SWING KIDS coming June 18th, 2019

Well Go USA

Presents

Swing Kids / Seuwingkizeu

Directed by Hyeong-Cheol Kang 

South Korea, 2018, 134 minutes

This swinging musical drama will debut on Blu-ray™ this coming Tuesday, June 18th, 2019. K-pop star Do Kyung-soo and actor Jared Grimes star.

Synopsis:
During the Korean War, the soldiers at a POW camp plan a tap show to distract both themselves and the prisoners from the hardships of war. Led by a former Broadway dancer and a rebellious North Korean soldier, the band of prisoners find a new sense of freedom in dancing.

Free screening of TWO FACES OF MY GIRLFRIEND on Tuesday in New York

Korean Cultural Service New York
presents
Korean Movie Night 2014
Series Six
Idols on Film: K-pop Superstars Take on Cinema!

Two Faces of My Girlfriend / Du eolgurui yeochin 
Directed by LEE Seok-hoon
South Korea,  2007, 117 minutes

When: Tuesday December 2, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Doors open: 6:30 PM

Where: Tribeca Cinemas 54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal, NYC

Near the A, C, E @ #1 Canal Street subway stops

Map

Admission: FREE!!!
North American Premiere!

Gu-chang (Bong Tae-gyu), who has spent the past seven years of his life in college, can’t find a job and doesn’t have the money to get a date. One day, he spies a wallet on the street with three dollars in it. When he realizes that the owner of wallet is A-Ni (Jung Ryeo-won), a beautiful young woman, he hands it back to her. Gu-chang instantly falls in love, and begins a relationship that he thinks will last forever… but just as everything seems perfect, he discovers another side to A-Ni – a dark side that he cannot comprehend.

Could the woman Gu-chang fell in love with just be one of the girl’s multiple personalities… and how will he save her?

This charming, dramatic romance stars the blockbuster debut of Jung Ryeo-won, known for her career as a singer in the girl group Chakra, whose performance received the Blue Dragon Award for “New Leading Actress!”

ACF 1993: Free screening of I AM. next Tuesday in New York

Korean Cultural Service New York

presents

Korean Movie Night 2013
Series Four: The K-Pop Explosion!

I AM.
Directed by CHOI Jin-seong
South Korea, 2012, 125 minutes
When: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 @ 7:00 PM
Doors open: 6:30 PM
Where: Tribeca Cinemas
54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, NYC
Near the A, C, E @ #1 Canal Street subway stops
Map

The music documentary I AM. follows several chart-topping K-pop bands (including KANGTA, BoA, Girl's Generation, and others) as they prepare for their 2011 live performance at one of the world’s most prestigious venues: New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The groups are part of SMTown, a segment of SM Entertainment, an independent Korean record label, talent agency, producer, and publisher of pop music.

Shining light on what defines the performers and the intense effort that goes into their meticulously-staged concerts, this touching coming-of-age story is just as much about the growing pains and glory of the young artists as it is about their music. Featuring tons of incredible music and amazing K-pop cameos, this is the inside look into Korea’s popular music scene.

Read my November 2012 review of the four disc DVD from CJ Entertainment here. Also available as a two disc Blu-ray release, it includes the I AM. documentary, scads of extras, and the live concert performances.

ACF1694: I AM: SMTOWN Live World Tour in Madison Square Garden

CJ Entertainment

Proudly Presents

I AM.: SMTOWN Live World Tour in Madison Square Garden

These days if one mentions K-Pop, PSY and Gangnam Style immediately come to mind. But K-Pop has been around for quite awhile. (I ran a post about Korean songstress BoA here at AsianCineFest in March, 2009.) But on October 23, 2011, an incredible sold-out concert by several enormously popular K-Pop acts took place at New York's Madison Square Garden. It was the first time Asian artists performed at The Garden and recorded a sold-out show.

The groups are part of SMTown, a segment of SM Entertainment, an independent Korean record label, talent agency, producer, and publisher of pop music That concert and other footage will be available tomorrow, Tuesday, November 6, 2012 in an incredible 4 -disc DVD release from CJ Entertainment. (It will also be available on Blu-ray.) KANGTA, BoA, TVXQ!, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, SHINee & f(x) are the featured performers.

Disc 1 is an approximately 2-hour documentary movie about the groups and the tour. It was originally released in May, 2012. For me one of the most interesting things was seeing footage of some performers auditioning when they were in the fifth grade! Many trained for five years or so before joining one of SMTOWN's groups. I was truly impressed by the hard-work and dedication that these talented young people have put into their careers.

Disc 2 consists of ten DVD extras. Only nine are listed on the back cover of the DVD slipcase, either because of one of those oversights that occur from time to time (Criterion's 2 disc Godzilla release had a similar problem) or because the tenth extra was added after the slipsheets had already gone to press. In any case that additional extra is "SMTown Fan Meet Up Special," a segment of the Hello Pop! TV show related to a concert in Anaheim California. Total running time for the extras is approximately 45 minutes.

Discs 3 and 4 present the full-length, sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden. It runs approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes. The exciting, high-energy concert was magnificently captured and edited.
 
All I can say is that if you're already a fan of K-Pop, I AM.: SMTOWN Live World Tour in Madison Square Garden is an absolute must-have. The regular DVD version, which I had for review purposes looked terrific. I can't even begin to imagine how great the Blu-ray version probably looks.

And if you're not all that familiar with K-Pop? Well, this release is almost certain to make you an enthusiastic fan.

I AM.: SMTOWN Live World Tour in Madison Square Garden is great entertainment and a great value. It gives consumers more "pop" for your buck than any release I can think of. My ACF over-all rating of the concert footage, documentary movie and additional extras is 3.5 out of 4 stars; very, very highly recommended.

ACF 259: Asian Pop Star BoA's Free Concert at Universal CityWalk

On Saturday, March 21, 2009, Universal CityWalk, Hard Rock Café and KIIS celebrated Asian pop sensation BoA’s first English album release, “BoA”, with a FREE mini-concert performance that featured popular songs from her new album, including “I did it for love” and “Eat you up”.

BoA signed autographs for her fans after her performance and memorabilia that she presented to the Hard Rock Cafe.

Born Boa Kwon in South Korea on November 5, 1986, her performance name reportedly stands for "Beat of Angel." She has enjoyed major success not only in her homeland, but also in Japan and elsewhere in Asia. Multi-lingual, she's now poised to make her mark here in the States.

BoA performing with her back-up dancers

Part of the large crowd gathered to see BoA perform

Some of BoA's excited fans

BoA at Wikipedia
"BoA" audio CD at Amazon.com
"BoA" album MP3 downloads at Amazon.com