Netflix megahit drama series “Squid Game” won three awards at the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards, held in Santa Monica, California, Sunday night. The series was nominated in four categories. Two actors -- Jung Ho-yeon and Lee Jung-jae -- won awards for their roles. This marked the second consecutive year of Korean actors winning at least one SAG award. Last year, veteran actor Youn Yuh-jung won for her role as a feisty grandmother in the film “Minari.” Jung, who play

Jung Ho-yeon, who played Sae-byeok in Netflix‘s global hit “Squid Game” won a Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series on Monday. Jung was nominated in the category along with Jennifer Aniston of “The Morning Show,” Elisabeth Moss of “The Handmaid‘s Tale,” Sarah Snook of “Succession” and Reese Witherspoon of “The Morning Show.”

Lee O-young, who passed away on Saturday at 89 after a long battle with liver cancer, was Korea’s first culture minister and considered one of the foremost “intellectuals of this era” here. In 2017, Lee was diagnosed with liver cancer and underwent two surgeries. Since then, he had been refusing cancer treatment and continued writing books and conducting various interviews to share his insights. Recently, he published “Memento Mori” in January and “Where Ar

In his new documentary film “Comfort,” director Park Moon-chil has set up a special “meeting” between the late Kim Soon-ak, a former wartime sex slave of the Japanese military, and victims of sexual misconduct that have been taking part in the #MeToo movement. Park said he read Kim’s autobiography with the #MeToo victims before filming. The young women victims in their 20s and 30s also read Kim’s testimony out loud in the movie. “Her oral records also

Serve the People (Korea) Opened Feb. 23 Romance Directed by Jang Cheol-soo Mu-gwang (Yeon Woo-jin), who is a soldier hungry for success, sees an opportunity for a promotion in the army when he starts working at the house of his commander (Jo Sung-ha). There he meets his boss’s wife, Soo-ryun (Ji An). When his commander is away, Mu-gwang and Soo-ryun engage in a dangerous and forbidden love affair. Uncharted (US) Opened Feb. 16 Action Directed by Ruben Fleischer Nathan Drake (Tom Holland

The CEO of language data platform startup Flitto, Simon Lee, also known as Lee Jung-soo, shared his insights on how his company has integrated the metaverse into their everyday work, during an event held by the Corea Image Communication Institute Tuesday. The translation platform’s employees are currently using the beta version of the metaverse platform Metapolis, created by Korean real estate brokerage startup Zigbang, as a virtual office. “From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. around 140 peopl

Choi Min-sik is returning to the big screen as a genius mathematician from North Korea in “In Our Prime,” which has been promoted as the Korean version of Gus Van Sant’s American classic “Good Will Hunting.” “Our film can’t be compared with ‘Good Will Hunting’ and Robin Williams,” Choi said humbly during a press conference held after a press preview at Lotte Cinema Konkuk University on Tuesday. “I remember how moving that movie w

Korean startup Watcha on Tuesday announced the launch of Watcha 2.0 this year, including plans to provide webtoons and a music streaming service on its video streaming platform. “We think this year is the year to take a leap forward. We have to prepare for our next 10 to 20 years,” Watcha CEO Park Tae-hoon said during a media event held Tuesday in Yeouido, Seoul. “We are aiming to reach 100 million global subscribers by 2030,” Park added. Watcha’s chief operati

For Korean actor Yeon Woo-jin, director Jang Cheol-soo’s new project, “Serve the People,” caught his eye because it was full of new challenges and innovative elements. “I thought that I would be jealous to see another actor play the role. I felt this way for the first time,” Yeon said during an interview via Zoom with a group of local reporters. “If I were to choose a safer, more commercially appealing film, I would have chosen a different project, but at the

Dune (US) Reopened Feb. 9 Science fiction Directed by Denis Villeneuve In the year 10191, Paul Atreides (Timothy Chalamet) is born into a great destiny beyond his understanding. In his dream, he meets a strange woman from the dangerous desert planet Arrakis. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over Arrakis’ exclusive supply of precious resources that could unlock humanity’s great potential, Paul and his family receive an order to head to the planet.  Death on the Nile (

Filmmaker Hong Sang-soo’s 27th feature “The Novelist’s Film” on Thursday won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at Berlin International Film Festival. The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival is being held from Feb. 10 to 20 as an in-person event. “I really didn’t expect this big prize. I’m very surprised. Thank you all the jury members for your appreciation,” Hong said in an acceptance speech in English. “I feel like I should say somethin

After the press screening of director Jang Cheol-soo’s new film “Serve the People” on Monday, a few local media outlets criticized his work, saying that it has too many unnecessary erotic scenes. During his interview via Zoom with a group of local reporters on Tuesday, Jang addressed these criticisms. “I did not intend to make it provocative. I value the emotion (of the characters),” Jang said. “When filming sex scenes, I focused on how I would portray the c

The 20th Director’s Cut Awards announced on Tuesday that it will hold its special pre-event Director’s Chair online on Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m., before the award ceremony takes place on Feb. 24. Director’s Chair is a panel discussion event that had been held in person with five nominated Korean directors for the award. However, the event organizer, the Directors Guild of Korea, said that this year it is holding it through Zoom, and audiences will be able to watch on bot

Director Yeon Sang-ho, best known for producing the Netflix series “Hellbound” and directing smash-hit zombie film “Train to Busan,” has signed a partnership deal with South Korean game developer Smilegate. The game company is responsible for the popular role-playing PC game Lost Ark in November 2018. The South Korean game developer and Yeon will together create a new universe with its own storyline which can be adapted for use in games, movies, TV dramas and webtoons

The late Kim Soon-ak had been testifying about her experience living as a wartime sex slave of the Japanese military, and also her life living as a housekeeper after Korea‘s liberation before she died in 2010. However, there were parts of her life that she had been reluctant to speak out in public about for quite some time. After the Japanese colonial period ended, she lived in prostitutes’ quarters and did sex work at a US military camp town to survive. Director Park Moon-chil&

  The Seoul Museum of Craft Art located in Jongno-gu, central Seoul is a special space where people can enjoy all kinds of crafts from the past to the present. Opened last year, the Seoul Museum of Craft Art has more than 23, 257 craft artworks and related data.   The new museum is built on the former Poongmoon Girls‘ High School site. This location is special because it is where the house of King Sejong’s son Prince Yeongeung was located and the place where King Sejong

Death on the Nile (US) Opened Feb. 9 Crime Directed by Kenneth Branagh While on a honeymoon cruise down the Nile River, enviably rich socialite Linnet Doyle (Gal Gadot) is found shot to death in her stateroom. Detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) looks into the case, but murders keep on happening, shocking and confusing everyone on the cruise. The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure (Korea) Opened Jan. 26 Action, Comedy Directed by Kim Jung-hoon Set in the Joseon era, pirate captain Hye-ra

Featuring many current and former K-pop bandmates, such as Woohee from Dal Shabet Bae, Jongup of B.A.P and Ryu Ho-yeon of Noir, upcoming comedy “Idol Recipe” is chock-full of musical performances. What the film does not have are such things as the five elements of a coherent plot: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. Instead, it tells its story shuttling back and forth between scenes of the present and the past based on characters’ seemingly rand

Korean actor Choi Min-sik is returning to the big screen for the first time in three years as a genius mathematician in “In Our Prime” directed by Park Dong-hoon. The historical drama “Forbidden Dream” which was released in 2019 was actor Choi’s most recent work. Director Park’s new film started shooting in March 2020 and was originally set to be released during the first quarter last year. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it had had to delay its openi

Seohyun of K-pop girl group Girls’ Generation has shed her image as a girl-next-door in her debut film “Love and Leashes,” a rom-com directed by Park Hyun-jin. “When I first read the script, it was fresh and shocking. It was a role that made me want to take up the challenge as an actor,” Seohyun said during an online press conference held on Tuesday. “Not only did it (the script) have a unique topic, it also showed how a man and a woman come to understand the