| 'Money' Comes Up Rather Short (Source) |
2009/09/03 |
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Ten rising South Korean filmmakers present seriocomic stories about money matters in the omnibus project "Short! Short! Short! 2009": Show Me the Money.
As much as the opening film for the 10th Jeonju International Film Festival is about money, the tight budget for the project ($5,000 per director) is most palpable. The screaming individuality and experimentalism of each episode compensate, but commercial prospects seem slight and the flick will most likely find a small niche in arthouse cinemas.
The omnibus reel opens with Choi Ik-hwan's one-cut flick "Our Last Words, Live". The "Life Is Cool" director offers a mock home video featuring two despairing young men, who, defrauded, bankrupt and about to get arrested for false charges, try to assert their innocence by recording their last words on tape before committing suicide. But life ― and death ― are often beyond one's control.
In "A Tip for Cigarettes" by Nam Da-jeon, a news rep... |More
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| "Take Off" Takes Up Second Place at Box Office (Source) |
2009/08/06 |
While "Haeundae" continues to storm across the country Ski Jumping epic "Take Off" jumps into second place. Only eclipsed by Haeundae which has already has 4.7 million viewings "Take Off" is nearly itself at the one million mark in less than a week. KIM Yong-hwa the director had previously hit box office gold with comedy "200 Pounds Beauty" in 2006. "Take Off" also has significant star pull with actor HA Jeong-woo who playing the lead character. HA has been busy of late staring in "Boat" released this year in May and also stared in last year's "The Chaser".
HA plays an adopted Korean American who gets intertwined with Korea's North Jeolla Province's bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. While coming back to find his real mother he gets roped in to form Korea's first ski jump team. Along with a motley mix of others, the team must be ready to be able to assist with the province's campaign.
This is a busy week for Korean entertainment companies. While CJ's is handling sal... |More
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| KOFIC's Quartely "Korea Cinema Today" just Published (Source) |
2009/07/24 |
The Pucheon International Fantastic Film Festival(PiFan) edition of KOFIC's quarterly Korean Cinema Today magazine, has just been published. With the title 'Expand the Market Expand the Views' this edition focuses on international co productions and international Korean film business.
The title article in particular looks at successful co production and cinematic international changes with the Asia region. In terms of investment, Ellen KIM details issues of co production financing in Investment and Production Environment of Korean Films. As a particular case study, in Working with New Zealand LEE Nam-jin revisits the current state of cinematic play between New Zealand/Korea and their barely 1 year old Film Co-production Treaty.
On the same international theme, the magazine also contains interviews with KWAK Jae-yong director of "Cyborg She" and Juno LEE producer of "Boat", both who shot their respective films in Japan. Foreign language speaking Korean actors are also given ... |More
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| 6 Co-Productions Win Development Grants
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2009/07/09 |
The Seoul Film Commission has announced the recipients of its International Co-production Development Fund, a new film fund launched this year. The grant is to facilitate the development stage of feature film projects to be co-produced between Korea and any foreign country with at least 25% of location shooting in Seoul.
Five feature film projects and one documentary were selected to receive grants worth up to 18 million won ($14,200). Kraze Pictures, which produced the Korea-Japan action drama "Boat", was selected for its next project "Zuma Zuma Zuma", also a Korea-Japan co-production written by Japanese screenwriters Kobayashi Hideo and Don Shigero, and with a Korean director yet to be announced.
Other recipients were "Music City" by Side Kicks, a Japan-Korea co-pro documentary exploring the indie music scene in both countries, Rotterdam-based Insoo Productions' Motherland by U.S. filmmaker Doris Yeung, and starring Françoise Yip (Rumble in the Bronx) and Kenneth Tsang (M... |More
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| CJ to Expand Art House Film Screenings (Source) |
2009/06/05 |
Korea's exhibition major CJ-CGV will expand the number of screens its multiplex franchise has devoted to art house and independent films from seven to ten. Under a program entitled Movie Collage, CJ-CGV's specialty films team plans to expand the base for diversity films and support the discovery of talented new filmmakers.
CJ-CGV encourages promotion and distribution of local low-budget films through various platforms such as sponsorship of festivals (Cinema Digital Seoul, Pusan Int'l FF) and awards such as the CJ-CGV Korean Film Distribution Award at the Jeonju Int'l FF, which this year went to SIN Dong-il's "Bandhobi".
The exhibitor recently also announced a deal with indie and art house importer and producer Sponge Entertainment to screen a number of Sponge's local independent films. Upcoming or in-release films on the Movie Collage slate include "Boat", starring HA Jeong-woo, HONG Sang-soo's "Like You Know It All" and JEON Soo-il's "Himalaya, Where The Wind Dwells".
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