Director Kim Ki-duk’s controversial cinematic self-portrait “Arirang” has officially been invited to Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, an annual film fest held in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic.The movie, an emotionally raw cinematic account written, directed, and starring Kim, featuring his own perceived failings and traumatic experiences, will be shown in KV IFF’s non-competitive section “

Film June 20, 2011

Ink stains on movable metal print types, claimed to be the world’s oldest, have been scientifically shown to be from the Goryeo Kingdom of Korea (918 ― 1392), Hong Wan, a scholar from Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, said on Saturday.Hong, speaking at a forum organized by the Institute for Social Science Research of Kyungpook National University and Cheongju Early Printing Muse

Performance June 19, 2011

KJ (China)Opening June 16Documentary. Directed by Cheung Kingwai. Eleven-year-old prodigy Ka-jeng (KJ) has won numerous prestigious awards -- including for top pianist at the Hong Kong Schools of Music Festival -- and performed at famous concert halls around the world. Yet he begins to struggle as he loses his purpose in life, finding no meaning in attending his classes and practices. In this emot

Film June 17, 2011

Ultimately, there is just one Superman, just one Batman, just one Wonder Woman. But there are countless Green Lanterns within DC Comics’ fictional universe, and at least five have starred in comic books and animated TV series. When the live-action “Green Lantern,” starring Ryan Reynolds, opens Friday, moviegoers could be forgiven if they wonder, “Green who? Lantern what?”The answer, in the movie’s

Film June 17, 2011

Weathered BlossomBy Park Wan-suh(Hollym International Corp.)Late author Park Wan-suh has written a lot about Korean women of different time periods, ages and personalities. From an established gynecologist (“Three Days in That Autumn”), to an old dying mother who cannot let go of the day her son died during the Korean War (“Mother and a Picket”), Park’s female characters have been both ordinary an

Film June 17, 2011

Secret, famous pseudonymsNom de Plume: A (Secret) History of PseudonymsBy Carmela Ciuraru(Harper/HarperCollins)In the annals of literature, pen names have long created as much intrigue about the authors as the pieces they write.Carmela Ciuraru‘s “Nom de Plume” deftly tells the stories of some of literature’s most famous pen names by weaving in details about these secretive, often eccentric writers

Books June 17, 2011

Got a tweener child with a taste for creepy horror and time-travel stories?Send them “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.”This first novel by Ransom Riggs deals with young Jacob Portman and his quest to find out the truth behind his Grandpa’s wild stories.What he finds is the classic quest story and more. The story has elements of fantasy, adventure, adolescence and grief. (Note: The open

Books June 17, 2011

Sebastian Junger and photojournalist Tim Hetherington produced and directed the film “Restrepo: One Platoon, One Year, One Valley,” which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and was a best documentary Oscar nominee.It documented five trips in and out of eastern Afghanistan, where they were embedded with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. Now, Junger’s book “War” (Twelve Publishers, $15.99), new

Film June 17, 2011

Zombies, ghosts, aliens, vampires and more. More than 200 films of genres including horror, fantasy, mystery and animation will arrive next month.The 15th annual Puchon International Fantastic Festival, featuring a total of 221 films from 34 countries, will open July 14 in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.The festival will open with “Bollywood: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told,” an Indian documentary f

Film June 16, 2011

American director’s documentary film shows brutal suffering of N. Korean civilians and refugeesThese 12 stories are hard to believe, heartbreaking and horrifying. American director N.C. Heikin’s documentary, “Kimjongilia” is a piece of cinematic work devoted to telling the stories of survivors of North Korea and its regime. The movie’s title, “Kimjongilia,” refers to a hybrid red begonia that was

Film June 13, 2011

Lee stresses efforts to recover Korean artifacts kept by foreign countriesKorea celebrated the return of nearly 300 copies of its ancient royal documents that were looted by French troops 145 years ago with welcome ceremonies and performances in Seoul and Ganghwa Island on Saturday. The ceremonies came after the final batch of 297 volumes of Uigwe arrived in Seoul from Paris late last month. The b

Books June 12, 2011

Poongsan Dog (Korea)Opening June 23Drama. Directed by Jeon Jae-hong. A young man named Poongsan (Yoon Gye-sang) crosses the border between South and North Korea to deliver goods requested by members of the two Koreas’ separated families. One day, he receives a secret request by the South Korean government to safely bring In-ok (Kim Gyoo-ri), the lover of a high-ranking North Korean defector, to Se

Film June 10, 2011

There are plenty of stories with Hollywood endings ― this is one with a Hollywood beginning.A new J.J. Abrams film called “Super 8” reaches theaters Friday with a coming-of-age story about young, amateur filmmakers who film a spidery space alien on the loose in Ohio during summer 1979. For people who know the 44-year-old Abrams, that plot seems only slightly more fantastic than the real-life, thre

Film June 10, 2011

Dreaming of ideal unification The 21st Century’s Dream of Korea: Great Advancement and Peaceful UnificationBy Park Se-il(Hansun Foundation)Park Se-il, professor of law and economics in the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University, has published a collection of newspaper columns that he wrote over the last 10 years.Park, who is the founder and chairman of the board of H

Books June 10, 2011