Don't Look Back (Movie - 2006)

Jeonju Int'l Film Festival to celebrate 10th anniversary

Source | 2009/04/10 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Jeonju, a city about three hours southwest of Seoul, is known for its welcoming citizenry, its signature dish bibimbap (mixed rice and vegetables with gochujang, red pepper paste) and some of Korea's loveliest surviving pre-modern architecture and folk culture.

In Korea's beautiful springtime, the city with the heart of a small town gets more cosmopolitan as it hosts the Jeonju International Film Festival, commonly known as JIFF.

The festival has made its name by sticking to its principle of focusing on promising digital, independent and experimental films, whereas most international film festivals usually boast their number of world or national premieres.

The festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

The 10th Jeonju International Film Festival will be held from Apr. 30 through May 8, featuring 200 films from 42 countries.

The festival will open with "Short! Short! Short! 2009", a digital omnibus film about Korean society being obsessed with money.

The film,...| More

Jeonju Fetes Decade of Promoting Indie Cinema

Source | 2009/04/09 | 0 comments | Permalink |

10th Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) to Be Held April 30-May 8

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

In 2000, Jeonju, a small town in North Jeolla Province with a reputation for traditionally Korean things, became home to one of the country's most future-thinking film festivals. Over the first decade of the new millennium, the Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) has grown to become a major attraction for independent and art house cinema ― as "the Locarno Film Festival of Asia".

JIFF celebrates its 10th birthday from April 30 to May 8 with a record lineup of 200 films from 42 countries. In addition to showcasing rare-to-see films from different corners of the world, various projects and events await festivalgoers for the special anniversary.

One of the JIFF's unique features is that it commissions special films for the annual event, festival director Min Byung-lock told The Korea Times, Tuesday, in Seoul. This year, Korea's Hong Sang-soo, Japan's Naomi Kawase...| More

HA Jeong-woo in Korea-Japan co-production

Source | 2008/06/05 | 0 comments | Permalink |

HA Jeong-woo will star together with the Japanese actor Satoshi Tsumabuki in a film tentatively titled "Boat". KIM Young-nam is at the helm of the project and Aya Watanabe writes the scenario.

HA and Tsumabuki will portray smugglers who work together while they are based at each side of the East Sea. Complications arise when they receive the order to kidnap a Korean woman together.

HA commanded attention with his role in YOON Jong-bin's "The Unforgiven" (Yongseo Batji Mothan Ja). He extended his name internationally with Gina KIM's "Never Forever" (Doobeonjjae Sarang). With his latest film "The Chaser" (Choogyeokja) he also scored a major box office hit.

KIM directed the film "Don't Look Back" (Nae Cheongchunaegae Goham) which was invited by the Locarno International Film Festival for its 2006 international competition section where it received the FIPRESCI and NETPAC awards. His debut film Outcry of Youth was selected for KOFIC's 2005 Production Support Program for Internati...| More

Korean, Japanese Actors to Star in Joint Movie

Source | 2008/06/03 | 0 comments | Permalink |

By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter

Two top actors, Korean Ha Jeong-woo and Japanese Satoshi Tsumabuki, will join forces to star in a joint Korean-Japanese movie "Boat" (working title).

The Korean movie production company Kraze Pictures announced that the movie will start filming June 28 with Japanese production IMJ Entertainment in Niigata, Japan.

"The movie will be filmed completely in Japan but Ha will speak Korean (in the film). It is scheduled to be in theaters next year", Byun Bong-hyun, the film manager at Kraze Pictures told The Korea Times.

"Boat" depicts the story of two young Korean and Japanese smugglers who try to kidnap a Korean woman. The Korean actress has not been confirmed yet.

Korean director Kim Young-nam, who won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Award and the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) Award for "Don't Look Back" (2006) at the 59th Locarno International Film Festival, will produce the film, while Japanese w...| More

HAN Hyo-joo and Like a Virgin Win at Singapore Fest

Source | 2007/05/07 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Upcoming actress HAN Hyo-joo received the Best Actress award at the 20th Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF) for her role in "Ad-Lib Night" (Ajoo Teukbyeolhan Sonnim). "Like a Virgin" (Cheonhajangsa Madonna) shares the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) award with "Crossing the Dust".

"Ad-Lib Night" tells the story of a girl who agrees to pretend to be the daughter of a dying man. The film is directed by the acclaimed LEE Yoon-ki. LEE's two previous films are "This Charming Girl" (Yeoja, Jeonghye) and "Love Talk". "This Charming Girl"'s KIM Ji-soo previously received the Best Actress award at SIFF in 2005.

In "Like a Virgin" a boy joins a wrestling team. His aim is to win a wrestling competition and to use the prize money for a transsexual operation. The film is the directorial debut of LEE Hae-yeong and LEE Hae-joon. Like "Ad-Lib Night" for the promising HAN Hyo-joo, "Like a Virgin" has been a platform for the talented young actor RYOO Deok-hwan.

Th...| More