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

Bong Joon-ho joins team on ‘Sea Fog’ remake

Oscar-winning auteur Bong Joon-ho is to join the production of the Hollywood remake of “Sea Fog,” a 2014 South Korean thriller. Bong was the producer of the original film. American film studio Participant -- which produced feature-length titles “Dark Waters,” “Green Book,” and “Contagion” -- is in charge of the project, according to US entertainment media outlet Deadline. Matt Palmer, who made his feature debut with Netflix thriller flick &ldquo

Sept. 10, 2020

DMZ doc fest settles on closed-door screenings

South Korea’s biggest documentary film festival, the DMZ International Film Festival, will be held behind closed doors this year -- its efforts to push ahead with an in-person festival thwarted amid the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak. The festival’s organizing committee on Wednesday announced the cancellation of ticket sales, which were scheduled to begin Wednesday. The festival will be open to only to participating directors, invited guests, press and industry personnel. &l

Sept. 9, 2020

Second COVID-19 shockwave hits cinemas

Two weeks into stricter social distancing measures that ban gatherings of 50 or more people indoors and 100 or more people outdoors, local cinemas have been hit with the double whammy of low attendance and virtually no new film releases. While the release of most films slated to open this month have been put on hold, film companies said they closely monitoring the virus situation, especially with the Chuseok holiday period -- a peak cinema season – coming up at the end of the month. CJ

Sept. 8, 2020

Bringing Central Asia on screen in Seoul

The Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum Secretariat under the Korea Foundation will host Central Asian Cinema Week 2020 for 10 days, starting Thursday. Five films -- one each from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -- will be available for viewing via Naver TV. The films to be shown are “The Road to Mother” (Kazakhstan, 2016), “The Song of the Tree” (Kyrgyzstan, 2018), “Mirror without Reflection” (Tajikistan, 2013), “At

Sept. 7, 2020