Filmmaker Zhang Lu’s dreams often have scenery of Beijing and Seoul all mixed together, making it hard for him to recognize where he actually is.The ethnic Korean-Chinese filmmaker, who was born and raised in China’s Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, has been working in Seoul since last year, after many years in Beijing. Zhang, who considers himself a “stranger” wherever he goes, pays special attention to the dreams of others in his latest film.Titled “The Scenery,” the film features 14 migr

Samsung’s Galaxy Android series of smartphones has been selected as the top prize winner of the CICI Korea Image Awards 2014, the institution announced on Monday. The Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI) is a non-profit organization that pursues the mission of promoting Korea’s image abroad.Samsung Galaxy, a series of Android-powered mobile computing devices designed and marketed by Samsung Electronics, has made an enormous contribution toward promoting Korea’s image as an IT powerhouse, C

In 1984, a foreigner named Muhammad Kansu arrived in Korea with a Filipino passport and a fully grown mustache. The man, claiming one of his parents was Lebanese, spoke Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean fluently.As an international student, he earned a Ph.D. in history at Dankook University, and then started teaching there as a professor. He earned recognition for his extensive knowledge of Arabic culture and history, as well as his fluency in foreign languages ― up until it was revealed in 1

A movie inspired veteran director Jenni Gold to seek a life in Hollywood behind the camera.“Tom McBride played a guy, confined to a wheelchair, in ‘Friday the 13th Part 2,” Gold says. “As a kid, what stood out to me was he was just like me, in a wheelchair. A guy who liked to hang out with his friends. I thought, ‘That’s AWESOME.’ He wasn’t some stereotype, the saintly guy or the bitter guy. He isn’t treated special. It’s ‘Friday the 13th.’ He gets killed like everybody else!”Such characters, th

The globally popular hit musical “Mamma Mia!” has returned to Seoul, this time starring a British cast from the original London production. Written by British playwright Catherine Johnson, and based on songs by ABBA ― the famous Swedish pop group, active from 1972 to 1982 ― including “Dancing Queen,” “Money, Money, Money” and “Thank You for the Music,” the musical offers a hilarious tale of a young bride-to-be’s search for her unknown father. The musical premiered in 1999 in the West End at Prin

John Lewis does not usually smile for the camera. Paradoxically enough, he laughs when this is pointed to him during a telephone interview. “A lot of people tell me that,” he says.On the flyleaf to “March: Book One,” the graphic memoir authored by Lewis, Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell, there is a photo typical of Lewis, a civil rights icon and Georgia congressman. The Capitol dome at his back, he faces the camera with a dogged expression as if the photo session were just one more thing he h

In Amy Tan’s newest novel, she returns to familiar ground: the relationships between mothers and daughters amid moral ambiguity.But in “The Valley of Amazement,” Tan proves there are plenty of surprises left when the mothers and daughters inhabit the world of courtesans in turn-of-the-century Shanghai. For 600-plus pages, she delves into the secrets of the women who lived on that precarious rung of society, tolerated and even celebrated but not fully accepted.Tan hasn’t written a new novel in ei

Actor Joo Sang-wook and actress Han Ji-hye were named this year’s best dressers at the 2013 Herald·Donga TV Lifestyle Awards on Wednesday.Joo enjoyed much popularity this year for his role as the charismatic surgeon in the SBS drama series “Good Doctor,” while Han earned recognition for playing double roles in the MBC drama series “Pots of Gold.”Actress Kim So-yeon and actor Bae Soo-bin won the best style awards for their sense of style. Bae this year starred as a social outcast who falls in lov

Celebrated fashion designer Jung Kuho is no stranger to dance performances, having directed a number of pieces in collaboration with the nation’s top troupes.Jung, who abruptly announced last month his departure from his 10-year position as executive director at Cheil Industries, which acquired his brand KUHO in 2003, is directing a dance piece for the third time. Under Jung’s leadership, the label’s sales have increased 13-fold over the past decade. Jung’s departure came about two months after

Korean-born ballerina Kang Sue-jin, who currently dances as one of the principals with the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany, has been appointed the new director of the Korean National Ballet, according to the Culture Ministry. Her term starts next year.Kang, considered one of the most acclaimed Korean dancers, has been dancing with the German troupe since 1986. She was promoted to principal in 1997. The 46-year-old won numerous prestigious awards, including the Prix de Lausanne in 1985 and the Prix B

There isn’t much depiction of filial love and Confucian integrity. Instead, expect to read about murder, tragic love stories, and wars. In celebration of its 60th anniversary, The Korea Herald, in partnership with Literature Translation Institute of Korea, has published a five-volume series consisting of classic Korean literature. The series, titled "Korean Classic Stories," was organized to introduce works of classic literature that are relatively unknown to readers at home and abroad. The titl

Last month, the Literature Translation Institute of Korea published a five-volume series of English translations of classic Korean literature in collaboration with The Korea Herald, an effort that took nearly one year to bear fruit.“Whenever I went overseas, I met a lot of people who said they wanted to read more works of Korea’s classic literature,” Kim Seong-kon, the director of LTI Korea, said during an interview with The Korea Herald. “And in order to understand contemporary literature (of a

Three translators worked on the Korean Classic Stories, a five-volume series consisting of Korean classic literature and folktales.The first two volumes, “Avengers & Artists” and “Confucians in Love,” were translated by Kevin O’Rourke, professor emeritus of English at Kyung Hee University in Seoul. Formerly a Catholic priest from Ireland, O’Rourke has been living in Korea since 1964. He is believed to be the first foreigner to receive a Ph.D. in Korean literature. He earned the degree from Yonse

When professor emeritus Kim Hung-gyu was asked to select and compile classic Korean stories for a book series, the first thing he wanted to do was introduce the kind of stories that are “page-turners.”“Many say pre-modern Korea was a Confucian society,” Kim, a longtime researcher of traditional Korea literature, told The Korea Herald. “And that is not incorrect. But the pre-modern Korea cannot be solely defined as ‘Confucian.’ It was very much a complex and diverse society and people felt all ki

Korean-Chinese scholar Kim Hak-cheol (Jin Hezhe) arrived in Seoul in 2001 at age 28 without knowing much about the country.Now 41, Kim is an associate professor teaching Korean literature at Harbin Institute of Technology in Weihai, China. Kim, who worked as a journalist in China for seven years before studying comparative literature at Seoul National University, is a third-generation Korean-Chinese born in Yanbian, a Korean autonomous prefecture in Jilin Province, China. On Wednesday, Kim recei

Back in Mike Tyson’s heyday, it was a badge of honor for many boxers to simply survive past the first round in the same ring as Tyson, the self-described “animal” and “monster” of American sports.But now I’ve got those palookas beat. I went the distance ― all 580 pages ― with Tyson’s violence-, drug- and sex-filled memoir, a masterpiece of depravity and confessional honesty titled “Undisputed Truth.”In 1986, at age 20, the New York City-born, onetime petty criminal became the youngest-ever heavy

Doris Lessing, who died at home in London on Sunday at age 94, was a writer who refused to be categorized. Feminist, expatriate, experimentalist, realist, science-fiction writer: She was all of these and more.Recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature, she is best known (rightly) for her 1962 novel “The Golden Notebook,” the story of a fractured woman named Anna Wulf and her efforts to find some sort of integration. Lessing, however, later would see that book as something of an albatross, a

Just a year after the first Seoul run of the popular Broadway musical “Wicked” ― performed by an Australian cast ― Korea celebrated the opening of the first Korean-language rendition of the show last week, starring local big-name stars as the two beloved witches.Sunday’s show was greeted with tumultuous applause and a standing ovation at the Charlotte Theater in Jamsil, Seoul. The audience repeatedly cheered as actresses Oak Joo-hyun and Kim Bo-kyung took their bows. “Wicked,” which is marking i

Korean animator Yeon Sang-ho’s latest film “The Fake” won Best Animated Film Award at Festival Internacional de Cide de Gijon, an annual international film festival held in Gijon, Spain.The film, the second feature-length work by Yeon, is a powerful tale of truth and deception, taking place in a rural Korean town on the verge of being flooded. It competed against 10 films in the section, and shared the prize with American animator Bill Plympton’s “Cheatin.”The movie’s plot develops as the villag

As a film writer I get to see a lot of movies before they hit theaters ― not all, or I’d have no life. Despite having seen nearly a dozen on our holiday list, there are a number of films I’m still greatly looking forward to seeing over the next six weeks.The Thanksgiving period brings Disney’s charming and eye-popping animated 3-D musical “Frozen,” which has one guaranteed showstopper, “Let It Go,” sung by “Wicked’s” Idina Menzel. The studio also has the sweet comedy “Delivery Man” starring Vinc