Dramabeans » film festivals

16th Busan International Film Festival’s opening red carpet

javabeans — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:57:52 +0000

The 16th Busan International Film Festival opened on October 6, and the red carpet to the opening screening — So Ji-sub and Han Hyo-joo’s tragic romance Only You — was awash with stars.

(For those of you used to seeing the festival called PIFF, it recently changed its spelling. The festival is in its 16th year and began back when the city was spelled Pusan. The spelling of the southern city officially changed to Busan in 2000, but the festival kept its former spelling, which naturally led to some confusion. Yeah, the Korean romanization system changes hasn’t been the most easy to follow.)

It’s been a while since we’ve had a big, star-packed red carpet, but this reminds me that we’re heading into awards season, and will soon be seeing lots of events like this. Which means, lots and lots of red carpets to ooh over, or, as the case may be, snark.

There were some questionable outfits (always fun), but overall I really like what I saw, even if there was an overwhelming trend toward leg slits Up To There and a good amount of side-boob. But the colors! Yay for colors!

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Post tags: Byun Jung-soo, Cha Seung-won, Daniel Choi, Eom Ji-won, film festivals, Go Soo, Gu Hye-sun, Han Hyo-joo, Hong Su-ah, Hwang Woo-seul-hye, Jang Dong-gun, Ji Sung, Jung Seok-won, Kang Hye-jung, Kang So-ra, Kang Ye-won, Kim Dong-wan, Kim Haneul, Kim Min-joon, Kim Sae-ron, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Beom-soo, Lee Je-hoon, Min Hyo-rim, Nam Sang-mi, Park Jin-hee, Park Ye-jin, So Ji-sub, Sung Yuri, Wang Ji-hye, Yeh Ji-won, Yoo Ah-in, Yoo Inna, Yoon Jin-seo

Catch Korean films at the Festival Franco-Coréen du Film

javabeans — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:50:54 +0000

Sunny

Heads up to you Korean drama/cinema buffs in France: The upcoming 6th Festival Franco-Coréen du Film (FCFF) takes place in two weeks, and it’s got a pretty attractive lineup of Korean films, including an appearance by Jung Yumi (love her!), who stars in two of them (Cafe Noir and Come, Closer).

Two directors will also be in attendance: Kang Hyeong-cheol of the festival’s opening film, heart-warming girl-power comedy Sunny, and Yoon Sung-hyun of the lauded Bleak Night. (Both movies are at the top of my must-watch-asap list.) The festival closes with animated feature Leafie.

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Kim Ki-duk’s Arirang wins at Cannes

javabeans — Sat, 21 May 2011 20:15:32 +0000

Director Kim Ki-duk has picked an award at Cannes International Film Festival for his film Arirang, taking home the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section along with Andreas Dresen’s Halt Auf Freier Strecke (Stopped On Track).

The film received a standing ovation at Cannes when it screened to approximately 2,000 viewers there, and it’ll be interesting to see how that affects its response in Korea, if at all, as it’s been peppered with criticism there. (Here’s a well-written review in English, from The Hollywood Reporter.)

Kim has long had a contentious relationship with the industry in Korea, while being lauded overseas for his indie arthouse films (3-Iron, Samaritan Girl, Coast Guard and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…And Spring are some of his more well-known films). While other Korean directors like Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho are respected both at home and abroad, it’s not quite the case for Kim, whose movies are often commercial flops domestically. He’s developed a reputation for being a “bad boy” of cinema, and Arirang takes that reputation, inflates it by about a thousand percent, and flings it back in the faces of his detractors.

The film is documentary-style and features himself in a cabin, edited in an experimental fashion as a dialogue with himself (in three distinct personas), reflecting on his 15-year-long career. He doesn’t hold anything back, and at points swears and rails at the camera, and himself, about the pains and betrayals he’s felt by moviegoers and others in the industry, including his protégé Jang Hoon (who left to work on a major film production).

Kim was reportedly spurred to make Arirang after the traumatizing accident on set of his 2008 film Dream, in which Lee Na-young almost died while filming a suicide (hanging) scene. In a letter posted on the film festival website, Kim wrote, “The countless people I’ve meet while making films…Human relationships that come together as if forever only to rip apart like tissue paper…All of us entangled by love, passion, hate and the urge to kill…To me all this is Arirang.”

Via 10 Asia, Hollywood Reporter, Wall Street Journal Scene Asia

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Post tags: awards, directors, film festivals, Kim Ki-duk

Poetry picks up its 17th award

javabeans — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:08:26 +0000

And the awards keep rolling in for Poetry, which has just collected its 17th from Switzerland’s 25th Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF), taking home the festival’s top prize, the Regard d’Or. Starring Yoon Jung-hee as an elderly woman finding happiness writing poetry for the first time, the film was praised “for the skillful fusion, the perfect unity, the beauty, the purity and essence of art in itself: poetry.”

Writer-director Lee Chang-dong can add this to his well-decorated mantel: Poetry’s highest-profile win to date is probably the Best Screenplay award from the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. (He also wrote and directed Secret Sunshine back in 2007, which took home Cannes’ top prize.)

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Post tags: awards, film festivals, Hyun Bin, Lee Chang-dong

Won Bin’s Ajusshi at SF Asian American film fest

girlfriday — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 13:28:15 +0000

For those of you in the San Fransisco area who didn’t get the chance to see Won Bin in all his badass glory, now’s your shot. Seriously, see it on the big screen while you can. Ajusshi / The Man From Nowhere is playing tomorrow as a special presentation at the 29th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, described as “the largest and most prestigious international showcase of Asian and Asian American films.”

The screening will be at the historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco on Sunday, March 13, at 12pm. Tickets are $12 (and $11 for students/seniors). More info on the screening here.

The SF Asian American Film Fest is presented by the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), a national non-profit organization “dedicated to presenting stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences to the broadest audiences possible.” This year’s festival will run from March 10-20, 2011 and will feature 110 films from over 20 countries as well as a variety of panels and interactive events.

For more info on the festival: caamedia.org

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Nine Korean films at Berlin film festival

girlfriday — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 21:23:13 +0000

Korea’s making a big showing at the Berlin Film Festival, with nine films headed abroad, in competition for jury prizes. A few are films we’ve talked about for a while, like Late Autumn, while a good number of them are experimental films or shorts that are more artistically adventurous. Can’t wait to get my hands on some of these. Also, Binnie’s having some year, isn’t he?

Here’s a list of the films in competition at Berlinale:

Love Me, Love Me Not, by director Lee Yoon-ki, starring Hyun Bin and Im Soo-jung in a melodrama about a married couple on the brink of divorce. (Poster above.) This is THE HAIR that made me go crazy. Is it wrong to watch a movie for a hairdo? Well I don’t care ’cause I’m gonna do it anyway.

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Post tags: film festivals, Hwang Jung-min, Hyun Bin, Im Soo-jung, Kim Hyo-jin, Park Chan-wook, Ryu Seung-beom

18th Icheon Chunsa Film Festival

javabeans — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 18:14:31 +0000

Saturday, September 18, was the day of the 18th Icheon Chunsa Film Festival, held in the city of Icheon in Kyeonggi Province. The overwhelming winner was the film Moss, a crime thriller from the director of Silmido starring Jung Jae-young, Park Hae-il, Yoo Jun-sang, and Yoo Sun. It picked up awards in seven categories, including Best Picture and Supporting Actor.

Moss released in theaters in July and is based on the “web toon” of the same name. It was a big performer this summer, logging 3.3 million attendances.

Other notable winners were the war movie Into the Fire, which was given a special jury prize, and Bestseller, which picked up a few awards as well.

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Post tags: Cha Ye-ryun, Choi Jung-won, film festivals, Go Chang-seok, Go Eun-ah, Jo Jin-woong, Song Ji-eun, Uhm Jung-hwa, Yoon Yeo-jung

Check out the New York Korean Film Festival 2010

javabeans — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 20:30:50 +0000

Good news for Korean film lovers in the New York area: The New York Korean Film Festival 2010 (NYKFF) will be screening eight Korean films from September 22 through October 3, at both the MoMA and Brooklyn Academy of Music.

It looks like a good lineup, too, and includes a lot of films I’ve been meaning to watch:

THE HOUSEMAID, the darkly comedic erotic thriller starring Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, and Seo Woo, which we’ve covered pretty extensively on this blog;

JEON WOO CHI, the fantasy-action-comedy starring Kang Dong-won as a freewheeling Taoist wizard — jealous! I’m dying to see this;

A FROZEN FLOWER, the erotic sageuk with Joo Jin-mo, Jo In-sung, and Song Ji-hyo, which Sevenses recapped/reviewed;

BESTSELLER, Uhm Jung-hwa’s ghostly horror-thriller;

GOOD MORNING, PRESIDENT, a warmly humorous film starring Jang Dong-gun as a handsome single president;

SISTERS ON THE ROAD, which stars Shin Mina and Gong Hyo-jin as half-sisters with a strained relationship;

LAND OF SCARECROWS, about a transgender artist who finds a wife in the Philippines; and

EIGHTEEN, which is about two eighteen-year-olds in love who can’t wait to turn nineteen, the age of legal majority, because their parents oppose the relationship.

There will also be Q&A sessions with three of the directors: Im Sang-soo (The Housemaid), Boo Ji-Young (Sisters on the Road), and Roh Gyeong-Tae (Land of Scarecrows).

Check out the festival’s official site for schedule and details.

Below is a trailer for NYKFF 2010:

Three Korean movies at Venice film fest

girlfriday — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:13:03 +0000

Korea’s having a good year in the festival circuit. With Cannes under its belt and sights set on Toronto, Chungmuro takes on Venice, with three films next month.

Invincible, starring Song Seung-heon, Joo Jin-mo, Kim Kang-woo, and Jo Han-seon, will be part of a retrospective, honoring prolific Hong Kong director John Woo (A Better Tomorrow). The four leads are expected to appear for the premiere at the festival.

Jung Woo-sung (Athena) will also be walking the red carpet for his new film Reign of Assassins, (The Swordsman’s World) produced by John Woo and co-starring Michelle Yeoh. I don’t think this one counts as a Korean film, as it was shot in China, but it’s a co-production, so I’ll go with it. What with Athena’s Italian shoots and the festival, it looks like Jung is Italy-bound for a good part of this summer/fall.

Lee Seon-kyun and Jung Yumi‘s indie film Oki’s Movie will also be a contender, and will be officially competing (whereas the others will be more exhibition-style films). This will be the first time attending Venice for both Lee and Jung.

Looks like the Venetian red carpet will be the place to catch a Korean action star next month. I’d go for the Grand Canal alone, but the possibility of seeing Jung Woo-sung speed by James-Bond-style in a boat? Swoon.

The 67th Venice International Film Festival will run from September 1-11.

Via Star News

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Post tags: film festivals, Jo Han-seon, Joo Jin-mo, Jung Woo-sung, Jung Yumi, Kim Kang-woo, Lee Seon-kyun, Song Seung-heon

Hyun Bin’s film Late Autumn heads to Toronto

javabeans — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:40:55 +0000

Late Autumn is the Korean classic whose upcoming remake stars Hyun Bin and Tang Wei, which wrapped filming in Seattle earlier this year. Now it’s been officially invited to the 35th Toronto International Film Festival, which opens next month.

The story depicts a short but intense love affair between a woman, a prisoner on leave, and a man who is running from something. This will be the first official outing for the film — which isn’t even completed yet. According to Boram Entertainment, the producers of the film, work is still in the post-production stage.

Late Autumn falls into the Contemporary World Cinema category at the film festival. Previous Korean films that have been invited to Toronto include Kim Ki-duk’s Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, Lee Jun-ik’s The King and the Clown, Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine, and Im Sang-soo’s A Good Lawyer’s Wife.

Late Autumn is directed by Kim Tae-yong of 2006′s Family Ties. It doesn’t yet have a release date, although the production company is aiming for the end of the year.

Via Joy News

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