Film festival by directors to be held online

The CMR—Directors Week, a film festival organized by and for film directors, will be held from Tuesday to Saturday. The festival has been held under the name Chungmuro International Musical Film Festival, but in September, the film festival organizer Junggu Cultural Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Directors Guild of Korea to turn the musical film festival into a film festival for directors this year. The organizer added that the MOU aims to boost the film industr

Nov. 30, 2020

Song Kang-ho, Kim Min-hee make list of ‘25 Greatest Actors’ by NYT

Actors Song Kang-ho and Kim Min-hee were included in the list of “The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century (So Far),” as arranged by the New York Times. On Wednesday, the New York Times released a list of 25 actors, along with a comment that reads “these are the performers who have outshone all others on the big screen in the last 20 years.” In the list of 25 internationally known screen figures, two Koreans claimed spots: Song Kang-ho and Kim Min-hee. The New York T

Nov. 27, 2020

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Good Neighbor (Korea) Opened Nov. 25 Drama Directed by Lee Hwan-kyung Agent Dae-kwon (Jung Woo) is tasked with watching over influential opposition party politician Lee Eui-sik (Oh Dal-su), who seems to have plans to run in the next presidential election, and his family 24/7. Dae-kwon moves into a house next door and slowly becomes a neighbor close to the politician and his family. 　 Run (US) Opened Nov. 20 Thriller Directed by Aneesh Chaganty Diane (Sarah Paulson) gives birth prematurely to

Nov. 27, 2020

‘Minari’ wins Audience Award at Denver Film Festival 2020

Director Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari” won the Audience Award at Denver Film Festival 2020. With films such as “Green Book,” directed by Peter Farrelly, and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” directed by Martin McDonagh, having gone on to Oscar nominations after winning awards at the Denver Film Festival, hopes for “Minari” within the local film industry got a boost with the latest win. The 2021 Academy Awards are scheduled for April

Nov. 24, 2020

‘Space Sweepers’ takes the safe route and heads to Netflix

The first Korean sci-fi blockbuster set in space, “Space Sweeper,” will be released exclusively on Netflix. The film was scheduled to open in theaters on Sept. 23, but the release was postponed due to COVID-19, and there are now no immediate plans to show the film in theaters. Set in 2092, “Space Sweepers” by director Jo Sung-hee is about a space cleanup crew trying to sell a weapon of mass destruction: the humanoid Dorothy. With a star-studded cast including Song Joon-

Nov. 23, 2020

All ready, but nowhere to show

Director Park Hong-min decided to take a different route with his third independent feature, “Beyond You”: He will distribute the film himself instead of joining hands with a distributor. His past two experiences working with local independent film distributors had left him keenly aware of the limitations of such partnerships. “Independent movie distributors seem to have a hard time finding theaters. Also, there were financial issues. … Very little was left for the d

Nov. 23, 2020

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

More Than Family (Korea) Opened Nov. 12 Drama, Comedy Directed by Choi Ha-na Toe-il (Jung Soo-jung) finds out she is pregnant. The father of the baby is Ho-hoon (Shin Jae-hwi), a student she has been tutoring. She plans to marry Ho-hoon, who is younger than her, and while preparing for the wedding she suddenly decides to look for her own biological father, who abandoned her and her mother many years ago. But she cannot remember much about her father -- not even his face or his first name. 

Nov. 20, 2020

Han Ji-min, Nam Joo-hyuk team up again in romance remake ‘Josee’

After the trailer of the romance film “Josee” was presented during an online press conference Tuesday, the two lead actors -- Han Ji-min and Nam Joo-hyuk -- began crying. “Watching the trailer brought back all the emotions that I felt when filming,” Nam said. After fixing their makeup, Han and Nam shared their experiences of teaming up again in “Josee” after working together on the 2019 TV drama “The Light in Your Eyes.” “Even when we w

Nov. 17, 2020

Netflix turns console games into visual content

With the recent releases of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, Netflix is gearing up to capture video gamers with visual content based on popular game universes. The easy access to Netflix offered by the new XSX and PS5 released this month makes the visual content on Netflix more appealing to gamers and makes the consoles all-round multi-entertainment tools. The PS5 media remote is equipped with a Netflix button, giving users instant access to Netflix, and Xbox users can easily download Netfli

Nov. 15, 2020

Youn Yuh-jung nominated for Gotham Independent Film Awards 2020

Gotham Independent Film Awards 2020 announced that veteran actor Youn Yuh-jung was among the nominees for its best actress award. Youn was nominated for her role in “Minari,” directed by Korean American Lee Isaac Chung. The other nominees are Nicole Beharie for “Miss Juneteenth,” Jessie Buckley for “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” Carrie Coon for “The Nest” and Oscar-winning actor Frances McDormand for “Nomadland,” the US indep

Nov. 15, 2020

Actor Oh Dal-su returns to big screen two years after sexual assault allegations

Oh Dal-su, who dropped out of acting in 2018 following allegations of sexual assault, is returning to the big screen in “Good Neighbor.” The sexual assault claims surfaced in February 2018 amid the spread of the #MeToo movement in Korea, and scenes featuring Oh were subsequently removed from tvN series “My Mister” and hit film “Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days” in the same year. Filming for “Good Neighbor” was likewise completed in February 2

Nov. 14, 2020

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Collectors (Korea) Opened Nov. 4 Crime, Comedy Directed by Park Jung-bae Kang Dong-goo (Lee Je-hoon) is a genius thief of ancient treasures and works with an expert in ancient tomb murals, Dr. Jones (Cho Woo-jin), and legendary shoveling expert Sabdari (Lim Won-hee). One day, Kang meets an ancient art expert, Ms. Yoon (Shin Hye-sun), and puts together a team for the dangerous job of stealing the Korean version of Excalibur in the royal tomb Seolleung in Seoul for Ms. Yoon’s boss. The No

Nov. 13, 2020

Pandemic brings end to Netflix vs. theater struggle on theatrical release practice

As the latest Netflix original film, "Hillbilly Elegy," has hit screens of South Korea's two biggest multiplex chains of CJ CGV and Lotte Cinema, the yearslong conflict between major theaters and the global streaming giant has apparently come to an end amid the COVID-19 pandemic. CGV and Lotte Cinema decided to screen the Netflix-made film from Wednesday for two weeks before Oscar-winning director Ron Howard's drama is released on Netflix on Nov. 24. It is the first time that a Netfl

Nov. 12, 2020

Kim Hye-soo says ‘The Day I Died’ was like her destiny

Actor Kim Hye-soo said her upcoming film “The Day I Died” was like her destiny. “It is hard to explain but I felt a strong pull to take the role. I think it is because that was the time that I had a strong desire for some sort of comfort,” Kim said during a press conference at CGV Yongsan in Seoul on Wednesday. “At that time, I was broken down and had wounds. (Like Hyun-soo in the movie,) I got comfort from meeting actors at our filming site.” “The Da

Nov. 7, 2020

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Martin Eden (Italy, France) Opened Oct. 29 Drama, Romance Directed by Pietro Marcello Martin Eden (Luca Marinelli), a ship worker, falls in love at first sight when he meets Helena (Jessica Cressy), an upper-class woman. Hoping to gain a place among the literary elite to be with her, he decides to become a writer and embarks on a quest to educate himself. The movie is based on a 1909 novel by American author Jack London. Tesla (US) Opened Oct. 28 Drama Directed by Michael Almereyda Inventor

Nov. 6, 2020

Krystal plays pregnant university student in debut feature ‘More Than Family’

Jung Soo-jung, more widely known as Krystal of K-pop girl band f(x), plays a confident university student, Toe-il, who becomes pregnant at a young age, in her debut feature “More Than Family.” “At first, I was hesitant to play this role. But after reading the script I said I will take the role,” Jung said during a press conference at CGV Yongsan on Tuesday. “Toe-il is confident and she believes in herself. I think she is representative of women today. She is relat

Nov. 4, 2020

Watcha to stream works by film academy’s graduating class

Local OTT platform Watcha is holding an online film festival Nov. 1-25 that will showcase the works of the Korean Academy of Film Arts’ graduating class. “Eye Contact,” co-hosted by the platform and the school, will consist of 24 short films created by the KAFA’s 36th batch of graduates. The movies will include “Doong-ji,” Jo Kyoung-won’s film about a teenage girl who wants to avoid bringing friends home to work on a school project; “Help Me!&rd

Nov. 2, 2020

Korean movies choose Netflix over big-screen release

Highly anticipated local thriller “The Call” chose to follow the steps of crime thriller “Time to Hunt,” which skipped its theatrical release and went straight to Netflix in April. “Since many movie fans have been waiting for the release of ‘The Call,’ we considered many different options for quite a long time, and finally came up with the decision to release it on Netflix. We see that it is the best way to present our movie to a wide variety of audie

Nov. 1, 2020

Lee Je-hoon returns to big screen as witty royal tomb raider

Lee Je-hoon is returning to the big screen as a witty tomb raider in the upcoming comedy-crime “Collectors.” “Looking back at how I have been selecting my characters, I tried to choose movies with social messages or ones with a unique genre. But we all have experiences of having a truly good time after watching a movie that is not thought-provoking, don’t’ we? I do too and I’ve been wishing to do that kind of movie,” Lee said during the press conference

Oct. 31, 2020

Film fest in COVID-19 times: BIFF wraps up with hope

The 25th Busan International Film Festival wrapped up its 10-day run Friday with an online press conference. The acclaimed film fest kicked off Oct. 21 with “Septet: The Story of Hong Kong,” an omnibus work by seven renowned Hong Kong directors, at the Busan Cinema Center in the southern coastal city of Busan. It was a hybrid event, going both online and offline due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.  “During the festival, 192 films from 68 countries were screened, gathe

Oct. 30, 2020