South Korean actor Song Kang-ho has been named a jury member of this year's Cannes Film Festival, industry sources said Friday. The "Parasite" star recently accepted an offer to join the competition jury of the 74th edition of the world's most prestigious film festival, according to the sources. The full list of the jurors led by American filmmaker Spike Lee will be announced next week. Song will be the fifth Korean to be a member of Cannes' jury, following director Shin Sang-ok in

The country’s annual festival of short films is back, after an announcement earlier this year that it would be discontinued. Defying the odds, the 20th Mise-en-Scene Short Film Festival will run June 24 to June 30. Some changes have been made to the weeklong event, however, as the ongoing pandemic batters the film industry. This year’s festival will not have competition categories. Instead, the festival will screen 20 films that made a mark in the event’s two-decade history

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (US) Opened June 3 Horror Directed by Michael Chaves In 1981, 8-year-old boy David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard), possessed by a demon, stabs his father’s leg. Demonologists Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) try to help the boy but it is not easy. During an exorcism, Arne Johnson (Ruairi O’Connor), boyfriend of David’s sister, invites the demon to enter his body instead of David’s. Cruella (US) Opened May 26 Drama

Korean Film Archive runs online screenings of old films discovered overseas

Bad news for moviegoers -- watching films will get more expensive at Lotte cinemas from July 1 onwards. The ticket prices are going up by 1,000 won, six months after the multiplex chain raised fees in December, claiming the move was necessary to keep the business afloat amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Moviegoers who want to watch 2D films at Lotte cinemas will now have to pay 13,000 won for their tickets during weekdays and 14,000 won on weekends. “We are sorry to announce the change in o

South Korea's 11 international film festivals on Tuesday called for the release of a Myanmar filmmaker who was recently arrested in the military-controlled Southeast Asian country. "The festivals strongly condemn the ongoing violence in Myanmar and urge the release of the producer, Ma Aeint," the 11 organizations led by the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) said in a statement. "Furthermore, we ask all the related authorities to protect her safety and civil rights fairly.&

"F9," the latest chapter in the "Fast and Furious" series, has become the third title to attract more than 2 million moviegoers in South Korea in 2021, box office data showed Monday. The action blockbuster drew 173,000 people over the Friday-Sunday period, bringing its combined total to 2.05 million, according to the data from the Korean Film Council. It is the third film released in 2021 to hit 2 million in the country, following the Disney-Pixar fantasy animated film &quo

For filmmaker Sun Hee Engelstoft, who was born in South Korea in 1982 and sent to Denmark for adoption when she was 4 months old, it was shocking to witness the reality facing unmarried mothers in Korea. “In the West and where I grew up in Denmark, there is this idea that all Korean women just easily give away their children because there are so many adoptees,” Engelstoft said during an interview with The Korea Herald. Korea has sent more than 200,000 children abroad since the 195

Na Hong-jin, who has directed multiple South Korean thrillers and met with both commercial and critical success, is coming out with a new Thai movie in July, according to local distributor Show Box on Thursday. In September last year, the Korean film distributor announced that Na had teamed up with popular Thai filmmaker Banjong Pisanthanakun to make “The Medium,” a horror film set in rural Thailand. “The Medium” shows three months in the life of a family that has inher

South Korean renowned director Hong Sang-soo will visit the Cannes Film Festival again with his 26th feature, "In Front of Your Face." According to the festival's 2021 official lineup announced Thursday, "In Front of Your Face" was listed in Cannes Premieres, a new section dedicated to works from well-established filmmakers. Hong was invited with nine other filmmakers, including Arnaud Desplechin of "Deception," Mathieu Amalric of "Hold Me Tight," Andr

Cruella (US) Opened May 26 Drama, Comedy Directed by Craig Gillespie Estella Miller (Emma Stone) is a rebellious child with a talent for fashion. After Estella causes some trouble in school, Estella’s mom Catherine (Emily Beecham) decides to move to London. On the way, she stops at a party hosted by Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson) to ask for financial assistance. At the party, Estella witnesses her mother being pushed off a cliff to her death by Dalmatians.  Pipeline (Korea) O

Tablo of South Korean hip-hop band Epik High has penned a new comedy series for Amazon Studios’ with Emmy-winning producer Jason Kim. Tablo has been working on creating the story, with Kim, producer of HBO series “Barry” (2018), over the past two years. He recently concluded a deal with Amazon Studios to create the show, called “Neon Machine,”, according to the Korean Canadian rapper’s agency Hours Entertainment on Monday “Excited to announce my first

South Korean movie theaters said Wednesday that they have started a program to give price discounts to vaccinated people for this month as part of marketing strategies to fill virus-hit empty cinemas. Under the one-month campaign starting Tuesday, those who have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccines can buy two tickets at 5,000 won ($4.50) or 6,000 won each at three major multiplex chains, CJ CGV, Lotte Cinema and Megabox. A ticket for a weekday movie screening costs around 12,000 wo

The Korean Film Council is hosting special screenings aimed at showing life in 1990s South Korea. A total of 22 short films from the 1990s will be available through the virtual cinema of Indieground, a center created by the state-run Korean Film Council to facilitate distribution of indie and art films. The works selected for “Hello, ’90s” are considered significant in the history of Korean independent film, and offer a glimpse into Korean society in the ’90s. The onli

New Netflix rom-com “Sweet & Sour,” directed by Lee Gye-byeok, begins with a cliched but popular question: Does love have an expiration date? “When dating someone there are not just sweet and sour moments. There are also bitter moments. I wanted to show that realistic side in the movie,” the director said during an online press conference Tuesday. Jang-hyuk (played by Jang Ki-yong) and Da-eun (played by Chae Su-bin) are a couple who embark on a long-distance relati