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All articles by Darcy Paquet
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Foreign sales begin to dominate thinking for Korean producers
A seriesof hits have helped home-grown titles to a 58% share of the South Korea this year but Screendaily's latest production listings shows the growing importance of the international market.Squeezedprofits are forcing producers to rely on foreign sales in a way that is beginning to have a clear effect.The most ...
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Top Korean exhibitors to digitise cinema chains
Two of South Korea's top exhibition companies, Megabox Cineplex and CGV, have announced the completedigitalisation of their entire chain of cinemas. Market leader CGV, owned and operated by local distributor CJ Entertainment,has unveiled plans to install digital projectors for all 266 screens of its32-venue network by early January 2006. The ...
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Grain, Unforgiven take top awards at Pusan
Chinese-Korean co-productionGrain In Ear and Korean independent film The Unforgiven dominatedthe awards at the tenth edition of the Pusan International Film Festival (Oct6-14).Zhang Lu's Grain In Ear, which premiered in the Critics Week section at Cannes earlier this year, picked up the $30,000 NewCurrents Award for first and second-time Asian ...
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Korean star power on parade at glitzy Pusan opening
The 10th edition of Asia's leading film showcase and industry event, the Pusan InternationalFilm Festival (PIFF), kicked off on Thursday with a glitzy opening thathighlighted South Korea's emergence as the new star factory of Asia.With 5,000 spectators seatedin front of a massive outdoor screen, the event featured fireworks, a surpriseperformance ...
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Dongmakgol chosen as South Korea's Oscar entry
South Korea has selected blockbuster hit Welcome ToDongmakgol as its submission to the best foreign-language film category ofthe 78th Academy Awards.Set in a remote mountainousvillage during the Korean War, the film tells the story of two South Korean soldiers,three North Korean soldiers and a downed American pilot who end up ...
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iHQ launches new Korean sales agency
iHQ, an up-and-coming Korean companythat has diversified from talent management to film production and investment,has launched a new international sales division under Catherine Park, formerlyof CJ Entertainment.The company will make its market debut at Pusan, withan initial slate including Daisy, an action romance shot in theNetherlands featuring top star Jeon ...
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Pusan unveils tenth anniversary festival line-up
The Pusan International Film Festivalwill present a record 307 films to celebrate its tenth edition, which runs fromOctober 6-14 in South Korea.Notable world premieres include Loft byJapanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Love Talk by Korea's Lee Yoon-ki (whowon PIFF's top award last year with This Charming Girl), Iraniandirector Abolfazl Jalili's Full ...
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Northern relations boost southern box office in Korea
Therunaway box office success of Welcome To Dongmakgolhas driven home a point about the South Korean box office: films about NorthKorea sell. Dongmakgol,based on a stage play by Jang Jin, is centered around two South Koreansoldiers, three North Korean soldiers, and an American pilot who meet in aremote mountain village ...
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Cineclick announces global sales deal with Korea Pictures
South Korean sales companyCineclick Asia has announced a strategic alliance with distributor/financierKorea Pictures, with Cineclick to represent all but two of the latter's titles.Korea Pictures had formerlyoperated a small sales division that was a regular presence at internationalmarkets but the departure of CEO Soma Chung earlier this year resulted in ...
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Pusan project market shortlists 27 Asian features
Asia's highest-profile project market, the PusanPromotion Plan (PPP), has unveiled a record 27 projects that will be introducedto potential co-producers and financiers at the upcoming Pusan InternationalFilm Festival.Held from October 10-12, this year's PPP will includevarious projects in development or pre-production including The War MovieProject, a big-budget WWII film set ...
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Lady Vengeance smashes Korean box office records
Park Chan-wook'sVenice-bound Sympathy For Lady Vengeance has notched the highestgrossing opening weekend in South Korean history, narrowly beating out lastyear's record-breaking Tae Guk Gi.The film, the finalinstalment of Park's so-called "revenge trilogy," which also includesOldboy (2003) and Sympathy For Mr Vengeance (2002), sold 1.46mtickets between July 28 and 31, amounting ...
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Puchon festival wraps under shadow of industry boycott
Following months of controversy and a tense weekduring which a rival festival unspooled in Seoul, the Puchon InternationalFantastic Film Festival (PiFan) drew the curtain on its ninth edition with asubdued closing ceremony that was almost devoid of local stars or industryfigures.Programmer Zeong Cho-sin, who alsofulfilled the duties of festival director, ...
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Cinema Service founder Kang steps down as CEO
South Korean distributorCinema Service has announced thatVice President Kim In-soo will take over as thecompany'snew CEO/President.The move will allow founder Kang Woo-suk, a film director(Silmido) recognisedas one of the most powerful figures in the South Korean film industry, to focuson directing and producing full time.Former CEO Michael Kim, who has ...
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Empress Chung set for historic Korean release
Empress Chung, an animated feature based on a Korean folk tale, isset to become the first ever film to receive a simultaneous release in Northand South Korea.The $6m North-South Korean co-production will bere-dubbed into Pyongyang dialect by famous local actors and released into sixtheaters in North Korea on August 15.The ...
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Asian film commissions move to draw more US shoots
The Asian Film CommissionsNetwork (AFCNet) is gearing up for a push to draw more Hollywood productions tothe region.The move comes as AFCNet hasadded Singapore and Cambodia to its membership roster, which now boasts 22commissions from across the region.AFCNet, which offers supportfor location shoots, will hold a seminar on attracting US ...
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Korea braced for Puchon punch up
South Korea's festival sceneis set to witness a major confrontation in mid-July, when the 9th PuchonInternational Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) faces off against a smaller rivalevent staged by PiFan's former organisers.On Tuesday the so-calledReal Fantastic Film Festival, to take place in Seoul over the same period asPiFan (July 14-23), unveiled ...
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Oldboy director joins CJ's digital slate
Korean major CJ Entertainment is teaming withmerchandising and licensing company Barunson to finance eight upcoming projectsby star directors, including Oldboy's Park Chan-wook. In a significant development for the local industry,all eight projects will be shot in high-definition (HD) digital format.In addition to Park, the directors include RyooSeung-wan (Arahan), Hur Jin-ho ...
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Pusan festival unveils expansion plans
The Pusan InternationalFilm Festival has unveiled a range of special events for its tenth anniversaryedition to be held in October, including an inaugural Asian Film Academy (AFA)modeled after the Berlinale Talent Campus and Sundance's Filmmakers Lab.Festival director KimDong-ho also says that PIFF will double its number of participating theatresfrom 16 ...
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Korean producers ready string of big budget hopefuls
Korean audienceshave always had a complicated relationship with big-budget local movies. Some, such asaction film Shiri (1999), military drama Silmido (2003), orKorean War film Tae Guk Ki (2004), have emerged as record-breaking smashhits, with up to a quarter of the population lining up to buy tickets. At other times,however, an ...
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Korean film giants merge international sales divisions
CJEntertainment and Cinema Service, two of Korea's leading film companies, havestepped up their recent partnership with a merger of their international salesdivisions.The development will see all of the two companies'current and library titles represented by an expanded sales team operatingunder the CJ name. The merger iseffective as of June 1, ...