The Isle (Movie - 1999)

Korean film draws director from afar

Source | 2009/05/07 | 0 comments | Permalink |

'I was astonished by the way Korean directors approach real problems'.

It was Jocelyn Saab's interest in Korean cinema that brought her all the way down to Jeonju, in southwestern Korea.

The Lebanese director is a member of the jury of the Jeonju International Film Festival's Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema Award.

She said that the films she has seen at the festival lead her to believe she is witnessing the emergence of a new generation of Korean directors.

"I was astonished by the way that Korean directors approach real problems. They say things so clearly, and just put everything on the table", Saab said Saturday in an interview with the JoongAng Daily.

The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, Netpac, is an international organization of 29 member countries established in 1990. It focuses on the development of Asian cinema, including critics, filmmakers, festival organizers and curators, and is currently considered the leading authority on Asian film. Th...| More

MoMa NYC showcases KIM Ki-duk films

Source | 2008/04/24 | 0 comments | Permalink |

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) will screen KIM Ki-duk films from April 23 until May 8 to New York City audiences. Fourteen films of the maverick filmmaker will be on display, making it the first complete retrospective of KIM's repertoire in the U.S. and some of the films will have their U.S. premiere at MoMa.

MoMa describes KIM's body of work as "sensuous, sensational imagery and wild and haunting narratives" and praises his "sweeping camera movements and long, richly composed shots".

Among KIM's best known films in the U.S. are "the libidinous "The Isle" (2000), the Buddhist-inflected "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring" (2003), and an elliptical treatise on invisibility, "3-Iron" (2004)".

The retrospective is organised by MoMa's Department of Film Senior Curator Laurence Kardish, and HAHN Dong-sin of Open Work, New York. The showcase is made possible through numerous parties, including the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). MoMa previously organised retrospectives of IM...| More

MoMa to screen works of award-winning director Kim Ki-duk

Source | 2008/04/22 | 0 comments | Permalink |

New Yorkers will be able to taste a series of artistic Korean movies made by director Kim Ki-duk from Wednesday (Apr. 23).

The Department of Film at New York's Museum of Modern Art, or MoMa, will hold a screening of the works of award-winning moviemaker Kim Ki-duk, 48, who has directed artistic yet controversial films since 1996.

During the exhibition at MoMa's Theater 1, co-organized by the Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Korean Film Council, and supported by the Korean Film Archive in Seoul, movie lovers will be able to take in a total of 14 movies directed by Kim, which will include several features never before seen in the United States, according to MoMa.

Kim is a self-taught maverick filmmaker whose works have impressed international cinema industry with a focus on symbolism and his strong sense of motifs and intensity.

He was a former factory worker, soldier, seminarian and a street artist in France between 1992 and 1995 where he discovered cinema thro...| More

[THE HIGH TIDE OF THE KOREAN WAVE(32)] Spain discovers Korea and cries out for more

Source | 2008/04/22 | 0 comments | Permalink |

In the last few years, Korean films, TV dramas and pop music have become immensely popular abroad, a phenomenon known as the Korean Wave. This is the 32nd in a series of essays by a select group of scholars and journalists looking at the spread of Korean pop culture in Southeast Asian countries and beyond. - Ed.

Korea - both North and South - has long been unfamiliar to most Spaniards. Rising tensions between the two Koreas, derived mainly from nuclear development by North Korea, were the only news we heard from Korea. Before that, we knew a little about the Korean War in the 1950s, but did not know the cause of it.

In the 1960s, a famous comic depicting the war led by the "good" Americans against the "bad" communists was published and accepted by the anti-communist regime of Franco. This is how Spanish people of that era remember the Korean War.

But the majority of Spaniards may still have difficulty finding Korea on a world map. High-level visits from the King of Spain, poli...| More

Kim Ki-duk's "The Isle" Selected a Most Difficult Movie

Source | 2008/04/17 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Director Kim Ki-duk's "The Isle (Seom)" was selected as one of the 10 most difficult films to watch (but still insanely awesome) movies by Killer Film, an American online film site.

Coming in at ninth, "The Isle" is a strange love story between a prostitute and a man on the run from the cops. The movie had shocked the audience with some of the goriest scenes involving fish hooks and genital mutilation. The list proves that director Kim's films are too complex to understand for foreign audience as well. Kim has been known for his unique (and sometimes bizarre) interpretations of human nature. His other works include highly acclaimed "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring ", "Samaria", and "Bad Guy".

The film topping the 10 most difficult films to watch list was "Ichi, the Killer" directed by Japanese director Takashi Miike. Other films on the list include "Irreversable" with Monica Bellucci at second place, a mock documentary "Blair Witch Project" at fourth, and Gus Van Sant'...| More