Actress Kim Hye-soo (“Coin Locker Girl”), actor Ahn Sung-ki (“Revivre”) and director JK Youn (“Ode to My Father”) have been chosen by the Asia-Pacific Producers Network to win this year’s APN Award.  The award is given to those in the film industry to recognize achievements that further the advancement of Asian cinema. Kim Hye-soo (BiFan) Ahn Sung-ki (BiFan)The awards will be given on July 18, during the 10th APN Congress to be held from July 17-19 at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Fes

Film July 3, 2015

South Korea reported an additional death from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome on Sunday, bringing its death toll to 32.However, the number of people diagnosed with the potentially deadly disease continued to stand at 182 as the country reported no additional infection case overnight, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.The deceased was a 55-year-old patient, whose identity was withheld for privacy reasons.Ministry officials said the death marked one of the rare cases with the deceas

Social Affairs June 28, 2015

The year is 1933. A female sniper, a gun expert and a bomb expert are pulled into an unlikely ragtag team by a political mastermind to assassinate two key figures in the Japanese regime governing Korea. Their plan is slipped to a ruthless paid assassin, who begins to hunt them down.The plot of the upcoming film “Assassination” is thrilling enough in and of itself to be a box office success, but according to director Choi Dong-hoon, the aim of the movie is to tell the story of those who fought fo

Film June 22, 2015

Singer-songwriter Hong Dae-kwang rose to fame through the TV star discovery program “Superstar K4,” but that wasn’t his first experience performing for the public. On the show, he created buzz by talking about his extensive experiences busking on the street, and he says that those experiences influenced the way he approached his third EP, “With You.”“I worked with a team that is really experienced and talented at creating really commercial albums,” Hong said in a conversation with The Korea Hera

Performance June 18, 2015

With lush green mountains, pretty schoolgirls dressed in uniforms, a beautiful boarding school and an impeccably styled Uhm Ji-won, “The Silenced” offers many visual delights. The plot, however, is a messy hodgepodge, the result of overreaching on the part of screenwriter and director Lee Hae-young.“I wanted to create a mystery film set in a girls’ boarding school in the 1930s, full of girlish emotions,” Lee said at a press preview at Lotte Cinema Konkuk University on June 9. “But I wanted to po

Film June 17, 2015

This year’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival will take place under the theme of “Love, Fantasy and Adventure” and screen 235 films of various genres from 45 countries, including 64 films making their world premiere.According to the organizing committee, BiFan (formerly known as PiFan) differentiates itself from other fantasy film markets by broadening its definition of genre films beyond horror and the grotesque to include sci-fi, suspense and action.“As a premium genre film showcas

Film June 16, 2015

You can’t make a movie out of the tragicomic novel “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” without the perfect, terminally-ill final third character in that title. The film’s director, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon cast about and found someone in a genre that both he and she are well-versed in ― horror.“It’s a very expressive genre,” says Gomez-Rejon, who directed episodes of TV’s “American Horror Story” and the big screen “The Town That Dreaded Sundown.” He found his “Dying Girl” on TV’s “Bates Motel.” But youn

Film June 12, 2015

“A Midsummer’s Fantasia” is being marketed as a romance movie, but its director, Jang Kun-jae, thinks of it as more of a road movie. “That’s what I intended,” he said in an interview. The film, set to open in local theaters this week, takes place in Gojo, a sparsely populated city in Nara prefecture, Japan. It was a collaborative project between Jang and Cannes-acclaimed Japanese director Kawase Naomi, who joined as a producer. Although Kawase had lived and filmed in the area for many years, Jan

Film June 8, 2015

Artists of all genres often fall into the trap of taking themselves too seriously.Electronic band Idiotape is not one of those artists.“Describe our music? It’s music for women, the grown-up kind,” joked drummer DR with a wiggle of his eyebrows as Idiotape began a conversation with The Korea Herald at a cafe in Seoul. Perhaps a joke is the only way to answer a question about how to describe Idiotape’s unusual music. The three-member band consists of two DJs (Dguru and Zeze) and a drummer (DR), b

Performance June 7, 2015

Two of K-pop’s biggest acts, Big Bang and Beast, held sold-out concerts in China and Taiwan over the weekend.Big Bang hit the stage at the Beijing MasterCard Center on June 5 and 6 on their “MADE” tour. The 25-song set list included past hits like “Tonight” and “Bad Boy,” as well as “Loser” and “Bae Bae” from their “M” EP and “Bang Bang Bang” and “We Like 2 Party,” the two songs from their most recent “A” EP released a week ago. Beijing was the first city to see “Bang Bang Bang” performed live o

Performance June 7, 2015

A survey of 10,447 moviegoers conducted by Maxmovie on May 11 and 12 showed that actors Song Kang-ho and Jeon Do-yeon were considered the best actors by Korean audiences.In the male category, Song Kang-ho (known for films like 2013’s “Snowpiercer”) was followed by Choi Min-sik (“Oldboy” from 2003) and Ha Jung-woo (2013’s “The Berlin File”). In the female category, Jeon Do-yeon, whose movie “The Shameless” was recently screened at the Cannes Film Festival‘s Un Certain Regard section, was closely

Film June 7, 2015

Nelson, Haggard uninspired on 4th collaborative discWillie Nelson and Merle Haggard“Django and Jimmie”(Sony Legacy)The two grand old men of country music, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, are among the last living ties to an era when giants like Ernest Tubb and Bob Wills filled honky tonks. Nelson is 82 and Haggard is 78, and while their warm voices show some mileage, their range of expression remains remarkable, and their phrasing often is impeccable.On their fourth album together, “Django and

Performance June 5, 2015

Perfect Proposal (Korea)Opened June 4Romance. Directed by Yoon Jae-guJi-yeon (Lim Soo-jung) is a woman at the end of her rope. Having been betrayed by her friend, she is pursued by loan sharks when she meets Seong-yeol (Yoo Yeon-seok), an assistant to the head of a powerful casino group. Seong-yeol suggests that Ji-yeon captivate the group’s president and become a real-life Cinderella, offering her help in exchange for half her inheritance if she succeeds. Ji-yeon is drawn to Seong-yeol’s perfec

Film June 5, 2015

During the recent Jeonju International Film Festival, everyone who visited Jeonju seemed to have the same souvenir in mind: a box of bakery PNB’s famous choco pies. The bakery’s bright orange shopping bags were ubiquitous around its branches, and hourlong lines snaked around corners.PNB (also known as Pungnyeon Jegwa) first opened in 1951 in Jungang-dong, Jeonju, and has been passed down through three generations. Instead of choosing to continuously change and expand its offerings, the bakery ha

Food June 5, 2015

“Beauty is only skin deep, and it is the beauty inside that matters.”The upcoming film “The Beauty Inside” challenges itself to reinvent this time-old statement in a fresh, intriguing way on the big screen.Directed by the visual artist and advertisement director Zong Baik (who goes simply by Baik), the film is about a woman named Yi-soo (Han Hyo-joo) who develops a romance with a man (Woo-jin) whose appearance changes every morning. Each morning, he may wake up as a man, a woman, young or old, o

Film June 4, 2015