TOKYO (AFP) ― More than fifty years ago, a wiry young musician from a humble family slung his guitar on his back and boarded a cargo ship in Japan.Seiji Ozawa had pestered companies all over the country for sponsorship that would fund his voyage to Europe and help fulfil his dream of learning classical music in the place of its birth.Only one firm ― Fuji Heavy Industries ― was prepared to take a gamble on this precociously talented young man, supplying a moped to help him get around the continen

A film school student won the top prize at the third Olleh International Smartphone Film Festival on Sunday for his smartphone-made short “After 24 Months.” Kim Chan-nyeon, who is currently on leave of absence from Dongguk University’s film program, won the competition by creating a work that features a dystopian world where everyone communicates through smart devices. His protagonist is the only human being in the world who tries to make human-to-human eye contact. The 24-year-old also won the

Five-member girl group to make official comeback Friday with performance-focused music video

KBS’ ban of Psy’s latest music video announced last week is not the first source of likely friction between the state-run broadcaster and the singer’s agency YG Entertainment.The decision to ban “Gentleman” over a scene where the rapper is seen “defacing public property” by kicking a traffic cone follows past disagreements that resulted in YG Entertainment artists boycotting the station’s popular year-end music festival and its weekly live music countdown shows. Since 2010, the YG family has not

  “Superstar K” Season 4 winner Roy Kim unveiled his digital single “Spring, Spring, Spring” with a music video on Monday, sweeping Korea’s major online music charts Bugs, Mnet and Melon in less than two hours.“Spring, Spring, Spring” is the 20-year-old singer’s original composition following a contemporary country style. The song features an easy-to-follow melody with a catchy chorus. The song features romantic lyrics to welcome the warmth of the season.Kim’s new single was arranged by Jung Ji-

CJ Entertainment’s latest Chinese-language film topped the Chinese box office in the first week of its release, becoming the first-ever Korea-China joint production film to gross 100 million yuan ($16.2 billion) in the country.“A Wedding Invitation,” directed by Korean filmmaker Oh Ki-hwan (“Last Present,” 2001, “Art of Seduction,” 2005), features Chinese stars Eddie Peng and Bai Bah-he as the leads. It tells the story of two former lovers who run into each other after being separated for five y

NEW YORK (AP) ― When Robert Redford first called Bob Woodward to talk about a movie that eventually became “All the President’s Men,” the Washington Post reporter didn’t call back.Redford’s call came early in Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s reporting on the cover-up that later toppled President Richard Nixon. Redford, who portrayed Woodward in the movie, said the writer later told him he didn’t believe it was the actor on the phone and was worried about being set up.“I don’t know if it was that,”

Gana Art Gallery looks back at times with artists with group exhibition of major artists

NEW YORK (AP) ― Daft Punk has set a record on Spotify.The music service says the French electronic duo’s song “Get Lucky” had the biggest streaming day for a single track on Friday in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Spotify wouldn’t release the number of streams.Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop” previously held the record for most streams in a day in the U.S. British band Bastille had the title in the United Kingdom with the song “Pompeii.”Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” features rapper-producer P

Kim Dong-ho, the founding director of Busan International Film Festival and its current honorary chief, received a lifetime achievement award at the opening ceremony of Udine Far East Film Festival in Italy on Friday.Kim is considered a pioneering figure in the Korean film history. He was BIFF’s founding director for 15 years, and retired from the position in 2010. Though BIFF started small in 1996, Kim’s well-known leadership and networking skills turned it into the largest film festival in Asi

Green Film Festival, International Women’s Film Festival, and Jeonju International Film Festival arrive in April and May

Shelton pushes sound in new directionsBlake Shelton“Based On A True Story”(Warner Bros.)The more Blake Shelton rises in stature, the more he parades his swaggering, mischievous personality. His high-profile role as a judge on NBC‘s ``The Voice’‘ has provided a platform for the entertainingly outspoken side of this tall, drawling country boy from Oklahoma. Now Shelton is creating music as brash as he is, fully integrating his colorful character into his songs. Before a career resurgence that incl

A Song for YouOpened April 18Comedy. Drama. Music. Directed by Paul Andrew WilliamsShy, grumpy pensioner Arthur (Terence Stamp) gets dragged into an unconventional local choir by his cancer patient wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave). Marion is eager to perform at a choir competition but she dies before the contest, asking her husband and friends to perform for her. After Marion’s death, Arthur is lost in grief but the charismatic choir director Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton) persuades him that he can le

The dystopian thriller “Oblivion” is a breathtaking collage of welcome originality and references to a huge common cultural bank of fantasy images and themes. It’s grandiose in scope and scale, attentive to important details like character and tone, and unafraid to tackle mature themes like love and loss, personal identity and redemption. If there’s a better science-fiction blockbuster this year, I’ll count us lucky.The film stars an intensely focused Tom Cruise as Jack Harper, a futuristic repa