Oct 23, 2017

Film festivals galore

Film events in the coming weeks will center on animation, LGBT, seniors and more

Oct 21, 2017

Busan film festival audience up 17% to top 190,000

The number of attendees at this year's Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) increased about 17 percent from last year to top 190,000, its organizer said Saturday.The 22nd BIFF opened in Busan on Oct. 12 and closed its 10-day run after featuring 299 movies from 69 countries which have been shown on 32 screens at five theaters in the southern South Korean port city. World and international premieres reached 99 and 31, respectively.(Yonhap)In a closing news conference, the BIFF organizing commi

Oct 21, 2017

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Mother!(US)Opened Oct. 19Psychological horror. Directed by Darren Aronofsky A couple lives inside an idyllic country mansion surrounded by fields. The wife (Jennifer Lawrence) is a homemaker intent on fixing up the rustic house, content on living in isolation amid nature. The husband (Javier Bardem) is a once-famous poet with writer’s block, struggling to find inspiration for the next story. A visitor, a doctor and fan of the poet’s work (Ed Harris) visits the couple’s home one day. The poet wel

Oct 19, 2017

Webtoon-based film ‘Along with the Gods’ sold to 12 countries

The film remake of the webtoon “Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds” has been sold to 12 countries at the Asian Film Market.The film directed by Kim Yong-hwa is a story about a person’s journey into the afterlife and the judgment faced in seven hells, led by the angel of death. It stars Ha Jung-woo, Cha Tae-hyun and Ju Ji-hoon. Ju Ji-hoon (left) and Ha Jung-woo star in “Along with the Gods.” (Lotte Entertainment)A 12-minute highlight reel was screened for buyers at the Asian Film Market to enthu

Oct 18, 2017

Despair, lack of hope pervades in Asian cinema: Oliver Stone

Director Oliver Stone met with reporters Tuesday at the Busan Cinema Center to discuss his impression of Korean cinema’s current mood. Stone commented on the jury’s review of the New Currents category, of which he is head juror this year.　“The jury saw ten films and I have to say we commented last night and made our choices which will be announced Saturday night. The whole jury commented on the despair and lack of hope that was evident in the ten films we saw, from not only Korea but China, Taiw

Oct 18, 2017

Female presence strong at Busan Film Fest

Female actors and directors are being spotlighted at the 22nd edition of the Busan International Film Festival this year.For the first time in the festival’s history, both the opening and closing films -- Shin Su-won’s “Glass Garden” and Sylvia Chang’s “Love Education” -- have been helmed by female directors. “Glass Garden” features actress Moon Geun-young as its lead, while “Love Education” tells the stories of Chinese women.BIFF’s leader Kang Soo-youn, a veteran actress and the first female ex

Oct 18, 2017

Romance titled ‘Let Me Eat Your Pancreas’ grabs attention at BIFF

A romance film titled “Let Me Eat Your Pancreas” has become one of the most talked-about films among festivalgoers at this year’s Busan International Film Festival.The Japanese film directed by Sho Tsukikawa and starring Minami Hamabe, Takumi Kitamura and Shun Oguri, is based on a 2015 novel of the same titled by Yoru Sumino, which became a bestseller in Japan. In the film, the protagonist, a high school student, discovers that his popular classmate Sakura is suffering from a pancreatic disease

Oct 18, 2017

Hirokazu Kore-eda joins ‘Ten Years’ international spin-off

BUSAN (Yonhap) -- Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda on Monday formally announced his plan to executive produce a Japanese spin-off of the 2015 Hong Kong sleeper hit “Ten Years.”“Ten Years Japan” will compose an international omnibus film project along with “Ten Years Thailand” and “Ten Years Taiwan,” which are already filming in their respective locations.The original “Ten Years” was a dystopian anthology of five short films by young Hong Kong directors which envisaged how Hong Kong would chan

Oct 18, 2017

[Herald Interview] Virtual reality is the next great art form: Eugene Chung

Korean-American founder of Penrose, studio at vanguard of VR animation, talks roaming new territory in filmmaking

Oct 17, 2017

Platform Busan hopes to provide community for Asian indie filmmakers

BUSAN -- Independent filmmakers from around Asia have high hopes for the Busan International Film Festival’s newly launched feature Platform Busan, they said Sunday.The platform, in commemoration of the late BIFF executive programmer Kim Ji-seok, seeks to provide a network and community for indie filmmakers throughout Asia, who often struggle from lack of funding and producing in their respective countries. Its blueprint was designed by Kim years before his death. “During a lunch last year, Kim

Oct 17, 2017

[Video] A look at BIFF’s stars

BUSAN -- The 22nd Busan Film Festival has seen numerous celebrities attending its events this year. Here’s a look at the stars that have been seen in the southeastern portside city so far. Moon Geun-young participates in an open talk with filmgoers about BIFF’s opening film “Glass Garden,” in which she plays an anxious and isolated scientist, at the Busan Cinema Center Sunday. Japanese actress Minami Hamabe, who stars in “Let Me Eat Your Pancreas,” greets audiences at the Haeundae BIFF Village S

Oct 17, 2017

[Video] Korean novels, webtoons pitched at Asia Film Market

Asian producers actively seek out new stories, Chinese producers attend despite THAAD tensions

Oct 16, 2017

[Herald Interview] Christoph Terhechte says Korean cinema ‘still has surprises’

BUSAN -- Christoph Terhechte, the recipient of this year’s Korean Cinema Award, says he’s become “addicted” to the films of auteur Hong Sang-soo. “It seems like he’s making the same film over and over again, but with beautiful variations, enlarging the picture with every film he makes. You want to see more of his universe,” he tells The Korea Herald in an interview Saturday at the Busan Cinema Center.Terhechte, who since 2001 has been head of programming for the Berlin International Film Festiva

Oct 15, 2017

'The Battleship Island' wins award in Spain's Sitges Film Festival

South Korean historical action film "The Battleship Island" has won the best feature-length film in a competition category of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, the film's local distributor said Sunday.The movie by director Ryoo Seung-wan earned the top honor in the Orbita section for introducing most notable films of the year and honoring a title chosen by the jury composed of audiences. In the category, the Korean movie competed against such films as Takeshi Kitano's "Outrage Co