Hanji (Korea) Opening March 17 Drama. Directed by Im Kwon-taek. Documentary producer Ji-won (Kang Soo-yeon) is making a non-fiction film about hanji, Korea’s traditional handmade paper. While traveling across the country to film the paper of many different kinds, she runs into Pil-yong, (Park Joong-hoon) a low-grade public officer. Pil-yong is married to Hyo-gyeong (Ye Ji-won), who has been suf...

“Animation isn’t a genre” like Westerns, film noir, romance or horror, Gore Verbinski was saying. “It’s just a technique for telling a story.” So when the man behind the hugely popular “Pirates of the Caribbean” series decided to make his first animated feature, his biggest concern wasn’t about the process of animation but about the process of storytelling. Verbinski, 46, could have stuck with ...

Philip K. Dick had a flair for spinning science fiction scenarios that were well within the orbit of paranoia. In his novels and short stories, he addressed the tricks of memory and the quirks of reality. Once dismissed as a mere purveyor of pulp fiction, Dick ― who died in 1982 ― is now recognized as a major American writer. But arguably, he’s still best known for inspiring some of the most ima...

At the Oscars, the night undoubtedly belonged to “The King’s Speech,” which won four Academy Awards, in best picture, director, actor and original screen play. Accepting the award for best original screenplay, David Seidler said: “I would like to thank her majesty the queen for not putting me in the Tower of London for putting swear words in George VI’s mouth. And I accept this on behalf of all ...

Ashton Kutcher and Sarah Jessica Parker were awarded the worst actor and actress at the Golden Raspberry Awards on Feb. 26, the night before the Oscars, the Telegraph reported Sunday. Known as the “Razzies,” the Golden Raspberry Awards is held annually to recognize the worst films of the year. “The Last Airbender” was crowned the worst, winning worst film, worst screenplay, and worst director...

HOLLYWOOD, (AFP) - British royal drama "The King's Speech" was crowned Oscars winner on Sunday, taking three of the top Academy Award prizes at the climax of Hollywood's annual awards season. The movie took best picture, best director and best actor for Colin Firth as a stammering King George VI, helped by an Australian voice coach to rally wartime Britain. It also won for best original screenp...

Some of Hollywood’s most fabled directors, Elia Kazan and Robert Altman among them, have said that casting accounts for roughly 90 percent of a movie’s ultimate success or failure. Yet at Sunday’s Academy Awards, there’ll be trophies for categories from best director to makeup ― but none for casting directors. While the Television Academy gives Emmy Awards for casting, and the Film Independent S...

Will James Franco pull a poem out of his tux, or read an excerpt from one of his short stories? Will Anne Hathaway break into song? Will the two of them, virgin co-hosts of the 83rd Academy Awards, dazzle the Kodak Theatre crowd Sunday night ― and more important, dazzle the millions of viewers around the globe? Or will the untested duo drown in a pool of commingled flop sweat? Franco, 32, and...

Shotgun Love (Korea) Opening March 10 Comedy. Directed by Jeong Woo-cheol. Home shopping model Sang-yeol (Im Chang-jeong) has a huge crush on his colleague So-yeon (Kim Gyu-ri). Unlike Sang-yeol, who mostly just tastes food items being advertised, beautiful and refined So-yeon is highly successful in the field. She hosts the TV shopping show and is well-known to the public. In spite of Sang-yeo...

Personal documentary recounts tale of Korean-Japanese who resettled in N. Korea Movie director Yang Yong-hi has a one-of-a-kind family. She lives in Tokyo, her mother in Osaka and her brothers in Pyongyang, North Korea. Born in Japan to pro-Pyongyang ethnic Korean parents, Yang tells about her life and family history in a cinematic form. But the 47-year-old director’s second personal document...

South Korean actress Lee Young-ae, widely popular across Asia, has given birth to twins, her agent here said Monday. Lee, 40, became a mother of fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at a Seoul hospital, said Storms Company. "The mother and the babies are healthy," it said. She was secretly married in 2009 in the United States to a Korean businessman, surprising fans everywhe...

BERLIN (AFP) – The sole Asian contender for the Berlin film festival's Golden Bear top prize, minimalist South Korean breakup drama "Come Rain, Come Shine", met with jeers from critics Thursday. It tells the story of a woman who announces to her husband she is leaving him but, before she goes, spends one last day with him in their home -- an experience that fills them both with longing and regre...

Park brothers’ iPhone-shot short film wins award at Berlinale South Korea’s highly acclaimed director Park Chan-wook and his younger brother, media artist Park Chan-kyong , captured a Golden Bear at Berlin International Film Festival for their first collaboration. “Come Rain, Come Shine,” a feature-length film which was the only Asian contender for the festival’s Golden Bear top prize, howeve...