Korean Film Festival 06 - Back, Bigger, Better

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2nd November 2006

Korean Film Festival 06 - Back on Our Shores, Bigger and Better Than Ever.

Korean film has recently received much international recognition, and we have seen a visible trend of Korean filmmakers producing films of international interest. New Zealanders will have the chance to experience the exciting Korean film industry and culture in the 2006 Korean Film Festival coming to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in December.

The Korean Film Festival is sure to be an exotic and educational experience for all. Korean cultural performances will be held during the intervals between some of the screenings to give attendees a fuller experience and appreciation of Korean culture.

The films range from some of Korea's most recent blockbuster hits (The Host) to popular classic film (The Aimless Bullet). Variety Magazine said of The Host:

"On almost every level, there's never quite been a monster movie like "The Host." Egregiously subverting its own genre while still delivering shocks at a pure genre level, and marbled with straight-faced character humour that constantly throws the viewer off balance, much-hyped big-budgeter about a huge mutant tadpole that emerges from Seoul's Han River is a bold gamble that looks headed to instant cult status. .with Visual f/x, supervised by Kevin Rafferty ("Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace."

You will see New Zealand creative talent in this film also, as the initial VFX design work on the creature in the Host was undertaken in conjunction with Richard Taylor's team at Weta Workshop.

The 2006 Korean Film Festival follows on from a highly successful inaugural 2004 Korean Film Festival in Auckland. The Right Honourable Helen Clark, Prime Minister, opened the inaugural Korean Film Festival, which was also attended by an array of Korean film stars. Due to this success, the 2006 festival has been expanded to provide screenings in Wellington and Christchurch.

The Korean Film festival will screen in:

* AUCKLAND: (1st - 7th December)

West City Village SkyCity Cinema

Queen St Village SkyCity Cinema

* WELLINGTON (4th - 6th December)

Rialto Cinema

* CHRISTCHURCH (5th - 7th December)

Rialto Cinema

"The 2006 Korean Film Festival is a superb opportunity to show case to New Zealand audiences the broad diversity of contemporary Korean independent film. The festival is also a great chance to continue the growing links and creative partnership between New Zealand and Korean film makers"

- Michael Stephens - Co Chairman of the Korean Cinerama Trust

If you would like to find out more about the Korean Film Festival visit www.koreanfilmfestival.co.nz

--

FILMS SHOWING AT THE KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL

The Host

Trailer: Coming Soon

Hee-bong (Byun Hee-bong) is the owner of a small food stand in the Han River Citizen's Park, selling squid, candy and beer to people who have come out to enjoy the sun. Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) is one of his three children, a man who seems a bit slow mentally and whose one motivating strength is a devotion to his school age daughter Hyun-seo (Ko Ah-sung). When a creature snatches Hyun-Seo, the family comes together to fight this unknown biological threat. However, in what is perhaps a telling reflection of our times, the family ends up spending more time battling health professionals, military personnel, and other manifestations of the government than the beast itself.

Typhoon

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi0mHVHP4aY

A vessel is attacked by pirates 220km NorthEast of Ji Long Port, Taiwan. The National Intelligence Service dispatches a secret agent after nuclear missile guidance kits have been stolen from a vessel. The culprit is Sin (Jang Dong-Gun), who has lived his entire life with only one goal – to destroy the Korean peninsula. His hatred and fury stems from an incident where 20 years earlier he witnesses the execution of his family followed by the separation from his only sister Choi Myung-Ju (Lee Mi-Yeon) after they were turned down by the South Korean government for an asylum and returned to North Korea. With the missile guidance kits in his possession, he attempts to execute his plan.

King and the Clown

Trailer: Coming Soon

A troupe of entertainers condemned to die for an act mocking 16th-century King Yonsan beg to be pardoned if they can make the king laugh with their racy skit lampooning him and his favorite concubine. The clowns succeed and become court jesters. Kong-gil, the gentle-faced male clown who portrays the woman in the skit, draws the king’s attention — staging private puppet shows to King Yon-san’s delight but evoking the jealousy of clown leader Jang-saeng, who has always protected his friend from other men’s amorous advances. The gay story line is muted. The king and Kong-gil share one quick on-screen kiss. The movie is based on a fictional play that was inspired by a brief mention in the king’s diary about his favorite clown during Korea’s Chosun Dynasty. .

Duelist

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWss_f6Rrks nn

In southwest central Korea sometime during the Chosun Dynasty, an elegant young masked master of the sword fascinates the people of the market-place. In order to steal a gold Buddha, he sends a horse-drawn cart plunging through the narrow passage-ways. The distraction is a success, and the duelist known as Sad Eyes (Kang Dong-won) escapes; though not without a chase by a young woman detective Nam-sun (Ha Ji-won), herself a master of armed conflict in the form of paired long-knives. These two warriors from opposite ends of the law end up clashing time and time again only to discover that they share a mutual respect and attraction for one another.

Woman on the Beach

Trailer: Coming Soon

Jung-Rae is a film director trying to complete his script who stumbles into relationships with two women he meets at an off-season seaside resort. In the process, he lays bare the destructive patterns of his behavior and generates material for his new film.

Arang

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snJoAtKrGe0

While investigating the heinous acts committed by a serial killer, two detectives encounter a young female ghost. Delving into her past, the detectives discover on a website that the girl has been dead for ten years and this revelation leads them down a path of terror

Obaltan/ The Aimless Bullet Trailer: Coming Soon

Song Chul-Ho (Kim Jin-Kyu), a clerk in an accounting firm in the bombed-out city of Seoul just after the Korean War supports his mentally unstable mother, his desperately lonely sister, his pregnant wife and two young children, and his younger brother, Yong-Ho (Choi Mu-Ryong), an out of work war veteran. Neither Chul-Ho, the "good" brother, nor Yong-Ho, the "bad," seems to be able to find a way out of despair. Yu Hyun-Mok's gritty drama, banned on its initial release in 1961, is frequently listed as one of the greatest Korean films of all time.

Family Ties Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO7ZCh51_7U

An ensemble story told in three seemingly unconnected segments. Acting legend Moon So-ri takes the lead in the first, playing a woman who is visited by her long-lost, delinquent brother (Eom Tae-woong) who turns up married to an older woman Mu-shin (Goh Doo-shim) and then casually moves in. Part two is tightly focused on a character played by Gong Hyo-jin, a quick-tempered young woman named Sun-kyung who finds out that her mother (Kim Hye-ok) is seriously ill. Sun-kyung has been on bad terms with her mother. Part three is about a young couple having problems in their relationship, and features Bong Tae-gyu and Jeong Yu-mi.

The Magicians Trailer: http://www.magicians.co.kr/

The Magicians started as a short film for the Jeonju International Film Festival and was later reshot as this 80 minute feature. Filmed in one unbroken, 80-minute take, the film opens at a New Year’s Eve reunion of three old friends who used to be in a band together. As they talk into the night, these three move back and forth from past to present and ghosts walk amongst them. Fixed in space but lost in time, The Magicians is a magic act. Despite all the pain and disappointments life has dealt them, they know nothing is lost forever and realize friendship can conquer anything.

ENDS

© Scoop Media