Two South Koreans made ArtReview’s Power 100 list this year: Kim Sun-jung, international curator and president of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation, and Lee Hyun-sook, chairwoman of the Kukje Gallery in Seoul. Kim ranked No. 72, up five places from No. 77 in 2019. Lee ranked No. 83, having fallen from No. 60 last year. The British art magazine offers an annual ranking of the most influential movers and shakers in contemporary art at the end of each year. ArtReview mentioned Kim’s di

Freaky (US) Opened Nov. 25 Comedy, Horror Directed by Christopher Landon A serial killer known as the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn) murders four teenagers and steals an ancient dagger known as La Dola. The next day, bullied high school student Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton) is attacked by the Butcher. The serial killer stabs Millie in the shoulder with La Dola, causing an identical wound to instantly appear on his shoulder. Fortunately, Millie‘s older sister Charlene, a police office

The National Assembly on Wednesday passed a budget of 400 million won ($365,000) for the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism’s project to support Asian artists’ K-pop training. The amount is far less than the 1.5 billion won the Culture Ministry initially hoped for to conduct the project with six groups from three other Asian countries. “Since the budget has been slashed to 400 million won. we will have to adjust our initial plan and conduct a program with less than six g

Director Lee Chung-hyun‘s highly anticipated thriller “The Call” was released through Netflix on Friday, after several delays in its theatrical release due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Releasing on Netflix means the film will not only be viewed by Koreans, but by audiences in 190 countries, an advantage not lost on the 30-year-old director. “It was interesting to receive feedback from many people living abroad, especially from other Asian countries,” Lee told The K

During a joint press interview held in September ahead of the release of “Diva,” actor Shin Min-ah told reporters that she was fascinated by the character of Yi-young, a woman who has a strong narrative in the movie. “These kinds of scripts telling women’s stories are very rare,” Shin said. “Diva,” a film about two female divers, is an example of women’s increasing influence in the South Korean movie industry, which was long dominated by men. N

The Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage under the Cultural Heritage Administration announced Monday that it will start exhibiting the Silla Monument in Jungseong-ri, Pohang from Dec. 8 at a permanent exhibition hall in Gyeongju National Museum. The artifact from the Silla Kingdom (57 BC-935) was designated as National Treasure No. 318 on April 22, 2015. The artifact was accidentally discovered at a road construction site in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, in May 2009.

The CMR—Directors Week, a film festival organized by and for film directors, will be held from Tuesday to Saturday. The festival has been held under the name Chungmuro International Musical Film Festival, but in September, the film festival organizer Junggu Cultural Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Directors Guild of Korea to turn the musical film festival into a film festival for directors this year. The organizer added that the MOU aims to boost the film industr

Official development assistance, government aid designed to promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries, is often channeled into projects to build infrastructure such as highways, schools, hospitals and bridges. But there is also cultural heritage ODA, another important form of assistance that the South Korean government provides to developing countries. “ODA projects to build bridges and roads are important, but it is also crucial to preserve cultural heritages

Good Neighbor (Korea) Opened Nov. 25 Drama Directed by Lee Hwan-kyung Agent Dae-kwon (Jung Woo) is tasked with watching over influential opposition party politician Lee Eui-sik (Oh Dal-su), who seems to have plans to run in the next presidential election, and his family 24/7. Dae-kwon moves into a house next door and slowly becomes a neighbor close to the politician and his family. 　 Run (US) Opened Nov. 20 Thriller Directed by Aneesh Chaganty Diane (Sarah Paulson) gives birth prematurely to

In a year that has witnessed the COVID-19 pandemic disrupt lives and devastate economies around the world, Korea has sought innovations to meet the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The following is the second article of a four-part series on how Korea is creating a new normal during the pandemic, produced in partnership with The Korea Foundation -- Ed. When asked about his diet during live streaming on VLive in June last year, pop sensation BTS member Jungkook said it was not easy

Director Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari” won the Audience Award at Denver Film Festival 2020. With films such as “Green Book,” directed by Peter Farrelly, and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” directed by Martin McDonagh, having gone on to Oscar nominations after winning awards at the Denver Film Festival, hopes for “Minari” within the local film industry got a boost with the latest win. The 2021 Academy Awards are scheduled for April

Director Park Hong-min decided to take a different route with his third independent feature, “Beyond You”: He will distribute the film himself instead of joining hands with a distributor. His past two experiences working with local independent film distributors had left him keenly aware of the limitations of such partnerships. “Independent movie distributors seem to have a hard time finding theaters. Also, there were financial issues. … Very little was left for the d

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Crafts & Design Foundation announced Friday that two local middle schools -- Jakcheon Middle School and Daechang Middle School -- had adopted hanbok-inspired school uniforms on Nov. 16. This is the first uptake of hanbok-inspired school uniforms, which were created as part of a project, led jointly by the Culture Ministry and the Ministry of Education, which began in February last year.   “Along with 53 uniform designs th

More Than Family (Korea) Opened Nov. 12 Drama, Comedy Directed by Choi Ha-na Toe-il (Jung Soo-jung) finds out she is pregnant. The father of the baby is Ho-hoon (Shin Jae-hwi), a student she has been tutoring. She plans to marry Ho-hoon, who is younger than her, and while preparing for the wedding she suddenly decides to look for her own biological father, who abandoned her and her mother many years ago. But she cannot remember much about her father -- not even his face or his first name. 

Angbuilgu, a hemispherical metal sundial from the Joseon era (1392-1910), has been brought back to Korea from the US and is now on display at the National Palace Museum of Korea. The exhibition of the sundial will run until Dec. 20. The Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation under the Cultural Heritage Administration said it first found out about the sundial in January. “Our staff in the US conducted a close research and investigation of the item, which came up for auction”

The city government of Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, plans to sue the driver of the vehicle that was photographed parked atop a Silla Kingdom tomb, a city official said Wednesday. The official added while there was no visible damage to the tomb, a thorough examination will be conducted to determine any harm done to it. Even if no damages are discovered, the city will sue for illegal parking, the official told The Korea Herald. “It appears the driver drove through the fence surro

After the trailer of the romance film “Josee” was presented during an online press conference Tuesday, the two lead actors -- Han Ji-min and Nam Joo-hyuk -- began crying. “Watching the trailer brought back all the emotions that I felt when filming,” Nam said. After fixing their makeup, Han and Nam shared their experiences of teaming up again in “Josee” after working together on the 2019 TV drama “The Light in Your Eyes.” “Even when we w

Yeondeunghoe, a lantern lighting festival in South Korea, reached the final stage before being inscribed on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural assets at 2 a.m., Tuesday, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration. In March 2018, the CHA applied for the listing of Yeondeunghoe to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In its application, the agency explained that the lantern lighting festival‘s value lays in being a cultural festival for

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism expects the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which South Korean President Moon Jae-in signed Sunday with his counterparts from 14 partner countries, to set the stage for the expansion of Hallyu. “We expect this deal to improve the environment for the expansion of Hallyu content in member countries and also provide legal grounds for (cultural content) exporters,” Culture Minister Park Yang-woo said in a statement. Park also ad

Gotham Independent Film Awards 2020 announced that veteran actor Youn Yuh-jung was among the nominees for its best actress award. Youn was nominated for her role in “Minari,” directed by Korean American Lee Isaac Chung. The other nominees are Nicole Beharie for “Miss Juneteenth,” Jessie Buckley for “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” Carrie Coon for “The Nest” and Oscar-winning actor Frances McDormand for “Nomadland,” the US indep