Wrangling over the autonomy of the Busan International Film Festival continues, with the Busan Metropolitan Government and BIFF executive committee disagreeing yesterday over whether the two sides had agreed on the appointment of Kim Dong-ho, the festival honorary director, as its new chairman.　On Wednesday, local media reported that the two sides had “effectively agreed” on naming Kim, the founder of Asia’s largest film festival, as the new BIFF chairman, citing Busan City. Hours later, however

May 4, 2016

Why do bad things happen to good -- or at least normal -- people? What singles them out for catastrophe? These are the questions director Na Hong-jin pondered on when he began writing the script for “The Wailing,” he said after the movie’s press screening Tuesday in Seoul.　“The Wailing” (“Goksung”) takes viewers on a journey to answer those questions -- an overwhelming, thrilling and terrifying journey that ends in coming face-to-face with what can only be described as the origin of evil. It is

May 4, 2016

Fox International Productions, the global arm of U.S. film production company 21st Century Fox, plans to produce more films in Korea, according to its president Tomas Jegues.　“We’re currently making one film a year here, but we’re stepping up production to three or four films a year,” said Jegues after the press screening of Fox International’s most recent project, director Na Hong-jin’s “The Wailing,” which is also known as “Goksung.” The film has been invited to screen at Cannes Film Festival’

May 4, 2016

Korean actor Song Kang-ho will play the lead role in an upcoming film about the Gwangju Uprising, tentatively titled “Taxi Driver,” production company The Lamp announced Tuesday.　The film is based on a real story by Jurgen Hinzpeter, a German journalist who filmed and reported the May 18 Democratic Uprising in Gwangju in 1980. It will depict the story of Hinzpeter and a taxi driver who helped him take the video recording of the massacre in Gwangju out of the city, evading the government troops.　

May 3, 2016

“Canola” is a genuinely moving film. It is refreshingly simple. It employs no gimmicks and focuses on delivering an original story about the bond between a grandparent and a grandchild. 　The film is set on the idyllic coast of Jejudo Island, where a young girl Hye-ji lives with her grandmother, Gye-choon, played by Youn Yuh-jung. A female diver, Gye-choon makes a modest living by selling the clams and fish she catches, and provides for her granddaughter, whose parents’ whereabouts are unknown. H

May 3, 2016

“Phantom Detective” was inspired by the Korean folk tale “The Story of Hong Gil-dong,” according to the film’s director Jo Sung-hee. In the tale, the main character is a Robin Hood-like antihero who exercises his own brand of vigilante justice by stealing from the corrupt rich and redistributing his spoils to the poor. 　The lead of “Phantom Detective,” also named Hong Gil-dong and played colorfully by actor Lee Je-hoon, is something like a cross between the old folk hero and Sherlock Holmes. Lik

May 2, 2016

Award-winning director Park Chan-wook said Monday his Cannes-bound film “The Handmaiden” is a lot different from his previous works for having the most lines and giving subtle pleasures. 　“It has the most lines of all films that I have made. It also has four protagonists, a long running time and is a very juicy film,” Park said during a news conference at a Seoul hotel to promote the upcoming thriller. “I think this is the most singular of all my films since it is full of small funs.”　So, it cam

May 2, 2016

Among Jeonju International Film Festival’s rich lineup of films this year is a controversial documentary titled “Spy Nation.” The work spotlights a 2013 case in which South Korea’s intelligence agency accused Yu Woo-sung, an ethnic Chinese -- who defected from North Korea and has since become a Seoul Metropolitan Government official -- of spying for the North. In the trial process, it was exposed that the National Intelligence Service had fabricated evidence against Yu in an attempt to charge hi

May 1, 2016

Among Jeonju International Film Festival’s rich lineup of films this year is a controversial documentary titled “Spy Nation.” 　The work spotlights a 2013 case in which South Korea’s intelligence agency accused Yu Woo-sung, an ethnic Chinese -- who defected from North Korea and has since become a Seoul Metropolitan Government official -- of spying for the North. In the trial process, it was exposed that the National Intelligence Service had fabricated evidence against Yu in an attempt to charge h

May 1, 2016

The blockbuster movie “Train to Busan” has been invited to the 69th Cannes Film Festival, according to the film’s distributor NEW. 　Director Yeon Sang-ho and the film’s main cast -- actor Gong Yoo, actress Jung Yu-mi and child actress Kim Soo-an -- will attend the film’s world premiere at Cannes and its official red carpet event. From left: actor Gong Yoo, actress Jung Yu-mi, and child actress Kim Soo-an (NEW)　The movie, which depicts the story of people trying to flee to Busan, will be screened

May 1, 2016

JEONJU, North Jeolla Province -- The lesbian theme in his upcoming movie “The Handmaiden” may bring about another storm of controversy in Korea, according to director Park Chan-wook.　“It’s not a theme that’s been dealt with in Korea’s commercial film industry, so it could be called unique,” said Park during a talk with the audience that followed the screening of “Old Days,” a documentary film highlighting the making of director Park’s internationally renowned 2003 film “Oldboy,” at the Megabox t

April 29, 2016

JEONJU, North Jeolla Province -- After kicking off to a lively start with a fireworks-filled opening ceremony and an outdoor screening of this year’s opening film “Born to be Blue” Thursday night, a number of interactive sessions are underway at the Jeonju International Film Festival. 　In addition to screening some 200 movies at cinemas dotted along the city’s Cinema Street, Korea’s largest indie film festival is hosting programs such as Talk Class -- a small group meeting of filmmakers and audi

April 29, 2016

It seems there’s no stopping Garry Marshall’s terrifying cinematic rampage on our nation’s treasured holidays. Having ruined both “Valentine’s Day” and “New Year’s Eve” with his star-packed omnibus projects, the director has burned his way through the calendar, landing on “Mother’s Day” as his next victim.　This time around, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Jason Sudeikis, Britt Robertson, Margo Martindale, Timothy Olyphant, Aasif Mandvi, Sarah Chalke and Shay Mitchell, among others,

April 29, 2016

Captain America: Civil War　(U.S.)　Opened April 27　Superhero, action. Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo　The Avengers superhero team is divided. Captain America (Chris Evans) believes they should defend humanity’s freedom from government interference, but Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) disagrees.   Brooklyn　(Ireland, Britain, Canada, U.S.)　Opened April 21　Drama, romance. Directed by John Crowley　A young Irish immigrant, Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) arrives in Brooklyn seeking a better future and fall

April 29, 2016

JEONJU, North Jeolla Province -- Director Robert Budreau said he wanted a fresh angle in “Born to be Blue,” the opening film for this year’s Jeonju International Film Festival.　“We were tired of the cliche musical biopic,” he said Thursday afternoon at the Jeonju Cine Complex. A press screening of the movie took place there ahead of its official screening that evening at the festival's opening ceremony, set to take place at the outdoor theater on Jeonju’s Cinema Street.From left: festival execut

April 28, 2016

NEW YORK (AP) – Hollywood’s summer, which kicks off with the fittingly combative “Captain America: Civil War,” will be a season of struggle: for box office, for originality and for opportunity. 　More than ever, the big tent of summer moviegoing is held up by a forest of tentpoles stretching from May to August. The swelling size of the summer movie has turned the season into a game of survival. The possibility of bombing lurks as an ever-present threat, testosterone often dominates in front of an

April 28, 2016

JEONJU, North Jeolla Province -- Ten films are vying in this year’s Korean Film Competition at the 17th Jeonju International Film Festival, offering a varying bounty of the best in Korea’s independent film scene. 　The film festival in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, is set to screen flicks for all sorts. The fest -- running April 28 to May 7 -- will see 211 films on the big screen from 45 different countries, with 49 films making their world premiere. While JIFF doesn’t lack in international flav

April 27, 2016