Arts have formed a partnership to screen Korean films at the U.S. campus. The university, located in Orange California, will screen a select number of contemporary and classic films designed to introduce U.S. audience to Korean culture and its burgeoning repertoire of high quality films. The Dodge College of Film and Media Art, one of the best film schools in the U.S. already has a student exchange relationship with the Seoul Institute of Arts and has just signed a similar agreement with the IM Kwon-taek College of Performing Arts in Busan.

For the inaugural showcase, some of Korea's best known directors will attend. "A Bittersweet Life" director KIM Ji-woon will present the director's cut of the film at the event. PARK Chan-wook, whose film "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" has just made it into Britan's The Times' top 100 list, will be presented with the First, Pusan West Icon award. The director'...| More

Actor taking movie world by storm with ' Rain '

Source | 2009/10/01 | 0 comments | Permalink |

'I think the makings of a good actor in Korea translate to anywhere in the world'. - Actor Lee Byeong-heon
October 02, 2009

Lee Byeong-heon made waves in America after his successful debut in Hollywood this summer with the blockbuster "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra". But he's also turning heads for his role in "I Come with the Rain", directed by Vietnamese-French filmaker Tran Anh Hung.

The film is generating huge buzz here ahead of its debut in Korea next Thursday at the 14th Pusan International Film Festival in Busan. Movie fans snapped up all the available tickets for the screening within 38 seconds after they went on sale.

Tran made his mark on the film industry with "The Scent of Green Papaya", which won the Golden Camera Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993, and "Cyclo", which received the Il Leone d'Oro, or the Golden Lion award, at the Venezia Film Festival in 1995.

His latest film features three major stars from three countries: Josh Hartnett from the United St...| More

'Iris' promises action, A-listers and eye candy

Source | 2009/09/02 | 0 comments | Permalink |

War, crime, action, a love triangle and good-looking actors.

"Iris", the upcoming espionage TV drama, seems to have all the makings of an entertaining show. Indeed, the program has been generating plenty of hype since the unveiling of its A-list cast and blockbuster scale.

With about six weeks to go until it airs, the cast of Iris gathered at a promotional event Monday at the Cheonggye Plaza downtown as part of the third Chungmuro International Film Festival in Seoul.

The event began with a 10-minute trailer for the show, which was filmed in Korea, Japan and Hungary. Many scenes in the clip involved large-scale explosions and gunfights, as the drama tells the story of assassins in South and North Korea who work for their respective nations. "It was like filming 20 movies", actor Lee Byeong-heon said at the event when all seven of the main cast members came up on stage after the trailer presentation.

Lee, who starred in the current hit film "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra", tak...| More

Kim Ji-woon's First International Outing

Source | 2009/08/28 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Korea's KIM Ji-woon is set to make his first international film. In conjunction with U.S producers the film will be a remake of Claude Sauted's Max et les Ferrailleurs (1971). KIM has steadily risen within the ranks of Korean film directors and his last film "The Good, The Bad, The Weird" (2008) has consolidated his success overseas. In addition, his 2003 thriller A Tale of Two Sisters has just had its international remake with the title The Uninvited. KIM Ji-woon is amongst a handful of directors like counterparts BONG Joong-ho and PARK Chan-wook to be offered international deals.

The film based on the 1971 film with the English title of Max and the Junkmen is itself adapted from a novel. A firmly noir tale, complete with seedy cops immoral cops, thieves and a bank heist seems perfect for a director who already had huge success cementing his own brand of neo noir with "A Bittersweet Life" (2005). Max is a wealthy, amateur detective, obsessed with catching criminals and contin...| More

Korean actors playing bigger parts in international movies

Source | 2009/08/03 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Thanks to the Korean wave, or "Hallyu" boom, movie lovers can see more Korean movie stars in Hollywood films these days.

Most recently on July 29, a group of Japanese fans flocked to Seoul to see Korean actor Lee Byeong-heon at a press conference to mark the launch of his latest movie "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" with his co-stars Sienna Miller and Channing Tatum and the director Stephen Sommers (who made "The Mummy 3" (2008)).

Lee Byeong-heon captured the hearts of Asian fans on the popular SBS drama "All In" (2003) co-starring Song Hye-kyo, and also his movies including "A Bittersweet Life" (2005) and "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" (2008). Lee's filmography has attracted the attention of other Hollywood film directors like Steven Spielberg and James Cameron.

Lee will play Storm Shadow, a Japan-trained Korean ninja who is part of the terrorist group Cobra, in his first Hollywood film. Based on the G.I. Joe Real American Hero action figure brand, this movie tells the story of...| More