It’s kind of unnerving how all the news right now is either Choi Jin-shil’s sudden death or the 13th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), and sometimes while looking through the news listings, it’s easy to confuse the two based on the thumbnail images. (Given the timing, as far as I can see, there were no overlaps in attendees — or at least, very few — between PIFF and Choi Jin-shil’s funeral viewing.)

October 2 saw the opening night to the nine-day festival; PIFF closes on October 10 and is the largest film festival in Korea, and one of the largest in Asia. Over the course of the week, more than 300 films will be screened from 60-plus countries.

Kim Rae-won and Han Eun-jung, above, came as brand models for PIFF sponsor L’Oreal. Other famous name actors showed up to the red carpet night; the opening film was Kazakhstan’s The Gift to Stalin, as well as the Hyun Bin & Lee Bo-young film I Am Happy.

PIFF’s red carpet >>

Tags: Cha Seung-won, Choi Jung-yoon, Choi Kang-hee, Eom Ji-won, Eugene, fashion, film festivals, Go Ara, Gong Hyo-jin, Han Eun-jung, Hyun Bin, Jang Dong-gun, Joo Ji-hoon, Jung Ryeo-won, JYP, Kang Hye-jung, Kim Ji-soo, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Rae-won, Kim So-yeon, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Bo-young, Lee Dong-wook, Lee Jung-jin, Lee Seon-kyun, Lee Wan, Lee Yeon-hee, Oh Ji-ho, Park Eun-hye, Park Hae-il, Park Jin-hee, Shin Hyun-joon, Shin Mina, Song Chang-eui, Yeh Ji-won

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Kim Hye-soo and Park Hae-il have a new movie coming out, and it looks gorgeous (speaking purely aesthetically). Modern Boy held its promotional press conference in Seoul on August 27 and, despite its name, takes place in bygone years. 1937, to be exact.

The period film is directed by Jung Ji-woo (Happy End, Wisdom Tooth) and centers around a government official (Park) and the “mysterious woman” he pursues after she disappears (Kim). The titular “modern boy” refers to Park’s character, who harbors more interest in romanticism than his country’s independence.

At the press conference, both lead actors and the director had nothing but praise for one another. Kim Hye-soo talked about the director’s close attention to detail and Park Hae-il’s pure personality, and how she and Park got along comfortably despite this being their first project together. Likewise, Park returned the compliments, saying, “When I heard Kim Hye-soo was cast, I shouted in excitement. I’ve always wanted to work with her, and with us acting together on Modern Boy, we got off to a great start.”

The film opens October 2.

More presscon photos and movie stills >>

Tags: Kim Hye-soo, Kim Nam-gil, Park Hae-il, press conferences

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 3 Comments →