The Korea Herald

Korean movies attract more than 100 mln people for 2nd straight year

Oct 5, 2013

Korean movies attracted more than 100 million people to box offices for the second straight year in 2013, official data showed Saturday.According to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), which monitors ticket sales in the country, audience numbers hit the vaunted mark as of Friday this year. It said the numbers translate into an average Korean seeing at least two locally made movies this year. South Korea has a population of 50 million.It added that the figure is significant because the 100 million m
‘Gravity’ has the weight of an epic space opera

Oct 4, 2013

Technically dazzling and emotionally gripping, “Gravity” is a space-age science fiction thriller grounded in something pretty close to reality.A space shuttle / space junk accident picture, Alfonso Cuaron’s movie gives us Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, space-walkers whose ship is wrecked, forcing them to face the ultimate human fear.No one wants to die alone. There is no place lonelier than the cold, silent and airless vacuum of space.Filmed in a stunning “How’d they DO that?” 3-D, we meet c
Box Office: Rush, Runner Runner, The Face Reader

Oct 4, 2013

RushOpens Oct. 9Action. Drama. Directed by Ron Howard. Based on a true story, race-car drivers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian Niki Lauda are young and talented, and both are looking to win it big. After a Formula Three race in 1970 at the Crystal Palace circuit in England, where both their cars spin out-of-control but Hunt ultimately wins the race, the two begin to view each other as rivals. A rivalry that first began on the track grows into off-track drama, and the pair experiences
Director Im unveils plan for 102nd film at BIFF

Oct 4, 2013

Filmmaker Im Kwon-taek announced Friday that his 102nd movie would be a film adaption of author Kim Hoon’s 2004 award-winning short story “Hwajang.” Actor Ahn Sung-ki, who previously starred in a total of six films by Im, has been cast in the leading role. Kim’s short story, which won the prestigious Yi Sang Literary Award in 2004, is about a middle-aged man who spends most of his life working for a cosmetics company, and his wife, who is dying of cancer. The devoted and patient husband also has
[Photo News] Actresses grace red carpet at BIFF

Oct 4, 2013

South Korea’s top actors and celebrities on Thursday attended the 18th annual Busan International Film Festival, one of the major film festivals in Asia, attracting media coverage. In particular, actresses were flooded by camera flashes when they walked the red carpet to enter the opening ceremony. A growing number of female celebrities are going for bold, revealing outfits to steal the spotlight at film festivals. BIFF will run through Oct. 12 in Busan Cinema Center.By Im Woo-jung, Intern r
Bhutanese film on Indian traditional dance opens BIFF

Oct 3, 2013

Korea’s biggest film festival to screen 301 films from 70 countries
Annual film festival to kick off in Busan

Oct 3, 2013

Asia's largest film festival will open in Busan Thursday featuring a stronger presence by up-and-coming filmmakers in the region, according to organizers.The 18th installment of the annual Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) is set to feature 301 movies from 70 countries around the world, with 95 films having world premieres. The selection is slightly smaller compared to last year's 304 films from 75 countries but comprises more world premieres and works by newbie Asian directors. Ninety-fo
Actors make directorial debuts at BIFF

Oct 2, 2013

Ha Jung-woo and Park Joong-hoon unveil their directing work at Asia’s biggest film festival
Angelina Jolie to direct film in Australia

Oct 2, 2013

SYDNEY (AFP) ― Hollywood A-lister Angelina Jolie will direct her new film “Unbroken” in Australia, using Sydney and rural parts of New South Wales state as locations, it was announced Tuesday.The World War II movie is only Jolie‘s second foray into directing, after the critically-acclaimed 2011 movie “Land of Blood and Honey,” and the actress has been in Sydney with her children in recent weeks scouting locations.NSW deputy premier Andrew Stoner said the Universal Pictures production would injec
Hong Sang-soo’s ‘Our Sunhi’ draws 50,000 viewers

Oct 1, 2013

Director Hong Sang-soo’s latest film “Our Sunhi” has drawn 50,000 viewers in 19 days, a record for the filmmaker. According to the state-run Korean Film Council, Hong’s film, which belongs to the local diversity film chart ― a chart for indie and art house films released in fewer than 100 theaters nationwide ― topped 52,359 viewers as of Tuesday. In the local film industry, the 10,000-viewer mark for indie films is generally considered equivalent to the 1 million mark for a commercial film. “Our
Iran taps Asghar Farhadi film ‘Le Passe’ for Oscars entry

Sept 30, 2013

TEHRAN (AFP) ― Iran has submitted “Le Passe,” the latest film from “Une Separation” director Asghar Farhadi, for Oscars consideration in a move opposed by conservatives, who say the film is too French.“Le Passe” (The Past) tells the story of an Iranian (played by Ali Mosaffa) who returns to France after four years away to sign divorce papers with his French wife Marie (Berenice Bejo).During the journey, he uncovers a great secret weighing on Marie, her daughters and her new boyfriend.Farhadi won
Hugh Jackman gets lifetime achievement award in Spain

Sept 29, 2013

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (AFP) ― Australian actor Hugh Jackman, the star of “Wolverine” and “X-Men,” received a lifetime achievement award on Friday at the San Sebastian film festival in northern Spain.“I will take this as a charge to go on working for many more years to move you and entertain you,” he said after collecting the festival‘s Donostia award for his film career from the hands of Mexican actor Diego Luna at a ceremony held at beachside congress centre in the coastal city of San Sebastian.
Box Office: Runner Runner, The Face Reader, The Spy

Sept 27, 2013

Runner Runner Opened Sept. 26 Crime. Drama. Thriller. Directed by Brad Furman. Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) is a student at Princeton University who pays his tuition by online gambling. When he gets cheated out of his money, he learns the site is being run from a remote island and decides to confront the site’s owner. He meets the cunning online gambling tycoon Ivan Block (Ben Affleck), and instead of getting his money back, Richie is lured into becoming Ivan’s protege with the promise of go
Porn addict meets Ms. Right in ‘Don Jon’

Sept 27, 2013

Don Jon’s a dog.He cares only about his car, his pad, his boys, his family, his gym, his church (Sundays only), girls and porn ― lots and lots of porn. That is, until he meets Ms. Right ― actually two Ms. Rights ― and his bro-licious world is turned upside down when he learns that women are people too.That’s the simple premise for “Don Jon,” the feature directorial/writing debut for actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but it’s handled with such a deft sense of humor and pathos that it transcends any rom
The NY Film Festival in flux, to match the times

Sept 27, 2013

Change isn’t undertaken haphazardly in the halls of Lincoln Center. This year, for example, is the first time the New York Film Festival is being led by someone not named Richard. The 51st New York Film Festival, which opens Friday with the premiere of Paul Greengrass’ Somali pirate docudrama “Captain Phillips,” marks the start of new program director Kent Jones’ stewardship. Jones, a critic and sometimes filmmaker, is only the third program director of the festival, following Richard Roud and R