HOLLYWOOD, (AFP) - British royal drama "The King's Speech" was crowned Oscars winner on Sunday, taking three of the top Academy Award prizes at the climax of Hollywood's annual awards season.The movie took best picture, best director and best actor for Colin Firth as a stammering King George VI, helped by an Australian voice coach to rally wartime Britain. Colin Firth accepts the Oscar for best pe

Hermes Foundation and Comme des Garçons show high-tech contemporary art in SeoulA black spaceship-like object seems to have landed on the third floor of Artsonje Center in Sogyeok-dong, central Seoul. Inside its dark room, about 10 cushioned seats are installed, encircling a large screen. Named “H Box,” the 6.5 meter wide and 5 meter tall structure is a mini, portable screening room for video artw

Some of Hollywood’s most fabled directors, Elia Kazan and Robert Altman among them, have said that casting accounts for roughly 90 percent of a movie’s ultimate success or failure.Yet at Sunday’s Academy Awards, there’ll be trophies for categories from best director to makeup ― but none for casting directors. While the Television Academy gives Emmy Awards for casting, and the Film Independent Spir

Exhibition“Delpire & Cie”: Though the name might not immediately ring any bells, unlike with other Magnum members, Robert Delpire is a powerful figure without whom photographic history cannot be properly discussed. The 82-year-old photographer, publisher and director of exhibitions, films and campaigns has a lot of clout over not only his fellow photographers but also in other cultural realms. The

Will James Franco pull a poem out of his tux, or read an excerpt from one of his short stories?Will Anne Hathaway break into song?Will the two of them, virgin co-hosts of the 83rd Academy Awards, dazzle the Kodak Theatre crowd Sunday night ― and more important, dazzle the millions of viewers around the globe?Or will the untested duo drown in a pool of commingled flop sweat?Franco, 32, and Hathaway

Shotgun Love (Korea)Opening March 10Comedy. Directed by Jeong Woo-cheol. Home shopping model Sang-yeol (Im Chang-jeong) has a huge crush on his colleague So-yeon (Kim Gyu-ri). Unlike Sang-yeol, who mostly just tastes food items being advertised, beautiful and refined So-yeon is highly successful in the field. She hosts the TV shopping show and is well-known to the public. In spite of Sang-yeol’s p

Original French version is Korea National Ballet’s first-ever sellout showThe sight of her tearstained face wrenched onlookers’ hearts, as she held up her hands in a plea to save her beloved’s life. Playing Giselle, Korea National Ballet’s principal dancer Kim Ji-young, not only impressed the press rehearsal audience with her acclaimed technique, but also wooed her viewers with an emotionally inte

Audience members eat snacks, drink beer and answer phone calls in wacky new productionsThere was still at least 15 minutes to go before the start of the play but two clowns in black raincoats and hats were already wandering around the stage and near audience seats, miming in slow-motion. People hurried in, bewilderedly whispering to each other, “Has it already started?” Well, it might have ― or mi

Singer Kim Bo-kyung is still an unfamiliar name to most Koreans. But once associated with the word “Superstar K,” her name almost instantly translates into the name of the song, “Because of You” by Kelly Clarkson, which she sang during the Korean version of American Idol aired on cable channel Mnet.Despite her mature and appealing voice, Kim failed to get into the show’s top 11 partly because of b

‘The Slave Hunters’ star says he feels no pressure to live up to expectationsJudging from the star-studded cast fronting SBS’ new Monday and Tuesday night series, “Midas” looks like a shoo-in for success. Then again, so did its predecessor “ATHENA: Goddess of War,” but high-profile heartthrobs like Jung Woo-sung and Cha Seung-won did not prove alluring enough to reel in top ratings for the Monday

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ― “Return of the Mummies” may sound like a horror movie, but in this case there’s a happy ending.The “Secrets of the Silk Road” exhibit reopened Friday at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology with a pair of show-stopping ancient mummies, now that a mysterious dispute with the Chinese government has been wrapped up.The drama has passed that had mus