“D.P.,” directed by Han Jun-hee, will be released Aug. 27 starring Jung Hae-in as a young private assigned to capture Army deserters. Short for “Deserter Pursuit,” the upcoming Netflix original series shows the life of Pvt. Jun-ho (played by Jung) and Cpl. Ho-yeol (played by Koo Kyo-hwan) and reveals the reasons some soldiers try to escape the Army. “For Koreans, the Army is a place with a lot of meaning, so I was focused on making the audience feel empathy while

Actor Bang Min-ah, widely known as Minah of K-pop girl group Girl’s Day, has won an award at the New York Asian Film Festival 2021. The 20th edition of NYAFF was held virtually and in-person at the Lincoln Center, New York, from Aug. 6-22. Bang won the Rising Star Asia Award for her role as Kang-yi in the Korean film “Snowball,” directed by Lee Woo-jung. The film, an adaptation of the award-winning novel “The Best Life” by Lim Sol-ah, revolves around three teena

Due to the COVID-19 situation, some Korean movies have chosen to skip their theatrical release and gone straight to Netflix. But now, these movies will be screened in local CGV theaters, according to Netflix on Wednesday. Last year amid the pandemic, the number of people who visited local theaters plunged 74 percent from the previous year. It was the greatest decline since the Korean Film Council started compiling box office data in 2004. This drop led thriller “Time to Hunt,” direc

Selected documentaries from around the world are being presented at the 18th EBS International Documentary Festival 2021 until Sunday on public broadcaster EBS. EBS International Documentary Festival, which began Monday, is Korea’s only documentary festival that combines TV broadcasting with online and theater screenings. Under the slogan “normal is now special,” the EIDF seeks to send a hopeful message of overcoming the pandemic and documenting the slowly vanishing moments o

The Jeonju International Film Festival will hold a special event, “ Falling in Jeonju,” from Sept. 9 to 12 to screen a selection of films that drew great attention during the film festival that was held from April 29 to May 8. Thirty movies -- 16 features and 14 short films -- that were screened during this year’s film fest will be presented. The opening film of the 22nd Jeonju IFF, “Father” directed by Srdan Golubovic, is included in the list of films to be scr

It was a hot summer day last year when director Ko Bong-soo decided to start making his new comedy film, “The Rain Comes Soon,” about a director who releases a film during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Since the virus outbreak, many people had been saying that they felt depressed. As a filmmaker, I thought about what I could do to make the situation better. Since my specialty is making comedy films, I decided to make people laugh,” Ko said during an interview with The Korea H

The South Korean action thriller "Hostage: Missing Celebrity" topped the local weekend box office in its first week of release, data showed Monday. The movie about the kidnapping of star Hwang Jung-min garnered a combined 454,000 ticket sales over the Friday to Saturday period, bringing its combined total to over 638,000 since its release last Wednesday, according to data from the Korean Film Council. The disaster comedy film "Sinkhole" dropped to second place with 326,000

Veteran actor Cha Seung-won, 51, is not afraid of challenges. When choosing movies, he tries to pick something out of the ordinary. “I don’t like films that have a single genre. I am into stories with twists. I liked ‘Sinkhole’ because it is a movie about the disaster, but there are comedy elements to it. I love how humor is being used in an extreme situation,” Cha emphasized during an interview via Zoom with a group of local reporters. “It was really funny

Korean Film Archive exhibits state-censored films, 10,000 related documents

Sinkhole (Korea) Opened Aug. 11 Comedy Directed by Kim Ji-hoon Although he has an annoying neighbor (Cha Seung-won), office worker Dong-won (Kim Sung-kyun) is very happy that he finally has become a homeowner after saving up for more than 10 years. Dong-won invites his co-workers over to his new place for a housewarming party, but the next morning the building falls into a giant sinkhole. The Suicide Squad (US) Opened Aug. 4 Action Directed by James Gunn Intelligence officer Amanda Waller (Vi

Korean movies have been increasingly drawing interest from global production studios and streaming platforms for local adaptations amid the rising presence of Korean content in the world's show business. "The Villainess," directed by Jeong Byeong-gil, is set to be adapted for television by Amazon Studios, according to Next Entertainment World (NEW), the movie's Korean distributor. Amazon Studios is behind hit TV series "The Wilds" through its Amazon Prime Video service and O

Over the three-day Liberation Day weekend Aug. 14-16, South Korean films “Sinkhole” and “Escape From Mogadishu” conquered the local box office. Disaster comedy “Sinkhole,” directed by Kim Ji-hoon, was released Aug. 11 and took the No. 1 spot, attracting more than 740,000 viewers over the holiday weekend for a total to date of over 1.14 million. It passed the 1 million mark faster than any other film this year.　 “Sinkhole” is set at Chungwoon Vil

South Korean disaster comedy film "Sinkhole" has surpassed a cumulative 1 million admissions on the sixth day of its release, the fastest pace among homegrown flicks released this year, data showed Tuesday. The film, released last Wednesday, attracted 741,000 people over the Saturday-Monday Liberation Day holiday, bringing its combined total to 1.14 million, according to the data by the Korean Film Council. It topped the 1 million threshold on Sunday, becoming the eighth 2021 film to

Lee Kwang-soo, 36, returns to the big screen as a relatable young office worker in the disaster comedy “Sinkhole,” directed by Kim Ji-hoon. “Sinkhole” centers on the residents of Chungwoon Villa, one of the cheaper apartment buildings available in pricey Seoul. It took Dong-won (Kim Sung-kyun), an office worker, over 10 years to finally become a homeowner. Soon after moving in, Dong-won invites his co-workers over to his new place for a housewarming party. After the o

Ryan White’s documentary “Assassins” tells the story of Siti Aisyah from Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam -- the two women who killed Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam -- and what happened to them afterward. The documentary features surveillance footage of the murder of Kim Jong-nam and shows how the two women were arrested. It also shows how they were duped into smearing the lethal chemical agent VX on Kim Jong-nam’s face at Kuala Lumpur Internatio