All articles by Darcy Paquet – Page 4
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Japan's Amuse Soft pays record sum for Secrets
South Koreancomedy Everybody Has Secrets -- an official remake of GerardStembridge's Irish-UK co-production About Adam (2000) -- has clinchedKorea's biggest ever sale to Japan.Amuse Soft Entertainmentbought the title for a $2.5m guarantee together with a commitment to spend atleast $3m in p&a costs.'The salewas handled directly by Chung Tae-won, head ...
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Horror summer for Korean cinema
South Korea'scinematic output over the next few months will be concentrated less on festivalofferings and more on potential box-office hits.With a string ofhorror titles and star vehicles lined up for mid to late summer, local cinemawill be looking for some commercial successes to tide it over until the autumn,which is ...
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Korea unveils international co-production fund
The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has unveiled its firstsupport fund targeted at international co-productions.For 2004, one co-produced film will be selected by aspecially-appointed jury of film industry representatives, and granted amaximum of $250,000 (WON 300m).The fund applies to feature films (of at least 70 minutes)in the development, pre-production or production ...
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Film director Lee replaced as Korean culture minister
Film director Lee Chang-dong (Oasis), who has served as South Korea's Minister ofCulture and Tourism since February 2003, was replaced on Wednesday in a cabinetreshuffle.The move, which was widely expected, sees Chung Dong-chaetake over leadership of the Ministry.The 50-year old Chung worked as a journalist for many years beforeserving as ...
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PiFan unveils 8th festival line-up
Stuart Gordon's King Of The Ants and Ahn Byung-ki's Bunshinsaba have been selected tobookend the 8th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan), whichruns from July 15-24 in South Korea.The world premiereof Bunshinsaba marks the third time thata film by Ahn will close the festival, with previous works A Nightmare and ...
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South Korean film-makers stunned by quota reversal
In a reversal of position that hasstunned the local film industry, South Korea's Ministry of Culture and Tourismhas announced that it will now support the reduction of the nation's embattledScreen Quota System. TheMinistry's acquiescence makes it almost certain that the Screen Quota will beweakened in the near to mid-future.In a ...
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Spring, Summer surprise winner at Korean awards
Kim Ki-duk's Spring,Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring was named the surprise winner of the 41st Grand Bell Awards, SouthKorea's oldest awards ceremony.This marks the second major local honour for the film after it won BestPicture at the rival Blue Dragon Awards held last December.The Korea-Germanco-production beat out popular favorite and ...
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Cineclick ties up Kim Ki-duk financing
South Korean director Kim Ki-duk's latest project 3-Iron has secured a co-financing dealfrom Japan's Happinet equal to 50% of the film's budget.Sales agent Cineclick Asia says that a deal has also beencompleted with France's Pretty Pictures which, together with Japan, means that80% of the budget is covered.Kim's previous two filmshave ...
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Monster sales for Film Transit's Metallica
Films Transit is reporting strong buyer interest in documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, inspite of the fact that world DVD rights to the feature have already been soldto Paramount Home Entertainment.Since its premiere at Berlin, theatrical rights for the film have beensold to the UK (Tartan), Australia (Dendy), Canada ...
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Optimum takes Tube's Aachi for UK
Optimum Releasing has picked up UK rights for Aachi & Ssipak, a BeavisAnd Butthead-style Korean animated feature about a futuristic world poweredby human feces. Represented by TubeEntertainment, the film has also been pre-sold to AB Films for Italy andProopitiki for Greece, and negotiations are underway with two major USstudios.In addition, ...
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Shochiku engineers Casshern sales
Japanese major Shochiku is reporting strong sales interest in sci-fititle Casshern, about a futuristicworld where biologically-engineered humans attempt to take over the earth.Contracts have already been signed with unnamed distributors for the UKand Portugal, and head of international business Masaki Koga says he is innegotiations for almost all major territories.The ...
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Tokyo festival to launch market
The Tokyo International FilmFestival has announced the launch of an ambitious two-tiered marketaimed at becoming a meeting place for the Asian contents industry.The Japan Contents Fair(JCF) will be held from October 22-24, and will focus on film, animation, TV,video games, music, and DVD, including eventstargeted at ordinary consumers.The Tokyo International ...
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Korea pledges $33m for digital cinema push
South Korea's government is gettingbehind the push towards digital cinema, pledging $33.2m to speed up the filmindustry's transition to digital.In a report published this week titled 'Plans and Visions for theCulture Industry,' the Ministry of Culture and Tourism earmarked the fundsfor 2005-2007 to stimulate research, support the installation of digitalprojectors, ...
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Film-makers vie to remake Japanese Love
Japanese romantic drama CryingOut Love -- The Centre Of The World has scored a monster opening for localmajor Toho, while also drawing remake interest from neighbouring South Korea.Crying Out Love earned $5.3m (Y600m) on 283 screens on its openingweekend, appealing particularly to the under-30 female audience. It is based ona ...
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Korean distributor unveils debut production slate
South Korean distributor Chungeorahm Film makes its first trip toCannes this year with a wide slate of upcoming titles from its newly-launchedproduction and investment arm. These include a new film by Old Boy and Chihwaseonstar Choi Min-shik and a big-budget disaster movie by Bong Joon-ho, director ofthe award-winning Memories Of ...
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Korean distributor unveils debut production slate
South Korean distributor Chungeorahm Film makes its first trip toCannes this year with a wide slate of upcoming titles from its newly-launchedproduction and investment arm. These include a new film by Old Boy and Chihwaseonstar Choi Min-shik and a big-budget disaster movie by Bong Joon-ho, director ofthe award-winning Memories Of ...
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Japanese play with Ouija Board
South Korean sales company Mirovision has clinched thelargest ever pre-sale for a Korean film with the Buena Vista-financed horrortitle Bunshinsaba - Ouija Board.Distributor Happinet Pictures bought Japanese rightsto the film for a $3m minimum guarantee, which ranks among the highest figuresever paid for a Korean film.OuijaBoard is the second Korean ...
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Cinema Service strikes Arahan deals
South Korean major Cinema Service is reporting strong sales of itscontemporary martial arts film Arahan.Arahan, about a youngman and woman who harness their ch'i powers to fight an evil adversary, becamethe second Korean film to be picked up by Universal Japan.South African-based Distant Horizon has also signed a contract torepresent ...
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South Korea damns Breillat's Hell
Flach Pyramide's sexually graphic exploration of misogyny, Anatomy Of Hell by Catherine Breillat, has been denied an import certification by the Korea Media Ratings Board, which cited the film's "perverted sexual content."Import company Duke Cinema was planning to release the film in a chain of newly-approved adult theatres, which are ...
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Silence reigns at Jeonju
South Korea'sJeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) wrapped up its fifth edition on May2, with awards going to Iranian director Babak Payami's Silence Between TwoThoughts and Cuban documentary Suite Havana.One of Korea's topfestivals along with Pusan and Puchon, the JIFF screened a total of 284 shortand feature films, with a strong ...