All articles by Jean Noh – Page 68
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News
iHQ picks up sales rights to Joo Ji-Hong's Rabbit And Lizard
South Korea’s iHQ has picked up sales rights to sell Rabbit And Lizard, directed by Joo Ji-Hong, a Korean graduate of FEMIS who has spent some years in France making shorts.The award-winning director is now working with two pop idols-turned-actors - Jang Hyuk (Volcano High, Windstruck) and Sung Yuri (TV ...
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Korea's Barunson acquires majority stake in Sio
Barunson, the investor/producer of Korean hit The Good, The Bad, The Weird, has acquired a majority stake in Sio Films, producer of hits such as Park Chan-wook's Old Boy. Barunson acquired 700,000 shares equalling a 51.8% stake, in Sio Films for $492,800. Head of Sio Films Syd Lim will now ...
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PIFF receives public funding boost to offset downturn
The Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) is set to receive an increase in government funding to offset the effects of the economic downturn anddiminishing corporate sponsorship.
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KOFIC hands out p&a funding to three companies
The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has announced that it will award p&a funds to LA-based Eleven Arts, Belgium's Cineart and Taiwan's Infinity International in its first p&a funding round of 2009. Eleven Arts will receive $10,211 (KW15m) to support the US theatrical release of Noh Young-seok's low-budget road movie Daytime ...
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South Korea's new sexual revolution
When Sponge Entertainment CEO David Cho picked up John Cameron Mitchell's sexually explicit US indie Shortbus for South Korea back in 2006, he knew he was in for a fight. Now, after more than two years battling the Korea Media Ratings Board (KMRB), Sponge finally opened the film commercially on ...
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NewsPusan appoints new executives and programmers
The 14th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) has appointed new executives to the Asian FilmMarket and programmers for the World Cinema and Asian Cinema sections.
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KOFIC cuts funding, overhauls investment strategy
The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has slashed its overall programme budget by 25% from last year's $42.48m (KW65.8bn) to $32.73m for 2009. However, it has also overhauled its investment strategy in an attempt to counter falling profits and investment in the Korean film industry and piracy in ancillary markets. The ...
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The secrets to Japanese box-office success
Japanese cinema-goers paying $18 for a ticket tend to make conservative choices when they reach the front of the queue. This goes some way to explain the 59.5% market share garnered by local films at last year's box office. Audiences know what they will get from the new animation from ...
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Sonnenfeld to direct remake of Korean hit Scandal Makers
Korean sales agent M-Line Distribution has announced that Barry Sonnenfeld (Men In Black) is attached to direct and executive produce the US remake of Korean sleeper hit Scandal Makers. Kang Hyung-chul's Scandal Makers portrays the comedy and drama that ensues when a radio DJ in his mid-thirties suddenly discovers he ...
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News
Busan celebrates opening of AZ Works post-production complex
After five years of work, the city of Busan and the Busan Film Commission (BFC) are celebrating the opening of the 'AZ Works on the beach' post-production complex in Busan's newly developing Centum City. AZ Works, which also has labs in Seoul and Beijing, is headed by CEOLee Yong Gi, ...
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Singapore film festival to open with Sincerely Yours
The 22nd Singapore International Film Festival (April 14-25) will open with Sincerely Yours from debuting Taiwanese feature director Rich Lee. The film explores the plight of illegal foreign workers in Taiwan with a multi-national cast. The festival will close with Milk from Turkey, a 'quietly stunning and poetic film about ...
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CJ Entertainment to invest $60m in local and overseas projects
Leading Korean investor/distributor CJ Entertainment CEO Katherine Kim has announced that the company will be investing $46.5m - $53.1m this year in 13-15 local releases and another $6.64m in 5-10 overseas projects in the US, China and Japan. Speaking to local press, Kim also talked about Korea's dying ancillary markets ...
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Low-budget doc stampedes South Korean box office
Old Partner, a documentary about an old man and his cow, has topped the South Korean box office with 419,295 admissions from 276 screens this past weekend. The sleeper hit, which is distributed by Indiestory both in Korea and overseas, has accumulated a record 1,393,079 admissions for a documentary, and ...
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Korea's Sponge Entertainment wins Shortbus ratings battle
After two years, Sponge Entertainment has won the fight to screen John Cameron Mitchell's sexually explicit film Shortbus in South Korea with a 'Teenager Restricted' rating. The film follows a sex therapist, who has never experienced an orgasm, as she is introduced to the people in an underground sex club ...
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Hyde Park, Activers to co-produce Korean Mata Hari story
Korea's Activers Entertainment has announced a deal with Ashok Amritraj's Hyde Park Entertainment and investment banking firm Film Financial Services (FFS) to co-produce Against Conspiracy (working title), a $20m film based on 'the Korean Mata Hari story' of Kim Soo-im, a woman accused of and executed for being a North ...
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Kim Ki-duk Film sues Korea's Studio 2.0
Korean director Kim Ki-duk's production company, Kim Ki-duk Film, has filed suit against distributor Studio 2.0 for suspicion of profits embezzlement from the box office success Rough Cut, directed by Kim Ki-duk protege Jang Hun. Rough Cut was made for less than $1.5m with co-producer Sponge Entertainment and leading men ...
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Indiestory's Old Partner becomes Korea's top independent film
Korean film distributor Indiestory's Old Partner, an ultra-low-budget documentary about an octogenarian man, his wife and his loyal, hard-working cow of 30 years has become South Korea's biggest independent film hit on record.Focusing onthe relationship between theman and his cowand thevalue of humble labor, Lee Chung-ryoul's 78-minute HD documentaryhas taken ...
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Sponge teams with CJ CGV to release indie titles
Korean importer/producer Sponge Entertainment has announced a deal with leading exhibitor CJ CGV to screen a slate of Sponge's upcoming local independent films. The films will be screened under the CGV Movie Collage label, an arthouse/independent cinema brand at CGV multiplexes. Sponge Entertainment, best known for importing and distributing arthouse ...
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Korean films boost exports but lose local market share
The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has reported that export figures for Korean films bounced up 40% year-on-year to total $20.54m, based on minimum guarantees, ending a freefall that started in 2004. Although, the sum still falls short of the $30.9m worth of exports in 2003, it is higher than the ...
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News
Finecut picks up new feature from Hong Sang-soo
Seoul-based Finecut has picked up worldwide sales rights for Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo's upcoming feature Jal Aljido Mot Hamyeonsuh (original title). Currently in post-production, the film has yet to settle on an international title, although the original Korean title means 'as if you even know properly' or as Finecut puts ...