Crossing (Movie - 2008)

A universal lament for the world's displaced

Source | 2009/04/17 | Permalink |

When one sits down to watch a movie like "Crossing" - the story of a man who leaves North Korea to help his wife but never makes it back, and of his young son's long journey to find him - despite all the suffering and horror, one naturally expects everything to work out.

But in Crossing, almost nothing does.

Kim Yong-soo (Cha In-pyo) is a once-famous North Korean football player who now works in a coal mine in South Hamgyong Province. He lives in a small earthen house with his wife and son, Jun-i (Sin Myeong-cheol).

Yong-soo and Jun-i lead difficult but happy lives, playing football together and marveling at the technological wonders their family friends have smuggled in from China. (Jun-i is awestruck when his friend, who has a slight crush on him, shows him an automatic pencil sharpener.)

But Yong-soo's wife is stricken with tuberculosis due to malnutrition, and because she is also pregnant, she requires special medication that is unavailable in North Korea. With his smug...| More

Actor Touches Comfort Women in Novel

Source | 2009/04/03 | Permalink |

Staff Reporter

Among a slew of the books written by celebrities these days, actor Cha In-pyo's book is conspicuous for many reasons.

First of all, the book is the first novel ever penned by an actor in Korea. Secondly, it is not a vanity project or self-focused ego-fluff, but rather deals with the issue of comfort women. Comfort women refer to the sexual slavery of numerous women, mostly Korean but also including Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Southeast Asian nationalities and even Europe, by the Japanese military in its imperial expansion years.

Cha's involvement in the book titled "Goodbye Hill" goes back to 1997, when he first heard the story of "Grandmother Hoon". She had been hauled off as a comfort woman to Cambodia during the colonial period and continued living in that country for 70 years until she visited her native Korea in 1997.

The 41-year-old actor's interest was first piqued upon hearing the news reports. So for the past decade, he worked on the idea, res...| More

Actor Cha In-pyo, Who 'Fathered' 34 Children

Source | 2009/01/27 | Permalink |

The top celebrity couple, Cha In-pyo and Sin Ae-ra, is known for their religious faith and tight family bond. They had a child of their own, adopted two more, and recruited numerous others in helping destitute children. Their charitable deeds have inspired many to also serve their needy neighbors.

Serving Others, Adopted Children

Anyone who gets to know the joy of sharing is said to want to continue their service. This has become the everyday norm for Cha, which led to his dormant acting career. He has also donated W100 million each to the charity organizations Good Neighbors and Compassion. He was at one time burdened by the excessive attention the couple's activities were attracting. He was uncomfortable with respectable titles people invariably used to described him. He knew only too well the capriciousness of social perceptions. But he has now become relatively free from what others think. He says he began a new task of "emptying the drawers of his mind" through which he was ...| More

Crossing Goes to Palm Springs

Source | 2009/01/09 | Permalink |

KIM Tae-gyoon's "Crossing", the touching tale of North Korean defectors, has generated a lot of international interest, and will screen this month at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in California, U.S. The film will play in the Awards Buzz category, a competition section for foreign films submitted to the Academy Awards.

"Crossing" is South Korea's choice for consideration as Best Foreign Film nominee at the 2009 Academy Awards. The film will vie among 50 features in the Awards Buzz line-up. A special jury of international critics will convene to present the prestigious FIPRESCI to the winning film. In addition to the Best Foreign Language Film of the Year prize, the jury will award prizes for Best Actor and Best Actress from the Awards Buzz category.

The Palm Springs festival runs January 6 – 19. "Crossing" will screen on January 14 and 15 at the Palm Springs Regal cinema venue. It tells the story of Kim Yong Soo, a coal miner who secretly crosses into China ...| More

[TALK OF THE TOWN] Stars gear up to grace the red carpet at Korea's version of the Oscars

Source | 2008/11/18 | Permalink |

The 29th Blue Dragon Film Awards will be held tomorrow at the KBS Hall in Yeouido, Seoul. The red carpet ceremony starts at 6:30 p.m.

Awards will be given in 15 different categories, including Best Film and Best Director.

Nominees for Best Film include "Seven Days", "Forever the Moment", "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" and "Crossing".

Kim Ji-woon ("The Good, the Bad, the Weird"), Kim Tae-gyoon ("Crossing"), Won Sin-yeon ("Seven Days"), Lim Soon-rye ("Forever the Moment"), Kim Yoo-jin ("The Divine Weapon") are up for Best Director.

Actors and actresses in the running for an award include Kim Yoon-seok and Ha Jeong-woo from "The Chaser", Song Kang-ho and Lee Byeong-heon from "The Good, the Bad, the Weird", Kim Yoon-jin from "Seven Days" and Moon So-ri from "Forever the Moment".

The Best Film nominees were screened at the Daehan Cinema in
Chungmuro, central Seoul, from Nov. 9 to 18. Han Jae-rim's "The Show Must Go On" was last year's Best Film....| More