The Divine Weapon (Movie - 2008)

Nominees for Grand Bell Awards Stir Controversy

Source | 2009/10/26 | 0 comments | Permalink |

The Grand Bell (Daejong) Awards, a prestigious film award in Korea, have stirred controversy yet again. The list of Best Leading Actress nominees that was announced October 21 includes Kim Min-seon ("Portrait Of A Beauty"), Soo-ae ("Sunny"), Kim Hye-ja ("Mother - 2009"), Choi Kang-hee ("Ae-ja") and Jang Nara ("Sky And Sea").

Nominees for the Best Picture award are "Mother", "Sky And Sea", "The Divine Weapon", "Haeundae" and "Take Off".

The controvery arose because actress Ha Ji-won of "Closer to Heaven" and "Haeundae", which drew more than 10 million vieiwers, and actress Kim Ha-neul of the hit movie "My Girlfriend is an Agent" were not included on the list. Morever, the movie "Thirst", which received the Jury Award at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and Kim Ji-woon's "The Good, The Bad, The Weird" also failed to be nominated for the Best Picture or the Best Director awards.

"Sky And Sea", which is to open on October 28 just a week before the awards ceremony, has been nomina...| More

46th Annual Daejong Film Awards Nominees

Source | 2009/10/23 | 0 comments | Permalink |

46th Annual Daejong Film Awards Nominees

- Best Movie: "Take Off", "Mother - 2009", "The Divine Weapon", "Sky and Sea", "Haeundae"

- Best Director : Kim Yong-hwa ("Take Off"), Yoon Je-kyoon ("Haeundae"), Jeon Yoon-soo ("Portrait of a Beauty"), Jeong Gi-hoon ("Ae-ja"), Bong Joon-ho ("Mother - 2009")

- Best Actor : Kim Myeong-min ("Closer to Heaven"), Kim Yoon-seok (Running Turtle), Seol Kyeong-gu ("Haeundae"), Jeong Jae-yeong ("The Divine Weapon"), Ha Jeong-woo ("Take Off")

- Best Actress : Kim Min-seon ("Portrait of a Beauty"), Kim Hye-ja ("Mother - 2009"), Soo-ae ("Sunny"), Jang Nara ("Sky and Sea"), Choi Kang-hee ("Ae-ja")

- Best Supporting Actor : Kim In-kwon ("Haeundae"), Jin Goo ("Mother - 2009"), Jeong Kyeong-ho ("Sunny"), Jang Geun-seok ("The Case of Itaewon Homicide"), Kim Nam-gil ("Modern Boy")

- Best Supporting Actress : Kim Bo-yeon ("Living Death"), Kim Hae-sook ("Thirst"), Kim Yeong-ae ("Ae-ja"), Choo Ja-hyeon ("Portrait of a Beauty"), Nam Neung-mi ("Clos...| More

Korean Line-up at Fantasia Int'l Film Fest

Source | 2009/07/06 | 0 comments | Permalink |

North America's largest genre film fest, the Fantasia International Film Festival boasts an impressive line-up of notable Korean films this year; among them the North American premiere of PARK Chan-wook's Cannes-winning vampire drama, "Thirst". Held annually in Montreal, Canada, the event will run from July 9 – 29 at several theaters in the city.

Along with PARK's latest is "Crush and Blush", a film he produced for debut director LEE Kyoung-mi. Two int'l festival favorites, NOH Young-seok's micro-budget but acclaimed debut, "Daytime Drinking", and JANG Hoon's "Rough Cut" will screen. Both films have had their Canadian rights bought by Canada's Evokative Films which plans to release "Rough Cut" in Canadian theaters in January of 2010.

Rotterdam winner "Breathless" by YANG Ik-joon will screen along with sleeper hit of 2008, "The Chaser" by NA Hong-jin. LEE Yoon-ki's Seoul odyssey, "My Dear Enemy" and KWAK Jae-yong's Japanese made "Cyborg, She", were also invited. Other film...| More

Korean Indie Film Wins at French Film Fest

Source | 2009/03/17 | 0 comments | Permalink |

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

"Breathless" by director Yang Ik-joon won both the grand prize (Le Lotus du meilleur film) and the international critic's award at the 10th Deauville Asian Film Festival in France, which came to a close, Sunday. This is another feat in the international film circuit by the South Korean indie film, which recently won the top award at the 38th International Film Festival Rotterdam.

This is the second consecutive year the two coveted prizes went to a Korean movie at the esteemed event, following Jeon Soo-il's "With a Girl of Black Soil".

Numerous other local works appeared at the festival. Baek Seung-bin's "Members of the Funeral" competed in the competition section alongside "Breathless"; Na Hong-jin's hit film "The Chaser" and Kim Yoon-jin's big budget epic "The Divine Weapon" were shown in Action Asia; and Yoo Ha's controversial "A Frozen Flower" and Yoon Jong-bin's noir drama "The Moonlight of Seoul" were screened in the Panorama section.

The...| More

Seoul Theaters to Show Subtitled Korean Movies

Source | 2009/02/10 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Two or more movie theaters in Seoul will show newly released Korean films with English subtitles to cater to the growing foreign population here, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Monday. The subtitled movies will be screened at least 10 times a day to facilitate foreigners' understanding of and communication with Korean culture, it said.

The city's "urban competitiveness" team followed an idea submitted by a citizen on the city government's homepage. A test run of the project in collaboration with CJ CGV with two films, "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" and "The Divine Weapon", was popular with foreign audiences and encouraged the authority to make the project permanent.

The city will recruit companies interested in running the project from Tuesday, and open the service in two movie theaters from the end of next month. For further information or comment, call (02) 2171-2433. ...| More