May 18 (Movie - 2007)

HONG Sang-soo casts MOON So-ri

Source | 2009/06/12 | Permalink |

2002 Venice Film Festival's Best actress winner MOON So-ri will challenge herself this time with a leading role in director HONG Sang-soo's next project. Details about HONG's film are sparse. The celebrated indie director is known for improvisation, writing and rewriting while filming.
 
KIM Sang-kyeong has been cast in the male leading role. It will be KIM's third film with HONG after "On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate" in 2002, and "Tale of Cinema" in 2005. KIM also worked with directors like BONG Joon-ho ("Memories of Murder") and KIM Ji-hoon ("May 18").
 
HONG's latest feature film "Like You Know it All" was invited by Festival de Cannes. HONG's films are conveted by film festivals around the world. He garnered acclaim from his first films "The Day a Pig Fell into a Well" and "The Power of Kangwon Province" on.
 
MOON So-ri is well known for her acting skills which attracted LIM Soon-rye ("Forever the Moment") and KIM Tae-yong ("Family Ties" - "The Birth of a Fa...| More

Critics judge "Secret Sunshine" as 2007's best film

Source | 2008/09/11 | Permalink |

LEE Chang-dong's "Secret Sunshine" is voted the best film of 2007 by a select group of Korean culture and society critics. KIM Ji-hoon's "May 18" came in second and LEE Myeong-se's "M" completes an illustrious top three of in total twelve selected Korean films.

"Secret Sunshine" continued to cement LEE's name among the great auteur cineastes. The film accumulated numerous awards, culminating in JEON Do-yeon's best actress crown at Festival de Cannes.

"May 18" is exemplary how cinema can represent popular memory and assist in creating alternative histories. The popular film chronicles the Gwangju uprising from the point-of-view of the Gwangju citizens who were branded criminals and vandals by the military government and leading conservative newspapers.

"M" is an impressive technical achievement of great aesthetic beauty, containing a layered story which plays on memories, love, and reality.

The participants of the annual questionnaire consist of distinguished people from th...| More

Movie Audience Falls in August

Source | 2008/09/04 | Permalink |

A lack of summer blockbusters has apparently driven down the number of moviegoers for the month of August, traditionally a month registering strong box office figures. Korea's multiplex movie theater chain CJ CGV announced Thursday that less than 17 million people nationwide went to see a movie in August. The figure has risen 1.2% since July, but has fallen nearly 20% year-on-year.

CGV blamed the drop on the slim picking of good summer blockbusters. Last year the theaters were booming with such spectacular films as "D-war" and "May 18". These two movies alone drew more than 13 million, while no domestic film matching the audience drawing power was released this summer.

The biggest ticket power this summer was "Mummy 3", which vied for the top honor with "The Dark Knight". The film about a husband-and-wife adventurer team and a resurrected Chinese emperor barely edged out Dark Crusader in the nationwide survey. However, the latest installment of the Batman series beat out the Chin...| More

Sequel of cult film Attack the Gas Station

Source | 2008/08/29 | Permalink |

A sequel of the 1999 comedy "Attack the Gas Station!" (Jooyooso Seubgyeoksageon) is planned to enter cinemas in its tenth anniversary year. Like the original, the sequel will also be in the hands of director KIM Sang-jin. It was announced that the scenario is halfway finished. Actors have not been cast yet.

"Attack the Gas Station!" chronicles the take over of a gas station by a young group of society's outsiders. Its cast included LEE Seong-jae ("Daisy"), KIM Soo-ro ("Vampire Cop Ricky") and LEE Yo-won ("May 18"/Hwaryohan Hyooga).

KIM also directed the comedies "Kick the Moon" (Silla-uiDalbab) and "Ghost House" (Gwisini Sanda). KIM started out as a assistant director on KANG Woo-seok's classic comedy "Two Cops".

Yi Ch'ang-ho (KOFIC)...| More

Theater Series Much Closer to Audience

Source | 2008/05/25 | Permalink |

By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter

In a recent television show, renowned actor Jo Jae-hyeon stressed the necessity of star-studded theater marketing in a recent to make audience turn to plays from musicals.

As if his dreams of boosting local dramas came true, a growing number of people are rushing to theaters in Daehangno, central Seoul.

This is because of "Yeongeuk Yeoljeon 2" (A Series of the Best Plays) now showing in the district. The plays started on Dec. 7 and will continue until Jan. 4 next year.

The best-play series project comes four years after the 2004 "Yeongeuk Yeoljeon 1" put 15 best picks selected from the works performed between 1980 and 2000 on stage.

The first one drew about 170,000 people over the year, contributing to boosting the theatrical drama industry in the district.

For the second series, a total of 11 plays are being staged. But this year's series are getting fresh input ― a star-studded cast with the efforts by its programmer Cho, and ...| More