Seoul Musical Festival to hold conferences, workshops for local musical directorsFrom “Gwanghwamun Younga” to “200 Pounds Beauty,” local musicals have been finding their niche in Korea’s performing arts scene in the past few years, in spite of the dominance of big-scale, imported foreign productions, such as “Wicked” and “Elisabeth.”To support local musical productions and boost their ticket sales, the Culture Ministry and Seoul Metropolitan Government together organized an eight-day festival, c

National Museum showcases 100 Chinese artifacts wishing good fortuneCount the five Chinese blessings: Happiness, longevity, wealth, joy and professional success.The people’s yearnings for these blessings and fortune were often expressed in works of art, from paintings to sculptures, and even in wedding robes. In these items, auspicious spirits would appear in the form of a dragon or a phoenix, and sometimes a bat. The National Museum of Korea is holding a special exhibition featuring some 100 Ch

We Need to Talk about Kevin (U.S.)Opened July 28Drama. Directed by Lynne Ramsay. Eva (Tilda Swinton), who used to be a prominent travel writer, now works for a small travel agency. Her son, Kevin (Ezra Miller) is in prison after committing an ineffable crime at his high school. She looks back at her memories of the difficult relationship she had with her son, who never bonded with her throughout his life. The Thieves (Korea)Opened July 25Crime. Action. Directed by Choi Dong-hun. Anycall (Gianna

Kids, even the wimpy ones, grow up so fast. It’s hard to finish a film franchise with them before they’re shaving, dating and turning up in the tabloids.Zachary Gordon, the fresh-faced lad who landed the coveted “Wimpy Kid” role in the adaptations of Jeff Kinney’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movies, has had a growth spurt. His Greg Heffley is taller than his portly pal, Rowley (Robert Capron), almost tall enough not to have to take any more guff from his bullying older brother, Rodrick (Devon Bostick

NBA player Amar’e Stoudemire is so passionate about promoting literacy that he has a tattoo on his forearm that says “Read.” This week, the 29-year-old captain of the New York Knicks is translating that ink to the page with a new book series he’s written for middle-graders called “STAT: Standing Tall and Talented.”Titled after his nickname, “STAT” is based on Stoudemire’s life as a middle schooler. Published by Scholastic, the kickoff title, “Home Court,” is written from his perspective as a 6-f

Actor Ha Jung-woo and actress Gong Hyo-jin, who together starred in last year’s box office hit “Love Fiction,” will once again co-star in an upcoming road trip film, “577 Project.”The film is a portrayal of Ha and Gong’s real-life walking trip from Seoul to Haenam, South Jeolla Province, which took them 20 days in total.Ha had promised to walk cross-country at the 46th Paeksang Arts Awards in 2010, where he won best actor for “Take Off,” if he ever won best actor again. The actor was given the s

 Kim Yong-geol’s ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’ brings rare form of intercultural performanceThe famous tale of Orpheus and Eurydice from Greek mythology has been made into countless films, operas and ballet pieces in the past. Former Opera de Paris dancer Kim Yong-geol’s recently staged ballet certainly added a new flavor to the timeless tale. The modern ballet piece, which finished its two-day run last week, was a rare combination of a lot of things. There was a mixture of modern dance and ballet; gug

ABT’s newly promoted principal dancer Seo Hee talks about her family, dreams and goalsIt’s about 2 p.m. on a warm summer day in Seoul, and ballerina Seo Hee walks into the lobby of the Universal Ballet Company. Wearing a sleek black dress with matching stilettos and pearl earrings, the 26-year-old dancer looks poised and demure. This is the place where the ballerina, who is now the principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre, used to hang out as a teenager more than 10 years ago.“I used to climb

Actor Lee Jung-jae talks about his acting career, being singleActor Lee Jung-jae was not used to playing “unattractive” characters, until he was given the role of a jealous thief in his latest film “The Thieves.”“Director Choi Dong-hun asked me to be as unattractive and foolish as possible for the role,” Lee told the Korea Herald in an interview on Thursday.“So I asked him: if you want this guy to be so unattractive, why did you cast an (attractive) actor like me? But as I got to know more about

The Thieves (Korea)Opened July 25Crime. Action. Directed by Choi Dong-hun. Anycall (Gianna Jun), Popeye (Lee Jung-jae), Chewing Gum (Kim Hae-sook) and Zampano (Kim Soo-hyun) are professional thieves who work together. After their success in a gallery heist, the group hears that Popeye’s old partner, robbery mastermind Macao Park, is back for another job after having gone missing for many years. Pepsi (Kim Hye-soo), a genius safecracker and Macao Park’s old flame, decides to join the group to set

FORT WORTH, Texas ― Frank the Tank! Frank the Tank! Frank the Tank!The chant rose up inside the stifling gymnasium at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Wednesday afternoon, a nod to Will Ferrell’s character in the movie “Old School.” The crowd of uniformed men and women were stoked, because Ferrell and his funnyman cohort Zach Galifianakis were in the house.Fort Worth was just one stop on an 11-city “Whistle Stop” promotional tour for their new comedy, “The Campaign”; the

The Next Best ThingBy Jennifer Weiner (Atria)Ruth Saunders’ dreams are about to come true, and she’s due for good luck: “I was a woman who’d lost her parents, who’d survived a dozen surgeries and emerged with metal implants in my jaw, the right side of my face sunken and scarred, and an eye that drooped.”Ruth’s dream involves a sitcom based loosely on the story of herself and the grandmother who raised her from age 3, and in Jennifer Weiner’s capable hands, the novel is a knockout. Perfect comic

It can take years to bring a single film to screen. It took over eight years to bring the massively popular Batman trilogy into theaters.“The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy,” takes you through those eight ― and more ― years as you learn about the whole process, from concept to conclusion.A beautifully artistic photo book, it’s a worthy addition to any film student or Batman reader’s collection of “making of” books. Coming from a background in smaller films, director Christopher Nolan

The 2008 presidential campaign had many unexpected consequences: It spawned the tea party movement, the Palin family reality show dynasty and the career of Meghan McCain, daughter of the Republican nominee.During Arizona Sen. John McCain’s ill-fated White House run, Meghan spent a lot of time on the road on his famous “Straight Talk Express.” A newly minted Columbia University graduate, she was among the first political offspring to exploit the possibilities of a campaign blog.Pictures of her ju

Director Kim Ki-duk’s latest film “Pieta” is to make its world premiere at the 69th Venice International Film Festival in the competition line-up.A total of 18 films, including Kim’s, have been selected to compete for the coveted Golden Lion during the festival, including Brian De Palma’s thriller “Passion” and Terrence Malick’s romance “To the Wonder.”Three of Kim’s films have been featured at the festival in previous years: “The Isle” (2000), “Address Unknown” (2001) and “3-Iron” (2004). He wo

Singer Kim Jang-hoon, known for his activism to reinforce Korean sovereignty over Dokdo, announced on Thursday he plans to found a foundation for his future Dokdo-related projects. The projects consist of building a Dokdo-themed cultural space “Dokdo Land” and providing support for Dokdo research for academic scholars, he said. “I’ve been working on the Dokdo project for a while,” said Kim during a press conference in Seoul on Thursday.  “And I thought it was necessary to form a foundation to ke

A 15-volume series of modern Korean literature has been published in a Korean-English bilingual edition, its publisher Asia Publishers said.It took five years for the publishing company to release the series, which includes Oh Jung-hee’s “Chinatown,” Choe Yun’s “The Last of Hanako” and Jo Jung-rae’s “The Land of the Vanished.” Titled “Bi-lingual Edition Modern Korean Literature,” the series is divided into three different sections: “Division,” “Industrialization” and “Women.” While the series’ “

Director Jeon Kyu-hwan’s feature-length film “The Weight” has been included in the line-up of the Venice Film Festival’s autonomous sidebar section, the movie’s distributor Fine Cut said.Jeon, whose previous works include Berlinale-featured “Varanasi” and “Dance Town,” has become the first Korean director to be invited to the “Venice Days” competition program. The sidebar is widely considered to be the equivalent of Cannes Director’s Fortnight. Starring “Beyond the Years” and “Bad Guy” actor Cho

Actress Go Doo-shim shows off some fine dancing in her latest playVeteran actress Go Doo-shim’s latest play has been largely promoted as a “healer for women.”The 61-year-old actress, mostly known for her TV roles as self-sacrificing devoted mothers, is depicted as a sultry dancer in the play’s poster. The way the play is marketed, “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” looks like yet another story of an elderly woman finding herself ― in the tradition of Sohn Sook’s “Shirley Valentine” or Noh Sa-yeon’

EBS’ documentary festival EIDF opens with controversial bully documentaryKorea’s Educational Broadcasting System is showcasing a number of socially conscious and educational non-fiction films in its upcoming EBS International Documentary Festival. The annual event is one of the very few documentary events in the world where the films are screened both in movie theaters and on TV. The festival is celebrating its ninth edition this year, featuring 48 films from 31 countries. Some 710 films were su