Between (2006) - 사이에서 (Sa-i-e-seo)

Documentary Film Feast on EBS

2007/08/15 | Source | Permalink |

By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter

From an all-girls ice hockey team in the Himalayas initiated by a Buddhist teen ("Thin Ice"), to a passionate Australian artist whose life was tragically cut short by a mysterious illness ("Girl in a Mirror"), to the cheerful Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio in Italy ("The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio"), life's stories from around the globe are colorful. And audiences can soon catch a glimpse of them all at the upcoming EBS International Documentary Festival (EIDF) scheduled Aug.27-Sept.2.

The annual festival, the fourth of its kind, will take place under the theme "People to People, Communication for Coexistence" this year.

A total of 292 documentary films from 74 countries will be screened in categories such as "Festival Choice", "Forefront of Documentary", "Meaning of Family", "Challenge of Hope", "Art and Life", "Portrait of an Era", and "Korean Independent Documentaries".

A special focus is given to five Asia-Pacific rim countries, Australi...| More

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Number of Moviegoers Watching Indie Films On the Rise

2007/06/07 | Source | Permalink |

Interest in low-budget and indie films are rising slowly but surely in Korea.
And now there's a movement to ensure that indie films don't get swamped amid the flood of commercial movies.
Son Heekyung has more.
Low-budget Korean films barely register a pulse when compared to their brethren in Hollywood or Bollywood.
But figures released by one of Korea's leading multiplex chains show that interest is rising.
In 2006, this indie theater in Seoul attracted more than 300-thousand filmgoers.
That's up 37-percent from a year before.
One screen here among a dozen is dedicated to showing productions made on a shoestring.
The theater's owner says it's in search of a new audience for independent features.

"Low-budget and independent films don't usually draw huge crowds, and that's also the case in Korea. But the state-run Korean Film Council hopes to change that by opening a small movie theater in Seoul later this year, solely dedicated to screening indie films".

Seeking to draw mo...| More

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Bi-sang Breaks Documentary Record

2007/01/29 | Source | Permalink |

Director IM Yoo-cheol's football documentary "Bi-sang" has set a new record for Korean documentaries by attracting 25,000 viewers, according to its production company Emotion Pictures and the Korean Film Council confirmed that Bisang surpassed the previous record-holder "Between" (Sa-i-eseo) by filmmaker LEE Chang-jae.

Bisang follows the Korean football team Incheon United, a team in the lower ranks of the Korean Football League. Director IM was fortunate with the developments that season in the performance of the team and emotionally. The documentary coincides with the arrival of a new coach who sets the bar as high as the championship. The team does shape up and makesit to the playoffs. There they face the one team they don't want to lose against, a former employer who got rid of the Incheon coach and some players.

"Between" documents Shamanism in Korea. Both "Between" and "Bi-sang" were released in 2006. 2006 was a relative good year for documentaries in Korea with six releas...| More

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'Bi-sang' Sets New Record for Domestic Documentaries

2007/01/09 | Source | Permalink |

The independent film "Bi-sang" has set a new record for Korean documentaries.
The company that produced the film Emotion Pictures says "Bi-sang" has attracted over 25 thousand moviegoers since its release in mid-December.
The documentary tracing the lives of professional soccer players is set in Korea's port city of Incheon.
The Korean Film Council reports that the feature documentary has broken a previous record for the genre set by "Between".
The film council says small-budget movies have long been overshadowed by bigger productions, but that that appears to be changing.

Video by following the link...| More

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Documentary films fare well in the Korean market

2006/12/26 | Source | Permalink |

Documentaries, which have been considered non-box office hit materials, have recorded good results this year.

A total of six Korean and foreign documentaries have been released in Korean theaters this year: "Between", "Flight" ("Bi-sang"), Dear Pyeongyang, The White Planet, An Inconvenient Truth and Glastonbury. All of these films except the environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth did well at the box office.

The most popular among these documentaries was The White Planet, which opened in 115 theaters nationwide last July, attracting 68,000 viewers nationwide due to the fact that it was an educational documentary and that it opened during summer break.

"Between", a documentary on Korean shamans, gathered 23,000 viewers while Flight, which opened on Dec. 7, has had 20,000 viewers so far.

"Between" was first screened on Sep. 9 in CGV Sangam, Gyeonbyeon, Incheon, and Seomyeon and as it became popular, three other theaters began playing the film. Flight also began with t...| More

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