German fantasy writer Ralf Isau grew up listening to his father’s stories and harmonica. “I think that’s how I developed my love for the fantasy genre,” the writer said in a press conference in Seoul on Monday. “When I was a child, my art teacher wrote on my report card that my paintings have ‘a lot of fantasy elements.’”The 57-year-old writer, famous for his friendship with the late German author Michael Ende (1929-1995), visited Seoul this week to promote the recently released Korean edition o

Florist Yu Seung-jae says she loves all kinds of flowers, but it seems she’s developed a special attachment to peonies. “Peonies are very special,” Yu says, after giving a flower arrangement class at Bicena, a stylish restaurant specializing in modern Korean cuisine in Hannam-dong, Seoul. “Not everyone likes flowers. I’ve in fact met people who don’t like them. But it is very hard to find people ― regardless of whether they like flowers or not ― who don’t find peonies beautiful.”It is a warm Wed

We’ve seen her dance “Swan Lake” and “Giselle,” pulling off her strict, purest ballet techniques. But this Friday, Kim Ji-young, the long-time famed principal dancer of Korean National Ballet, will groove to techno music onstage, clad in white pants and sporting oversized sunglasses.“I hear my choreographer wants me to look like a robot of some sort onstage,” the 34-year-old dancer tells The Korea Herald at Arko Arts Theater in Seoul, Monday. She just got back from Mokpo, South Jeolla Province,

Korean director Moon Byoung-gon on Sunday won the Short Film Palme d’Or at Cannes International Film Festival, which ran May 15-26, for his film “Safe.” Moon is the first Korean to win the honor.“I am bewildered and didn’t know if I would win a prize,” the 30-year-old director was quoted as saying after the awards ceremony in France. “I am all the more happy to receive this award because I had no expectation that I’d win.”The 13-minute short is described as a grim portrait of a man addicted to g

The idea came screeching into director Justin Lin’s fuel-injected imagination in 2009: a fiery escape scene featuring a muscle car that crashes out of an airplane during takeoff.In production at the time on “Fast & Furious” ― the fourth installment of “The Fast and the Furious” franchise that has grossed $1.6 billion in worldwide box office since 2001 ― he commissioned digital “pre-visualization” artists to mock up a rendering even though the stunt did not fit the movie he was making and was too

Korean-born American writer Maija Rhee Devine was just getting ready to study abroad after graduating from the English literature program at Sogang University in Seoul, when a family secret that had been buried all of her 20-something years suddenly burst into open: Her parents were not her biological parents. “I just immediately went into a denial, a total denial,” the 70-year-old said during a press meeting in Seoul on Wednesday. “I just had had enough of this (Korean) culture ― I was given aw

Famed director Park Chan-wook’s 2002 film “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” will get a Hollywood makeover, according to CJ Entertainment.The film is the first part of Park’s “Vengeance Trilogy,” which also includes “Oldboy” (2003) and “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance” (2005). Hollywood remakes are already planned for the other two films in the series. According to CJ Entertainment, it has signed a deal with Silver Reel and Lotus Entertainment and Lorenzo di Bonaventura’s di Bonaventura Pictures to create

Seoulites may want to take a short break from local and Hollywood films in May and June, as two upcoming film festivals are bringing Indian and Arab movies to the city. One is the Arab Film Festival, to be held from June 5 to 9 at Artnine Theater in Sadang-dong. According to its organizers, they are screening a total of nine films, including two that have never been screened in Korea. The films deal with a variety of themes from the Arab region, including war and terrorism, unrequited love, and

They are now in their 40s, with more responsibility on their shoulders and more to lose. Meet Celine and Jesse again, this time as a long-term, committed couple.After its very successful world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in January, the follow-up to the famous “Before Sunrise” (1995) and “Before Sunset” (2004) was finally unveiled to the local press last week. Titled “Before Midnight,” the latest installment of the trilogy turned out to be equally ― if not more ― compelling as its predece

Popular K-pop girl group T-ara N4 is releasing an album in the U.S. and will perform during Chris Brown’s upcoming concert next week, according to news reports.The girl group reportedly met with recording artist Chris Brown in the U.S. last week, and signed a deal with an American record label to release their upcoming U.S. album, “Jeonwon Diary.”The upcoming album will include a total of five different English-language versions of the group’s Korean debut single, “Jeonwon Diary.” Popular U.S. r

Six years after its 2007 Seoul run, South Africa’s iconic musical “Umoja: The Spirit of Togetherness” is back in Korea to show off the country’s colorful and explosive culture, deeply linked to its stormy history. The musical’s title, “Umoja,” is the Swahili word for “unity.” The show features some 30 young South African performers, many of whom come from impoverished and disadvantaged families. It had its premiere in South Africa in 2000 and had a popular run in the West End in 2001. It has had

While there is much hype in the local media about hallyu, especially Korean films and their fame overseas, it would be difficult to claim that the local film industry is foreigner-friendly. Most local commercial films are screened without English subtitles in the country, not to mention subtitles in other foreign languages.Located in posh Nonhyeon-dong in southern Seoul, the state-run theater Indieplus is one of the very few places in Seoul where non-Korean speakers can enjoy Korean movies witho

Gay filmmaker and producer Kim Jho Kwang-soo is to marry his longtime partner, according to queer film house Rainbow Factory, a subsidiary of Kim’s film company Youth Films.The 48-year-old has been dating his partner, the head of Rainbow Factory who is said to be 19 years his junior, for more than 8 years. The filmmaker said that he’d marry his current partner if the couple got their parents’ blessing during the press premiere of his queer film “Two Weddings and a Funeral” last year.One of the f

After American choreographer William Forsythe’s cutting-edge performance “Heterotopia” last month, Korea’s dance scene is welcoming yet another experimental work from overseas, this time by French choreographer Maguy Marin.Titled “Salves,” the dance features “pessimism that dominates today’s world,” according to its local promoters. The piece premiered in Lyon, France, in 2010, and received rave reviews from the French press.The 62-year-old is often compared to the late German choreographer Pina

“You live in my fantasy/ although everything is now falling apart.”These were the famous lines of the legendary Seo Tai-ji’s 1992 song “You in My Fantasy” that inspired up-and-coming director Kang Ji-na to change the title of her feature debut film, a tale of a young man losing his girlfriend in a tragic accident. The film “You in My Fantasy” (English title “Dear Dolphin”) is a rare movie, as Seo’s Seo Taiji Company rarely grants permission for other artists to use his music for their works. Kan

Filmmaker Kwak Kyung-taek is directing the upcoming follow-up to his 2001 box-office hit “Friend,” its distributor Lotte Entertainment said.Loosely based on Kwak’s personal experience growing up in Busan, the 2001 movie dealt with four teenagers and their friendship and betrayal. The upcoming sequel features one of the four high school kids from the original, Jun-seok, who used to be the leader of the four and the son of a powerful mob boss. Actor Yu Oh-seong, who played Jun-seok in the 2001 mov

When Daisy Buchanan attends a party at Jay Gatsby’s mansion in the new film version of “The Great Gatsby,” she’s wearing a crystal-coated chandelier dress by Prada and a drool-worthy pearl and diamond headpiece by Tiffany.The look is the glamour of the Jazz Age personified.Such costumes were a big help to Carey Mulligan, who plays Daisy in director Baz Luhrmann’s interpretation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic, which many consider the defining novel of America’s 20th century.“To be wearing lit

Actor Ryu Seung-ryong won the grand prize at the 49th Paeksang Arts Awards on Thursday for his performance as the mentally disabled man with the mind of a 6-year-old child in this year’s box-office hit drama “Miracle in Cell No. 7.” “‘Miracle in Cell No. 7’ is a low-budget film with a number of flaws,” said Ryu after accepting the prize. “I think a lot of people liked the film, in spite of its shortcomings, because it stood by those who are marginalized in society.”Meanwhile, actress Kim Min-hee

After the film adaptation of his 2010 novel “Eungyo”― a tale about a 70-something poet falling for a teenage girl ― created much hype even before its release, author Park Bum-shin in 2011 moved alone to his hometown Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province. He wanted to write in solitude, away from public attention. His latest novel, “Salt,” is a product of Park’s two years of seclusion. A story of an isolated, agonized father and his dysfunctional family, the novel again explores the theme the writer

Author Hwang Sok-yong said he plans to sue Jaeum & Moeum, the publishing house accused of hoarding copies of his latest novel in an attempt to have it included in the bestseller list, for libel and financial and psychological damages, according to news reports.The author said he wants his best-selling novel “Yeowoolmoolsori” off the selves and that he is not involved with the publishing house’s alleged hoarding, after SBS current affairs show “In Depth 21” on Tuesday accused the publishing house