Our Happy Time (Movie - 2006)

'Breathless' wins Rotterdam Tiger Award

Source | 2009/02/02 | 0 comments | Permalink |

"Breathless" (Ddongpari) by Korean director and actor Yang Ik-joon won the top prize at the 38th International Film Festival Rotterdam.

"Breathless" shared the Tiger award with two others, Iran's "Be Calm and Count to Seven", directed by Ramtin Lavalfipour and Turkey's "Wrong Rosary", directed by Mahmut Fazil.

"Breathless" was praised by the jury as "a powerfully rendered and acted film with a keen sense of reality in its portrayal of a situation that has been seldom seen in the cinema".

Yang was also given high marks for his sense of warmth and humor dealing with a troubling subject matter.

The film centers around Sang-hoon who gets paid to retrieve lent money. His life changes after he meets Yeon-hee, a high school student. Director Yang himself played the role of Sang-hoon.

For winning, Yang received 15,000 euros ($19,270) and the right to air his piece through the Dutch public TV channel VPRO.

A prominent figure in Korea's independent film industry, Yang, 34, has ...| More

KOFIC, Korea-China Interchange to Revitalize Two Industries

Source | 2008/11/12 | 0 comments | Permalink |

KOFIC (chairperson KANG Han-sup) is commencing two events in order to revitalize the film interchange between Korea and China.

First of the two events is '2008 Korea-China Business Campus' which will take place from Thursday, November 13 to Monday, November 17, over the course of 5 days. The event will mainly focus on the process of sharing films as well as co-production opportunities. This event first took place in 2006 in China, and then moved to Pusan International Film Festival in 2007 as a forum format, thus making this year's event second edition to be held in Korea. First annual event focused on the effect of Korean manpower and resources in Chinese film industry, while the current Business Campus will concentrate on not only the further advancements of above but how Korea and China can collaborate on projects that promote exchange of resources between the two countries. The event will hold pitching/mentoring sessions, seminars, business meetings for producers, production/po...| More

Lee Jeong-jae—Jeong Ryeo-won, Lovers in "Mellows"

Source | 2008/03/27 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Lee Jeong-jae and Jeong Ryeo-won will be acting as lovers on the screen.

They confirmed to star in the movie "Mellows", which will start filming late April, and are now working on the details.

"Mellows" is a melodrama portraying the love between an insurance inspector whose wife committed suicide and a blind woman who had been in a coma for a year. "Mellows" has drawn great interest, as it is a new movie by Director Song Hae-seong, who also produced "Failan" and "Our Happy Time".

Because it is a love with someone in a coma, it will contain a feeling of fantasy as it goes back and forth from fantasy to reality.

There is great interest to see the on-screen chemistry between Lee Jeong-jae, who is coming back to the screen after a long break after "The Accidental Gangster and the Mistaken Courtesan", and Jeong Ryeo-won, whose first movie was "2 Faces of My Girlfriend".
...| More

Top Stars Join KIM Ki-duk's 15th Feature

Source | 2008/01/08 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Controversial director KIM Ki-duk has cast South Korean leading actress LEE Na-young alongside one of Japan's top actors, Joe Odagiri, in what will be his 15th feature film. Titled "Bi-mong" ("Dream"), the new project began shooting January 4 in Seoul and is scheduled to wrap on January 25.

Much interest is being given the new project as actress LEE is one of Korea's most adored stars, taking memorable roles in such films as "Maundy Thursday" ("Our Happy Time") (2006) and "Someone Special" (2004). Paired with Joe Odagiri (Tokyo Tower (2007)), a favorite with women across Asia, the film carries much commercial potential despite the generally cold reception KIM's films receive in his home country.

The new film will, as in many of KIM's previous works, distort the boundaries between reality and dream. The story revolves around a man (Odagiri) who dreams that he caused a car accident. Waking, he goes to the place where the dream occurred, only to find that an actual hit-and-run...| More

Japanese Actor Joe Odagiri to Star in 'Dream'

Source | 2008/01/06 | 0 comments | Permalink |

By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Award-winning director Kim Ki-duk chose Japanese actor Joe Odagiri and Korean actress Lee Na-young for his 15th movie "Bimong" ("Dream").

"Bimong" ("Dream"), produced by Kim Ki-duk Film and Sponge Ent, is about two people who are connected by dreams. Jin (played by Joe Odagiri) is a guy who dreams because he cannot forget his ex-girlfriend. Ran (Lee Na-young) sleepwalks in accordance with Jin's dream. They meet at a traffic accident scene where Ran behaves consistently with Jin's dream.

Kim is known for his distinctive experimental cinematic works. He received Best Director awards in 2004 at two film festivals, for two of his films. At the Berlin International Film Festival, he won an award for "Samaria" (2004) while at the Venice Film Festival he took one for "3-Iron" (2004). However, some of his movies are controversial due to their depiction of the abuse of women and animal cruelty.

Joe Odagiri, 31, is a Japanese actor who studied acting i...| More