‘KKUM’ wins Grand Prize and Public Prize at OIAF

Director Kim Kang-min became the first Korean to take home both the Nelvana Grand Prize for Independent Short and the Public Prize at the 44th Ottawa International Animation Festival, with his short film “KKUM” on Saturday. “KKUM,” meaning “dream” in Korean, is a black-and-white stop-motion animation about a mother who has prophetic dreams of the dangers her son will face and how the son matures in her love. “Winning the Grand Award at Ottawa was one

Oct. 6, 2020

S. Korean cinemas see 70% drop in revenue due to protracted coronavirus pandemic

The combined revenue for South Korean movie theaters declined by over 70 percent as the new coronavirus pandemic has continued for months, according to a lawmaker Monday. Cinemas across the country posted revenue of 415.1 billion won ($356.9 million) in the first nine months of this year, more than a 70 percent fall from 1.448 trillion won a year ago, Rep. Park Jeung of the ruling Democratic Party said. The number of moviegoers also fell by some 70 percent, from 170 million to 48 million, over

Oct. 5, 2020

Netflix to show Korean American director Caroline Suh’s Blackpink doc

Netflix on Monday said its highly anticipated K-pop documentary “Blackpink: Light Up the Sky,” directed by Korean American film director Caroline Suh, is set to premiere on Oct. 14. Once the film is released, Blackpink will be the fourth female act featured in a Netflix original documentary, following Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Taylor Swift. The documentary will mainly feature Blackpink’s short but intense journey to K-pop superstardom now from rookies in 2016. It also will hav

Oct. 5, 2020

‘Samjin Company English Class’ brings back ’90s vibe

It was the ’90s vibe that director Lee Jong-pil was after in his upcoming film “Samjin Company English Class,” which captures the mood of the country when it was on the cusp of globalization. The viewers are first introduced to three young women who work for Samjin Company -- Lee Ja-young, played by Ko Ah-sung, Jung Yoo-na, played by E Som, and Sim Bo-ram, played by Park Hye-soo. The year is 1995. The three women have been working at the company for eight years and are bett

Sept. 28, 2020

Warner Bros. to withdraw from S. Korean market

Warner Bros. will pull out of the South Korean market after years of weaker-than-expected performances, officials from its local unit said Wednesday. “We've already stopped making fresh investments in Korean films,” an official from Warner Bros Korea said. “We will also wrap up projects that are in post production or in production.” The South Korean production and distribution unit of the major US film studio is now handling three titles, including “Josee,”

Sept. 23, 2020

‘Night of the Undead’ features more than just absurd comedy

“When I first read the script, I was puzzled,” Lee Mi-do, one of the main actors in the upcoming science fiction comedy “Night of the Undead,” said during a press conference held at the CGV Yongsan movie theater in Seoul on Tuesday. The conference was held through livestreaming, with reporters and actors in separate parts of the theater due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19. Lee’s reaction was understandable as the film’s director, Shin Jung-won, was not a

Sept. 23, 2020

Yoo Ah-in stars in ‘Voice of Silence’ without a single line

Actor Yoo Ah-in’s second film of the year has him playing a character with no lines. In the upcoming criminal drama “Voice of Silence,” Yoo plays Tae-in, whose job is to dispose of corpses and clean up crime scenes for an organized crime syndicate. “As an actor, a character without any lines was easy to act but at the same time challenging,” Yoo said during an online press conference Monday. “My character does make some noise in the movie, so I think he ca

Sept. 21, 2020

[Herald Interview] Shin Min-ah says ‘Diva’ is like flesh to her

For actor Shin Min-ah, her latest film “Diva,” slated to hit local theaters Wednesday, feels like a part of her flesh. “I put my whole self from head-to-toe into preparing for the film, and that is not something I can experience often,” Shin told local reporters during a joint media interview conducted through group chat due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 36-year-old actor is returning to the silver screen with her first commercial film since “My Love, My Bride&rd

Sept. 20, 2020

Korea Queer Film Festival kicks off online

The Korea Queer Film Festival is being held online on the streaming platform Purplay from Friday to Sept. 29, showing 20 films related to queer life. KQFF, now in its 20th year, aims to share the diverse lives of sexual minorities through the screenings while providing a place for queer people in the film industry to network and contribute to the development of queer movies. Although the festival is usually held around June, it was postponed due to the spread of COVID-19. The slogan for this

Sept. 18, 2020

‘Mulan’ tops Korean box office amid boycott movement

The Walt Disney Co.’s live-action adaptation of animation “Mulan” hit local cinemas Thursday amid boycotts connected with the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and the treatment of Uighur Muslims in northwestern China. The film topped the local box office chart ahead of its release, according to Korean Film Council data, with ticket sales apparently unaffected by the growing global movement against the film. “The success of the movie itself is unrelated to our moveme

Sept. 17, 2020

Film production falls 22% in first 8 months of this year due to pandemic

The number of film productions in South Korea decreased more than 20 percent in the first eight months of this year due to the protracted novel coronavirus pandemic, a report showed Thursday. A total of 18 films were shot from January through August, down 22 percent from 23 over the same period last year, according to the monthly report by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). The fantasy drama "Our Season" and the crime movie "Bogota," starring Song Joong-ki, started filming i

Sept. 17, 2020

Calls to boycott 'Mulan' rise in S. Korea ahead of release

With the South Korean release of Walt Disney's live-action remake "Mulan" just a day away, refreshed calls to boycott the film have been growing here on social media due to a few controversies. The film has been under fire since its lead actress Liu Yifei posted comments supporting Hong Kong's police in their crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations last year. Recently, a second phase of debate has been rekindled as "Mulan," already released on Disney+ in the United State

Sept. 16, 2020

DMZ documentary fest gets underway Thursday with closed-door screenings

After a week of repeated changes of plan due to the resurgence of COVID-19, the 12th DMZ International Documentary Festival released its final schedule Tuesday, two days ahead of the kickoff. Originally slated to take place entirely on-site with members of the general public in the audience, the weeklong festival will now have closed-door screenings, with each screening limited to 30 people. The official festival lineup -- comprising 122 films from 33 countries -- will be screened at the Mega

Sept. 15, 2020

Actress Oh In-hye dies aged 36

Actor Oh In-hye died in the hospital Monday after beign found unconscious at her home. Incheon Yeonsu Police on Tuesday confirmed the death of the 36-year-old actor, who was hospitalized after being discovered in a state of cardiac arrest at her home around 5 a.m. on Monday. The police said there were no signs of foul play. An investigation into the circumstances leading to her death will be conducted, the police said. Oh made her film debut in 2011 with “Sin of a Family” and la

Sept. 15, 2020

BIFF to showcase 192 films, but possibility of fest cancellation not ruled out

The 25th Busan International Film Festival is ready to showcase 192 titles from 68 countries, including 23 cinematic works from the 73rd Cannes Film Festival’s official selection. The details of this year‘s festival slated for Oct. 21-30 in Busan were announced Monday during an online press conference held by the BIFF organizing committee. On Friday, the committee announced it would proceed with an onsite festival, but that it would be pushed back two weeks and be significantly down

Sept. 14, 2020

'#Alive' captures global Netflix audience

Korean zombie thriller “#Alive,” by director Cho Il-hyung, continues to be one of the most streamed movies on Netflix in many countries around the globe, currently standing at No. 2 in global Netflix movie rankings worldwide, according to streaming analytics firm FlixPatrol. “#Alive,” starring Yoo Ah-in and Park Shin-hye, is a story about two survivors trapped in an apartment complex during a zombie apocalypse. It was the first movie released since March to sell more th

Sept. 14, 2020

‘Moving On’ wins best feature at New York Asian Film Festival

Director Yoon Dan-bi’s “Moving On” won the Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film, for which freshman and sophomore directors are eligible, at the New York Asian Film Festival on Saturday evening. Now in its 19th year, the film festival celebrating Asian films across genres was held online from Aug. 29 to Saturday due to the spread of COVID-19. In previous years, the two-week festival had been held around June. Several Korean films were presented at the online festival, includ

Sept. 13, 2020

Busan film fest pushed back 2 weeks, downsized amid COVID-19

The 25th Busan International Film Festival has been postponed two weeks and scaled down considerably as the new coronavirus cases continues to spike in number nationwide. The board members of the festival’s organizing committee on Friday afternoon held an extraordinary general meeting and decided to delay the festival two weeks from Oct. 7-16 to Oct. 21-30. The decision was made out of concerns over further spread of COVID-19 following the Chuseok holiday season that is set to start on S

Sept. 11, 2020

[Herald Review] ‘The Woman Who Ran’ and the three women who did not run

“If he keeps on repeating himself, how can he be sincere?” Nearing the end of “The Woman Who Ran,” this line, blurted out by a wife about her famous and “hypocritical” novelist husband, sounds like the perfect wakeup call and a punch in the head for the protagonist Gam-hee, who until now, has been forcing herself to be satisfied with the feeling of being loved. Unlike what is implied by the title, South Korean arthouse auteur Hong Sang-soo’s 24th feat

Sept. 11, 2020

[Herald Interview] ‘Beauty Water’ makes breakthrough for Korean genre animation

If you were able to change your appearance exactly the way you want for 200 million won ($168,000), would you do it? Horror-thriller “Beauty Water,” which hit the local cinemas Wednesday, explores just that question, and in doing so, is forging a new path for Korean genre animation. The film, based on the “Beauty Water” episodes of Oh Sung-dae’s hit omnibus webtoon series “Tales of the Unusual,” was invited to several international film and animation

Sept. 10, 2020