13th Annual New York Korean Film Festival to run November 6-11, 2015

The 13th Annual New York Korean Film Festival Announces Upcoming Program

for November 6th to November 11th, 2015 at the Museum of the Moving Image

Festival highlights award-winning films of love, crime, and erotica.

More premieres, filmmakers, and celebrity guests than ever

The 13th Annual New York Korean Film Festival showcases Korea doing what it does best: the crime thriller, the romantic fantasy, and feverish erotica. The Peninsula’s filmmakers bend genre cinema to a uniquely Korean pulse and purpose, making the country’s national film industry the most vibrant in East Asia. The thrilling complications of love and crime steal the show in this year’s lineup, as partnerships go south and fickle passions lead to betrayal. Resistance fighters navigate the intrigue of colonial-era Korea, love affairs are smothered as quickly as they are kindled, and hard-boiled cops dig at the ugly truth in a collection of both massive blockbusters and favorites from the international festival circuit, with five New York premieres and one international premiere.

The 13th Annual New York Korean Festival will run from November 6-November 11, 2015, at the Museum of the Moving Image. This will be the first year Museum of the Moving Image will serve as a partner and the venue for the New York Korean Film Festival, building on past collaborations with the Korea Society and Subway Cinema.

The Korea Society has also invited an exceptional group of Korean guests, including star director Ryoo Seung-Wan and producers Kang Hye-jung and Park Jung (Veteran); directors Shin Suwon (Madonna), Lee Do-yun (Confession), Kang Hyo-jin (Wonderful Nightmare), Oh Seung-uk (The Shameless), and Hong Won-chan (Office); and actress Koh Ah-Sung. The New York Korean Film Festival is a program of The Korea Society, the Museum of the Moving Image, and Subway Cinema. Major support is provided by the Korea Foundation.

Read about the nine film lineup here.

All screenings will be held at the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), which is located at 36-01 35 Ave, Astoria, Queens, NY, 11106. Map

Opening Night tickets: $20 ($12 for TKS members, MOMI Film Lover and Dual members / free for Silver Screen members and above).

All other NYKFF tickets are $12 ($7 for TKS members, MOMI Film Lover and Dual members / free for Silver Screen members and above).

Advance tickets will be available online at movingimage.us beginning today, October 21.

Myung Films: Pioneers and Women Behind the Camera in Korean Film - a special focus section of NYAFF

Korean cinema has been known internationally primarily through the works of a small group of male directors (Hong Sangsoo, Kim Ki-duk, Park Chan-wook, Kim Jee-woon, and others), but one of its key film production companies, Myung Films, is led by a woman: producer Shim Jae-myung. Myung Films has spearheaded the transformation of the Korean film culture and industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s by establishing new genres and discovering new talent.

The New York Asian Film Festival, which runs through July 11th, is showcasing a couple of their recent productions, Cart and Revivre, as well as some of their masterworks (The President’s Last Bang, The Isle, and Waikiki Brothers) as part of a greater focus on women who work behind the scenes. Shim Jae-myung will be in attendance and will be joined by top female directors Yim Soon-rye (The Whistleblower) and Boo Ji-young (Cart), who are known for their uncompromising films dealing with issues of social justice.

For these women behind the camera, it’s not just about standing up against patriarchy, oppression, or power but about telling stories of real people and real lives—struggling, folding and sometimes collapsing—perhaps showing that the human condition might be best expressed by women.

Presented with the support of the Korean Cultural Service New York.
Co-presented with The Korea Society.

12th New York Korean Film Festival

The 12th New York Korean Film Festival

When: November 20 - 23, 2014

Where: BAM Rose Cinema

30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn NY

Map

Tickets

The New York Korean film festival is back in business! That's right. What Subway Cinema started in 2001 with When Korean Cinema Attacks! – New York Korean Film Festival, and what has known many incarnations and iterations since then, is back in the funky and freaky curatorial hands of the festival's original creators, now joining forces with BAMCinematek and the Korea Society to bring you the freshest crop of the record-breaking blockbusters and the must-see recent works of the peninsula's internationally celebrated auteurs and mavericks. The new New York Korean Film Festival wants to serve as your road map for the best in contemporary Korean cinema.

All films in Korean with English subtitles.

Thursday, November 20
- 7:15 PM GYEONGJU with Q&A with director Zhang Lu
Friday, November 21
- 7:00 PM THE ATTORNEY
- 9:30 PM A HARD DAY
Saturday, November 22
- 7:00 PM THE ADMIRAL: ROARING CURRENTS
- 9:30 PM MAN ON HIGH HEELS
Sunday, November 23
- 5:00 PM THE PIRATES
- 8:00 PM FUTURELESS THINGS 

For film descriptions and to order tickets, click here.

Discussion on Korean Cinema Today at The Korea Society on April 8th

KOREAN CINEMA TODAY

When: Tuesday, April 8, 2014 @ 6:30 PM

Where: The Korea Society

950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor

A Conversation With Nicolas Archambault, Director of Asian Programming, Fantasia International Film Festival, and Tom Vick, Curator

of Film Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution.

Moderated by Samuel Jamier, Co-Director New York Asian Film Festival.

Boasting record box office numbers and critical accolades from the major film festival circuit, Korean cinema has seen a spectacular boom. New blood has pumped life into the Korean film business, while established Korean filmmakers have been making their Hollywood debuts (Kim Jee-woon with The Last Stand, Park Chan-wook with Stoker, and Bong Joon-ho with the Korean-produced English-language Snowpiercer). Industry commentators and observers have talked about a “renaissance” or even a new “golden age” of Korean cinema, after the sluggish recovery from the slump of 2007-08.

The Korea Society and the New York Asian Film Festival, working together to promote multi-cultural collaboration, are delighted to present Nicolas Archambault, Director of Asian Programming, Fantasia International Film Festival, and Tom Vick, Curator of Film of the Freer and Sackler Galleries at the Smithsonian Institution. They will consider the prospects of Korean cinema, for the near and long term, in the context of its recent achievements.

Members Students with valid ID FREE with RSVP Registration

Non-members $10 

INTRUDERS playing today and next Thursday at Lincoln Center

Intruders / Jo nan-ja-deul

Directed by NOH Young-seok

South Korea, 2013, 99 minutes

Korean language with English subtitles

Intruders is a "twisty blackly comic suspense thriller from South Korea, where sometimes it seems like they do this sort of thing better than anyone else." It will be shown twice at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Film Comment Selects 2014 series. The first screening will be today, Thursday, February 20th at 6:45pm. Director Noh Young-seok will appear in person at this screening. The second and final screening at this series will be next Thursday, February 27th at 4:15pm. (Info and tickets here.)

Synopsis: Looking for peace and quiet, a screenwriter rents a winter cabin in a remote country backwater to concentrate on his latest project. On the bus he does his best to rebuff a talkative character fresh out of prison, who unfortunately gets off at the same destination. Throw in a group of obnoxious kids on a ski vacation in the cabin next door, a pair of menacing game hunters who turn out to be related to the ex-con, and a shifty cop and you can see where things are headed, right? Maybe, maybe not. In his second effort, indie director Noh Young-seok shows he’s a talent to watch out for.

Co-presented with the Korea Society and Subway Cinema.

P.S. -  Don't forget about HONG Sang-soo's Our Sunhi which will be shown at 4:45pm this afternoon.

ACF 1987: ContemporAsian: Focus on Korea film series at MoMA

ContemporAsian: Focus on Korea @ MoMA

When: Monday, August 5 to Sunday, August 11, 2013

Where:  MoMA, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019

Map

(By Subway, E, M to 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue

or B, D, F to 47-50 Street Rockefeller Center)
Series and ticket info here

The Korea Society and MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art) co-presents 'Focus on Korea' as part of 'ContemporAsian' film series which presents many contemporary Asian films from pan-Asian countries. The series selects critically lauded Korean films, highlighting current social issues, injustice and human nature. The films maximize distinctive narrative skills from some of Korea's insightful and penetrative renegade filmmakers.

Three directors will be presented: Dir. Chung J-young (National Security), Dir. Lee Ji-seung (Azooma) and Dir. Jeon Soo-il (El Condo Pasa). National Security (New York premier) garnered acclaim by The Hollywood Reporter as "one such picture from South Korea, an entirely sincere and dignified effort by Chung Ji-young." Screen Daily commented that "El Condo Pasa (New York Premier) is a compelling addition to Jeon Soo-il's body of work," noting that the film "mirrors the Themes of religion, grief and forgiveness found in Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine (2007)." Director Lee's Azooma had accolades from Beyond Hollywood, "Azooma is certainly a very angry film, though justifiably so, and it's all the more powerful for the fact that it's very well made."

Azooma

Azooma (Gongjeongsahoe) 2012 (74 min, T2) directed by Lee Ji-seung.
An ordinary mother stands up against the corrupt and dysfunctional society plays the main protagonist in Azooma to protect her daughter. Friday, August 9, 2013 @7:00 p.m. (filmmaker present for this screening)

National Security

National Security (Namyeong-dong 1985) 2012 (106 min, T2) directed by Chung Ji-young.
This film is based on the memoir written by the late Kim Geun-tae, a famous politician and the former Minister of Health and Welfare in Korea. Kim was captured, imprisoned, and tortured for 22 days at a specially designed facility located at Namyoung-dong on September 1985. Monday, August 5, 2013 @7:00 p.m.; Tuesday, August 6, 2013 @4:00 p.m.; Wednesday, August 7, 2013 @7:00 p.m.; Thursday, August 8, 2013 @4:00 p.m.; Friday, August 9, 2013 @4:00 p.m. (filmmaker present for Friday's screening; Saturday, August 10, 2013 @1:30 p.m

El Condor Pasa

El Condor Pasa (Kon-dol-eun Nal-a-gan-da) 2012 (101 min, T2) directed by JeonSoo-il.
Catholic priest Park adored and cared much about a middle school girl, but she was murdered. He departs journey to look for the redemption. Sunday, August 11, 2013 @ 5:00 p.m. (filmmaker present for this screening)

Sleepless Night (Jammotdeuneun Bam) 2012 (65 min, T2) directed by Jang Kun-jae.
A working middle-class married couple in their early thirties struggle through daily trials and facing the decision of starting a family. Saturday, August 10, 2013 @ 7:30 p.m./Sunday, August 11, 2013 @2:00 p.m.

White Night (Baek-ya) 2012 (75 min, T2) directed by Leesong Hee-il.
The film is loosely based on a real-life hate crime that happened in Seoul, and two men try to overcome from the wound.Saturday, August 10, 2013 @ 4:00 p.m.

All films are in Korean with English subtitles.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

ACF 1985: Yang Yong-hi's OUR HOMELAND to screen at Asia Society

Our Homeland / Ga-zok-ui Na-ra

Directed by Yang Yong-hi

Cast: Sakura Ando, Arata Iura, Yang Ik-joon

South Korea, 2012, 100 minutes

When: Saturday, August 3, 2013 at 7:00 PM

Where: Asia Society

725 Park Avenue New York, NY 10021
Info and tickets here

The Korea Society and Asian American International Film Festival co-present this politically profound film made by Japanese-Korean director, Yang Yong-hi.

Her father was a patriotic Korean living in Japan, sympathetic to North Korea. He sent his three Japanese-born sons to North Korea by the ‘Repatriation program’, believing in North Korea's promise of a paradise. This movie starts after 25 years when Sungho, one of the director's brothers, is finally allowed to return to Japan for three months to get medical treatments. This film intertwines agony of her, and her family and hurt one another based on ideology, nationality and ethnicity but realize within the boundaries of family anything can be overcome gracefully.

The director's previous films, Dear Pyongyang (2005) and Sona, the Other Myself  (2009), were documentaries concerned with the same subject matter.

This screening will be followed by a director’s Q & A with the audience.

ACF 1811: Park Chan­-wook Retrospective @ MoMI

Park Chan­-wook Retrospective @ MoMI 

Friday, March 1 ­through Sunday, March 3

The Museum of Moving Image

3601 35th Avenue, Astoria

Travel directions here

Park Chan­-wook, a director, screenwriter, and producer, is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers on the international film circuit. To celebrate the release of Stoker, his major directorial debut in Hollywood, The Korea Society and MoMI will be co­presenting a retrospective of his work. He debuted with Moon is the Sun's Dream in 1992, but started to gain international recognition from the sensational movie J.S.A.: Joint Security Area in 2000, which The Guardian praised as “airy, subtle and playful, and showcases the best elements of modern Asian cinema.” In addition, the Vengeance trilogy garnered praise from the New York Times: “so much talent on display.” But ‘Old Boy’ would be his most famous and acclaimed film ever, achieving the Grand Jury Award at Cannes. Director Park is well­known for the flamboyant colors and glitzy cinematography throughout his films.

Stoker

Thursday, February 28 @ 7:00 PM

2013, 98 min.

Courtesy of Fox Searchlight.

With Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode. 

The eagerly awaited new film by director Park Chan­-wook is an English ­language thriller rife with the sort of style and atmosphere that makes his other movies nothing short of modern classics of the genre. This special screening, followed by a discussion with Park Chan-wook.

Oldboy

Friday, March 1@ 7:00 PM

2003, 120 min.

Old Boy tells the story of a man who is locked in a room for over decade without knowing the reason. After he gets out of the cell, he tries to find the answer. Since it won the "Grand Jury" award a Cannes in 2004, it has been selected one of the best movies ever made by numerous prestigious film magazines and critics.

Shorts Program:

Saturday, March 2 @ 3:00 PM

Never Ending Peace and Love

2003, 28 min.

An illegal foreign worker is subject to peoples’ ignorance and indifference.

Cut (from Three Extremes)

2004, 30 min.

Young and rich, with a beautiful wife, he lacks nothing until an intruder appears in the night.

Night Fishing

2011, 33min.

Winner of the Best Short Film­Golden Bear Award at Berlin International Film Festival 2011. Park Chan-­wook shot this film with an iPhone 4 with his brother/co­director Park Chan­k-young.

J.S.A.: Joint Security Area

Saturday, March 2 @ 6:00 PM

Based on the novel by Park Sang-­yeon, Joint Security Area is considered one of the best­made films describing the political and military tension between North and South Korea.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

Saturday, March 3 @ 3:00 PM

2002, 121 min.

Desperate to pay for his sister’s kidney operation. Ryu kidnaps his wealthy boss’ daughter. The kidnapping goes away, Ryu and his girlfriend struggle to run away from a father bent on vengeance.

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

Sunday, March 3 @ 6:00 PM

2005, 112 min.

Geum­ja is imprisoned for thirteen years for allegedly murdering a six­year­old boy. In prison, she wins over hell cell mates’ sympathies. When she’s released, she begins a meticulous plan for vengeance.

More information is available at www.koreasociety.org/arts/film/ & http://www.movingimage.us/films/

Schedule

Friday, March 1

Old Boy, 7:00 PM

Saturday, March 2

Park Chan­wook Shorts Program, 3:00 PM

- Never Ending Peace and Love

- Cut (from Three Extremes)

- Night Fishing

J.S.A.:Joint Security Area, 6:00 PM

Sunday, March 3

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, 3:00 PM

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, 6:00 PM

And don't forget the 11th New York Korean Film Festival (NYKFF), co-presented by The Korea SOciety and Bamcinematek, which starts tomorrow, Friday, February 22 and runs through Sunday the 24th.

ACF 1789: The Korea Society celebrates the Lunar New Year

The Korea Society NY will celebrate the Lunar New Year on Thursday, January 31, 2013, with makgeolli (known in English as "Korean rice wine"), mandu (filled dumplings), and more. The festivities will run from 6 to 8 PM at The Korea Society, 950 Third Avenue (SW corner @ 57th Street), 8th Floor, NYC.

Members: FREE, including one guest per memeber
Non-Members: $20

RSVP online at www.koreasociety.org.

ACF 1769: SLEEPLESS NIGHT at MoMI on Sunday, January 13th

 The Korea Society and the

Museum of the Moving Image present

  Sleepless Night / Jam-mot deun-eun bam

Directed by Jang Kun-jae

Starring: Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Joo-ryeong
South Korea, 2012, 65 min.
When: Sunday, January 13, 2013 at 5:00 pm

Where: The Museum of the Moving Image

35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria
Map and Directions
Film free with museum admission

The winner of both the Audience and Best Korean Film prizes at the Jeonju International Film Festival, this second feature from young director Jang (Eighteen) is an intimate portrait of a working-middle-class married couple in their early thirties struggling through daily trials and facing the decision of whether to start a family. Finely directed with deceptively simple performances, this short feature is an intense pleasure to experience.

Sleepless Night will be preceded by As the Flames Rose, a short directed by João Rui Guerra da Mata, (Portugal, 2012, 26 min.). On the phone in his dark bedroom, a man relives the end of a turbulent affair, while across town, the city burns.

ACF 1753: BARBIE showing at MoMI tomorrow afternoon

 Barbie

Directed by LEE Sang-woo

South Korea, 2011, 97 minutes

With KIM Sae-ron, KIM Ah-ron, LEE Chun-hee

When: Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 5:00 PM

Where: The Museum of the Moving Image

35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria, Queens, NYC

Travel directions here

Film free with museum admission at MoMI

Barbie, the next co-presentation of The Korea Society and The Museum of the Moving Image's "Korean Cinema Now" series, will be shown tomorrow afternoon at MoMI in Queens, NY.

Synopsis: Soon-young lives with her mentally handicapped father, unscrupulous uncle, and Soon-Ja, her younger sister. When an uncle arranges Soon-young’s adoption to American family for money, the younger sister, who adores her Barbie doll and dreams of one day living in America, decides not to let the adoption happen.

"Korean Cinema Now" will be presented at the newly renovated Museum of the Moving Image, home to New York City’s finest, state-of-the-art screen. Films are free with museum admission. This tribute is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Taxi 10 minutes from The Korea Society or NQ Train Outbound to 36th Ave., 36th Street and 35th Avenue, Astoria.

ACF 1714: Korean drama CHOKED at MoMI on November 18th, 2012

 Choked / Ka-shi

Directed by Kim Joong-hyun

Starring: Um Tae-goo, Park Se-jin, Kil Hae-yeon
South Korea, 2011, 111 min.
When: Sunday, November 18, 2012 at 5:00 pm

Where: The Museum of the Moving Image

35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria
Map and Directions
Film free with museum admission

Amidst an economic downturn, Youn-ho finds all of his relationships threatened by the myriad consequences of debt, materialism, and false entrepreneurial starts. Beautifully shot on widescreen Red during wintertime in Seoul, this impressive first feature by Kim paints a chilly and unforgiving portrait of status-obsessed culture that transcends national borders.

ACF 1640: Final four films of Yeonghwa: Korean Film Today

Today and tomorrow are the final days of the Yeonghwa: Korean Film Today series at the Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition, a collaboration of the MoMA and The Korea Society, was made possible by Hyundai Card Company. Here is information about the four remaining films to be shown.

Poongsan / Pung-san-gae

Directed by Jeon Jae-hong

Screenplay by Kim Ki-duk

With Yoon Kye-sang, Kim Gyu-ri, Kim Jong-soo, Han Gi-jung

South Korea, 2011, 121 minutes 

Saturday, September 29, 2012 at 5:00 PM

Jeon (Beautiful, 2008) was an assistant to filmmaker Kim Ki-duk, who wrote and produced this film and whose influence is at once palpable and subordinate to Jeon’s own talent. Poongsan, who does not speak, carries messages back and forth between separated families in North and South Korea. When he is enlisted to smuggle the mistress of a high-ranking North Korean defector out of the North, passion intervenes, and an unexpected, “crazy” love threatens political chaos.

Pink / Ping-keu

Directed by Jeon Soo-il

Screenplay by Jeon Kim Kyung

With Lee Seung-yeon, Seo Kap-sook, Park Hyeon-woo, Kang San-eh

South Korea, 2011, 97 minutes

Saturday, September 29, 2012 at 8:00 PM

Among a clutch of derelict buildings sits Pink, a condemned bar that caters to drifters and lost souls. Jeon’s eighth feature is a portrait of a struggling small business, the world-weary middle-aged woman who runs it, and her dwindling clientele.

From Seoul to Varanasi / Varanasi

Written and directed by Jeon Kyu-hwan

With Yoon Dong-hwan, Choi Won-jung, Shin Ye-an, Nollaig Walsh

South Korea, 2011, 96 minutes 

Sunday September 30, 2012 at 2:30 PM

Jeon, whose Town Trilogy (Mozart, Dance, and Animal) was a highlight of last year’s Yeonghwa, returns with a steamy and explicit melodrama that moves beyond Korea to India and even the Middle East. A married executive in Seoul has an affair and, eventually, so does his wife—with a foreign worker. Secrets multiply, and what began as personal betrayals become explosive global incidents.

Fire in Hell / Ji-ok-hwa

Written and directed by Lee Sang-woo

With Won Tae-hee, Cha Seung-min, Kim Hun, Lee Yong-rye

South Korea, 2012, 99 minutes

Sunday, September 30, 2012 at 5:30 PM

A graduate of both UC Berkeley and the Kim Ki-duk “school” of filmmaking, Lee, one of Korea’s maverick multitasking filmmakers, makes his Yeongwha debut with this sensual melodrama. In a vivid exploration of the notion of karma, a Buddhist monk loses control. The calamitous results are followed, perhaps, by redemption. In Korean; English subtitles. 99 min.

 

ACF 1635: Korean thriller BLIND at MoMA tomorrow afternoon

MIN Soo-ah is followed in a subway car by a psycho-killer

Blind / Beul-la-in-deu

Directed by Ahn Sang-hoon

South Korea, , 111 minutes

When: Monday, September 24, 2012 @ 4:30 PM

Where: Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, NYC

Map here

One night MIN Soo-ah (KIM Ha-neul), a bright young woman who's a student at the police university, makes a terrible mistake. As a result someone dear to her dies, and she goes blind and loses her chance to join the police.

Three years later she is still struggling to adapt to her condition, this despite the assistance of Wisey, her female guide dog. One day she goes alone to visit the House of Hope, the orphanage where she grew up. Prideful, she gets angered at a suggestion that is made and takes off on her own. Consequently, she is drawn into the case of a psychotic killer who targets young women.

Using her skills of observation -- sound and smell, if not sight -- and of her police training, she's pitted against this maniac. Will she be able to save herself and at the same time find redemption for her earlier mistake in judgement?

For me, there were some serious problems with the film. One was what I perceived as an overly melodramatic linking of the terrible consequences of her mistake of three years earlier with the situation that develops later.

Secondly, we know nothing about the killer until near the very end of the film, and even then what we learn doesn't really give us enough information to make him anything more than a cardboard cut-out of a psychopath. The explanation -- such as it is -- for his actions are simplistic and don't begin to meaningfully account for his motivation to kidnap and kill young women, nor for his physical abilities.

Finally there are some developments that are just way too implausible. Why, for example, would a cop who's assigned to guard Soo-ah and the young man, sit out in his car in the rain and not be with them inside the building where they are staying? It's clearly to allow the killer to get to his targets, but it's also just plain dumb. I might give this sort of thing a pass in a teen horror/thriller -- such as House at the End of the Street -- but Blind aspires to a higher level of cinema. Sadly, it falls a bit short.

But while the plot could've been better fleshed out, the acting is uniformly good, particularly that of KIM Ha-neul and Jo Hie-bong, who plays the rather out-of-his-league detective who's assigned the case. Also the cinematography is well done, and there are some truly suspenseful moments.

ACF Rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars. Flawed, but overall a fairly good film for the genre. Certainly worth seeing.

This screening of Stateless Things is part of the third edition of Yeonghwa: Korean Film Today. This joint presentation of The Korea Society and MoMA includes 11 distinctive contemporary narratives, from genre films to unclassifiable features by some of Korea’s leading renegade filmmakers.

And if you're drawn to the theme of blind women effectively dealing with really bad guys, then consider checking out Audrey Hepburn in Terence Young's Wait Until Dark (1967).

ACF 1633: Two screenings of Korean drama STATELESS THINGS at MoMA

Stateless Things / Jool-tak-dong-si   

Written and directed by KIM Kyung-mook

South Korea, 2012, 118 minutes

When: Sunday, September 23, 2012 @ 5:30 PM
Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 8:00 PM

Where: Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, NYC

Map here

The “stateless things” in the title of documentarian Kim’s first narrative feature are three marginalized young people in Seoul: a teenage North Korean defector and a Chinese Korean girl who occasionally do odd jobs together, and a gay hustler who, for a while anyway, has a lovely apartment and a sugar daddy. At once harsh and dreamy, the film treats its dispossessed characters with a hopeful empathy, bringing them together in a fresh and provocative manner.

These screenings of Stateless Things are part of the third edition of Yeonghwa: Korean Film Today. This joint presentation of The Korea Society and MoMA includes 11 distinctive contemporary narratives, from superior genre films to unclassifiable features by some of Korea’s leading renegade filmmakers.

ACF 1629: HELPLESS - movie review

 Helpless / Hoa-cha

Written and directed by BYUN Young-Joo

South Korea, 2012,  117 minutes

When: Thursday, September 20, 2012 @ 4:30 PM

and Saturday, September 22, 2012 @ 8:00 PM

Where: Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, NYC
Map here

JANG Mun-ho (LEE Seon-gyun), a successful veterinarian, is driving his fiancé GANG Seon-yeong (KIM Min-hie) to meet his parents. They stop at a service area rest stop, and Mun-ho gets out to get some coffee. When he returns, Seon-yeong is not in the car. Mun-ho cannot find her anywhere and can't reach her on her cell phone.

When he goes to her place, he finds that every personal item of hers is gone. Desparate to find Seon-yeong, Mun-hoe enlists the aid of Jong-geun ( JO Seong-ha), a former policeman who'd been dismissed for taking bribes. Their search leads them along an increasingly complex path involving loan sharking, debt and bankruptcy, identity theft, and more.

Seon-yeong, left, and Mun-ho

This gripping mystery thriller was adapted by director BYUN from the novel All She Was Worth by Miyabe Miyuki. It's exceedingly well-crafted, and the rising suspense is palpable.

ACF Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars, highly recommended

These screenings of Helpless are part of the third edition of Yeonghwa: Korean Film Today. This joint presentation of The Korea Society and MoMA includes 11 distinctive contemporary narratives, from superior genre films to unclassifiable features by some of Korea’s leading renegade filmmakers.

ACF 1610: YEONGHWA: KOREAN FILM TODAY coming to MoMA, NY September 19-30,2012

Stateless Things, 2012 written & directed by Kim Kyung-mook. Image courtesy Miro Vision

Yeonghwa: Korean Film Today

When: September 19-30, 2012

Where: The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street, NYC
Map and directions here

Yeonghwa is the Korean word for film, and since South Korean cinema now features prominently in every major international film festival, it is a good word for cineastes to know. Korean film tends to blend technical excellence with idiosyncratic expression and an entrepreneurial spirit—filmmakers often write and direct their work, and both actors and filmmakers benefit from the country’s homegrown “star system”—while embracing a wide variety of styles and subjects.

Korean cinema is generally made for a national audience, so its vision is rarely diminished by compromises in the name of global appeal. This third edition of Yeonghwa includes several distinctive contemporary narratives—from superior genre films to unclassifiable features by some of Korea’s renegade filmmakers—along with two features, drawn from MoMA’s collection, by Korean film pioneer Shin Sang-ok. All films are from South Korea and in Korean with English subtitles.

For film descriptions, series schedule and to order tickets, click The Korea Society Yeonghwa webpage. or at the MoMA Yeonghwa webpage.

Presented in collaboration with The Korea Society. Co-organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, The Museum of Modern Art, and Yuni Yoonjung Cho, Director, Film, The Korea Society. 

The exhibition is made possible by Hyundai Card Company.

ACF 1594: Free outdoor screening of Kim Ki-duk's SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER... and SPRING

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

Directed by Kim Ki-duk

Starring: Oh Yeong-su, Kim Jong-ho, Seo Jae-Kyung

South Korea, 2003, 106 minutes

When: Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at 7 PM

Film begins at sunset

Where: The Museum of the Moving Image/Outdoor Cinema 2012

Socrates Sculpture Park, Vernon Boulevard at Broadway, Long Island City

Map and directions

Admission: Free!!!

The Korea Society and the Museum of The Moving Image co-present Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring—a gorgeously shot feature film that has grossed more in box office receipts than any Korean movie released in United States to date. Directed by phenom Kim Ki-duk (The Isle, Samaritan Girl), the film is a pastoral poem about the changing seasons and a meditation on the cycle of life.

In a tranquil and timeless setting of a temple floating on a lake in a forest, surrounded by mountain spires that cut the monastery off from worldly concerns, an old monk teaches his young disciple the wisdom of Buddha over the many seasons of their lives. In Korean with English subtitles.

ACF 1563: The Korea Society to host THE HOST on August 9, 2012

The Host / Gwoemul

Directed by BONG Joon-ho

South Korea, 2006, 119 minutes

When Thursday, August 9, 2012 at 6:30 PM

Where: The Korea Society

950 Third Avenue, 8th Floor, NYC

Map 

Members: Free; Click here to register

Nonmembers: $5; Purchase tickets

“The Host is a loopy, feverishly imaginative genre hybrid about the demons that haunt us from without and within.” - Manohla Dargis of The New York Times

Yuni Cho, The Korea Society’s director of film, has chosen The Host (2006) to screen at the summer Members’ Free Film Night. This family comedy/monster flick from acclaimed director Bong Joon-Ho is Korea’s highest grossing movie of all time and has won numerous awards, including Best Film at the Asian Film Awards. The Host has been described as a “mutant hybrid spawned from the improbable union of Little Miss Sunshine and Godzilla, for the film is a family comedy and political satire in which an unnaturally evolved tadpole just happens to loom (very) large.”

Quentin Tarantino included The Host in his list of top 20 films released since 1992 (the year he became a director).

This is a great opportunity to see (or to see again) one of the finest South Korean films of recent years. And you can't go wrong seeing it for free if you're a member or for $5 if you're not.

ACF 1521: FAR FROM FORGOTTEN at The Korea Society on June 29th

Far From Forgotten

When: Friday June 29, 2012 at 6:30 pm

Where The Korea Society

950 Third Avenue, 8th Floor, NY, NY

Entrance on East 57th Street

Map here

Tickets here

In June of 2010, 10 Korean War veterans, now in their 80s and living in Long Island New York: Sal, Robert, Bill, Bob, Eugene, Frank, Arthur, John, Joseph, and Henry, visit Korea to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War. The documentary Far From Forgotten, traces these veterans’ emotional return to the DMZ and war memorial, where they realize that the DMZ that they visited after 60 years is not a reminder of the war but a place where we learn to find peace and plan for a hopeful future. Directors Jia Lim and Michael Unger will be present to introduce the film and several veterans who served in the Korean War.