KCN: Sundance Welcomes Korean Filmmakers, More Awards and Classic Korean Film (11/29-12/05, 2012)

More festival selections and awards this week, a lot of news relating to Park Chan-wook projects in the US and a raft of reviews as the new Korean Cinema Today webzine goes live (which yours truly contributed to).

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

The Weight Wins Best Director at India Film Fest

Following a Best Director win last week at the Tallin Black Nights Film Festival, Jeon Kyu-hwan has once again struck gold (or rather silver) as his new feature The Weight earned him a Silver Peacock award for best director at the International Film Festival of India. The award came with a cash prize of INR 1.5 million (USD 27,600). Meanwhile, local film Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan picked up the Golden Peacock for best film. The 43rd IFFI, which ran from November 20th to 30th, screened around 300 films. (KoBiz, December 4, 2012)

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Miss Conspirator (미쓰 GO, Misseu Go) 2012

By Rex Baylon

Being an avid fan of anything, be it a film, a band, or an author’s work, comes at a price; a gnawing hunger to consume our drug regardless of the social, mental, and financial toll it might take. Aside from that overwhelming desire there is also a parallel drive to feel something new for a work that we have poured our heads and hearts wholeheartedly into. This soon breeds insular personalities who operate in a fantasy world where in our mind’s eye we hear Philip Glass's score from the Qatsi trilogy being played as we engage in the most banal of rituals like writing an e-mail or waiting for the bus.

For agoraphobic Chun Soo-roo (Ko Hyeon-jeong) her world is the heightened reality of the crime genre. A dual world of cops and robbers, heists, capers, and double and triple crosses, where money switches hands faster than henchmen switch sides. A farewell goodbye to a friend at the airport becomes the elaborate setup for a great story. However menacing serial killers and rabid gangsters do not populate these dark alleyways. Instead, director Park Chul-kwan borrows more from Ocean's Eleven (The original Sinatra version as well as the Soderbergh remakes) and Catch Me If You Can (2002) than from gritty crime dramas like The Yellow Sea (2010) or Nameless Gangster (2012). From the inspired faux-retro Saul Bass-inspired title sequences to the klezmer heavy score Miss Conspirator (2012) is a movie built firmly on the clichés of suspense pictures. Of course as any student of the genre knows there is no better master of suspense then Alfred Hitchcock, who invented the grammar of suspense for film.

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KBO: The Controversial 26 Years Shoots to the Top (11/30-12/02, 2012)

The Controversial 26 Years Shoots to the Top

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	26 Years	11/29/12	32.80%	663,704	803,186	609
2	Rise of the Guardians (us)	11/29/12	15.00%	277,161	361,738	472
3	Werewolf Boy	10/31/12	12.80%	265,304	6,519,784	415
4	Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (us)	11/15/12	10.70%	220,160	2,390,761	351
5	Confession of Murder	11/8/12	9.10%	176,703	2,471,307	315
6	Don't Cry Mommy	11/22/12	6.60%	136,890	883,290	339
7	Tone Deaf Clinic	11/29/12	5.90%	127,304	206,344	361
8	Masquerade	9/13/12	2.50%	54,186	12,167,317	128
9	National Security	11/22/12	1.50%	31,110	305,802	216
10	Trouble With the Curve (us)	11/29/12	0.50%	11,261	17,225	129

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WKR: Eungyo, Taste of Money and LeeSong Hee-il in the Spotlight (11/24-11/30, 2012)

A number of current releases covered this week, including three films by LeeSong Hee-il as well as writeups the LKFF selection Eungyo, the recently-released Taste of Money, and a pair of favorable reviews from Variety's Maggie Lee.

UPCOMING FILMS

Pluto

(Variety, November 25, 2012)

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Interview: Director Kong Quee-hyun (U.F.O.) Discusses Stress and Student Life in Korea

Kong Quee-hyun directed his debut U.F.O. last year. His film premiered at the Pucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and following a run in Korean theaters earlier this year, the young filmmaker is now getting ready for his next project.

He took the time to talk to MKC about student life in Korea and the realities of low-budget filmmaking in the local industry.

U.F.O. originally featured at last year’s PiFan (Pucheon International Fantastic Film Festival) and was eventually released in Korea this May. How did Indiestory, your distributor, come aboard?

I won the CGV movie collage award at the Cinema Digital Seoul film festival, which was the film’s second event. This is a $10,000 cash prize to support the distribution of an independent film. Indiestory saw the film and expressed their interest then which is how they became involved.

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KCN: Festivals Awards and Invitations Glut (12/22-12/28, 2012)

Festival awards for Korean cineastes dominate the news this week as well as the further high profile selections during what has been a banner year for every sector of the Korean film industry.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Fatal Invited to Berlin International Film Festival
Lee Don-ku’s Fatal has officially been invited to the Berlin International Film Festival. Fatal, which debuted in the ‘New Currents’ section of the 17th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), was invited to the ‘Panorama’ section of the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival, which is going to take place in February 7th to 17th next year. (KoBiz, November 28, 2012)

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White Night (백야, Baekya) 2012

South Korea’s rapid development over the past 20 years has been nothing short of an economic miracle but, though there’s no denying how far it’s come, not every element of society has progressed at the same breakneck pace. Various elements, particularly as they relate to social change, have stubbornly lagged behind. One such facet is the acceptance of homosexuality. As gay marriage is slowly becoming a part of daily life in various countries in the western world, gay rights are progressing haltingly in Korea. Given the nation’s advances in other areas, this, along with other social problems, seems a little incongruous when compared with the modern image projected through the nation’s media.

Through the prism of a highly developed film industry such as Korea’s, this divide seems that much more vivid. LeeSong Hee-il, Korea’s first openly gay filmmaker, has been busily working away on short films for quite some time but earlier this year he finally unveiled his sophomore feature White Night at the Jeonju International Film Festival, coming six years after his very well-received debut No Regrets. 

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