The Korea Herald

KOFIC eyes global market at H.K. FILMART

FilmMar 19, 2012

Korean Film Council (KOFIC) announced on Monday that it is currently participating in Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART), to promote local films worldwide and launch more foreign projects in Korea. The Hong Kong-based event, which kicked off Monday and runs through Thursday, is considered one of the biggest film markets in Asia. KOFIC said they will have their own lounge, titled “Korean Film Center,” during the event. A total of 11 Korean film producers, overseas sales representa
Artists are asking for belief: Michael Craig-Martin

TheaterMar 19, 2012

Gallery Hyundai presents large-scale exhibition on father of Young U.K. ArtistsA glass of water on a shelf, titled “An Oak Tree,” created a stir in the art world in 1974, placing Michael Craig-Martin, the artist, in the limelight. It became difficult to talk about British art, let alone contemporary art in general, without mentioning his name ever since. “What I have tried to do with the oak tree was to say that in the end, it is important for the viewers to believe in the work. The artist is as
Bourne’s swans: muscular, menacing in 3-D

TheaterMar 19, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) ― If you’ve ever seen British choreographer Matthew Bourne’s version of “Swan Lake,’’ you already know that his birds aren’t the usual delicate, fluttery ballet swans.They’re muscular, menacing and very, very male ― and now they’re something else: 3-D, for one night only at a movie theater near you.When Bourne’s distinctive, testosterone-heavy flock swoops in Tuesday to some 220 theaters across the U.S., it will be only the second time a full ballet is presented in 3-D, after “Gise
Manic SXSW wraps up with poignant moment

MusicMar 19, 2012

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ― Stars of all stripes and celebrity hit town to close out South By Southwest, but it was a marching band that stole the show Saturday.Members of the Austin High band watched their star turn in the premiere of filmmaker Emmett Malloy’s “Big Easy Express,’’ then joined documentary subjects Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes and Old Crow Medicine Show in an outdoor concert at the University of Texas as the music conference fell into an exhausted heap on its fi
Musical of ‘Once’ is irresistible movie adaptation

TheaterMar 19, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) ― The party has already started by the time you enter the Broadway theater to see the musical “Once.’’The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre’s stage is filled with musicians jamming to Irish tunes in what looks like a Dublin pub. Real drinks are offered to the brave theatergoers willing to go up and mingle.Eventually, come show time, everything sort of melts away ― those musicians are the cast ― and there’s just a guy up there strumming a guitar.Pure, moving and inventive ― these are the fo
Photo exhibit documents life inside North Korea

TheaterMar 18, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) ― It’s a simple scene that repeats itself around the world.A man gently lifts a small child by the arms as they reach the top of the escalator inside a modern department store.In this particular photograph, the man and the child are in Pyongyang, capital of the communist country where life’s daily activities are largely a mystery to the rest of the world. A photo exhibit that opened Thursday at a gallery in New York includes images such as these, as well as magnificent landscapes,
Korean swan allures Johannesburg

TheaterMar 18, 2012

Universal Ballet Troupe takes Tchaikovsky classic to S. AfricaJOHANNESBURG ― More than 1,000 audience members were mesmerized by the Korean Odette when the curtain came down on the final act of the Tchaikovsky classic, “Swan Lake,” in Johannesburg, Friday.The Universal Ballet Company’s first show on its South African tour was greeted with tumultuous applause and a standing ovation at Joburg Theatre, with members of the sold-out audience repeatedly cheering bravo as the dancers took their bows.Th
Norah Jones to play entire new album at SXSW

MusicMar 18, 2012

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ― Norah Jones is unveiling something new at South By Southwest ― again.Ten years after she shook Austin and the music world with “Come Away With Me,’’ the 25 million-selling debut she released just weeks before the 2002 conference and festival, she’s returning to play her entire new album “Little Broken Hearts’’ at La Zona Rosa on Saturday night.“It seemed to make sense to come back to my new record,’’ Jones said. “I’m just going to play the new record. I’m not even going to p
Mueller named director of Rome film festival

FilmMar 18, 2012

ROME (AP) ― Marco Mueller, the longest-running creative director of the Venice Film Festival, is moving to the Rome International Film Festival.The Rome festival’s president Paolo Ferrari announced the appointment Friday, saying Mueller was ``esteemed in Italy and abroad.’’Mueller, whose eight years at Venice were widely regarded as a success, was not confirmed to a third stint last year. He said in a statement he was looking forward to working at the Rome festival, ``which wants to better meet
Jagger-Richards spat: It’s all over now

MusicMar 18, 2012

NEW YORK (AFP) ― We all need someone to lean on, and the founding duo of the Rolling Stones say they’re doing just that after overcoming three decades of misunderstandings with a year of some heavy conversation.In an interview with Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards said they rebuilt their friendship after guitarist Richards’s best-selling 2011 memoirs “Life” laid bare his pent-up frustration with the snake-hipped frontman.“In the 1980s, for instance, Keith and I were not communicatin
‘Hunger Games’: The next big movie franchise

FilmMar 18, 2012

Best-selling trilogy to follow on the success of ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Twilight’LOS ANGELES ― The movie magic is over for “Harry Potter.” The bite will be gone from “Twilight” when the final film’s released in November.It now falls to “The Hunger Games,” based on to the best-selling trilogy by Suzanne Collins, to launch the next great film franchise. It’s a worthy heir. This story is not only a big literary success ― where parents and their children are reading the books ― it has spawned numerous
Magic goes digital

TheaterMar 16, 2012

IT devices, multimedia fuel already growing popularity of magicJin Hyo-beom, a professional magician based in Gwangju, was tired of doing the same old magic tricks on stage. But the 30-year-old illusionist had an idea ― magic tricks for digital devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs.The iPhone and iPad have become the main tools for Jin’s acts on stage. With the gadgets, he can conjure up pretty much everything from a cup of coffee to a bunch of roses. People love the idea of turning the sa
Shamanism explored in contemporary art

FilmMar 16, 2012

Director and young performing artist delve into the world of Korea’s indigenous spirituality Aside from the comical talk-show character “The Knee-Drop Guru,” and a few TV drama shows such as MBC’s 2004 flick “Lotus Flower Fairy,” it’s hard to come across much about Korean shamanism in popular culture.In the contemporary art scene, however, two artists have recently come up with unconventional works that shed light on the historical and artistic value of shamanism. One is media artist Park Chan-k
Calendar

TheaterMar 16, 2012

Exhibitions“Meditation & Healing”: N Gallery presents works by South Korean artist Kim Hong-tae. Kim has consistently created, for the past two decades of his career, paintings of simple surfaces and lines which ponder the themes “primitive and child.” At the exhibition, visitors can view about 30 of Kim’s abstract paintings on the theme and also some landscape paintings. The exhibition runs through April 5 at N Gallery in Seohyeon-dong, Gyeonggi Province. Fore more information, call (070) 7430-
Box Office

FilmMar 16, 2012

Gabi (Korea)Opening March 15Period drama. Directed by Jang Yoon-hyun. Tanya (Kim So-yeon), a young Korean woman who grew up in Russia and knows how to brew coffee, comes to Joseon with her boyfriend Illichi (Joo Jin-mo), who is also Korean. Shortly after her arrival, she becomes Joseon’s first barista and ends up serving Gojong, the King of Joseon. Gojong has no idea that Tanya and Illichi together carry a secret mission from the Japanese to assassinate the monarch. Love Fiction (Korea)Opened Fe