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Since his star-making turn in Na Hong-jin’s horror masterpiece “The Wailing”, Kwak Do-won’s presence has increased in important supporting roles. 4 year on, he is once again the lead actor in Kim Bong-Gan’s action/comedy/drama/mystery feature “The Golden Holiday”, and the two narratives couldn’t be more different in tone and subject matter!

Synopsis

A countrified detective gets drawn into a global crime! Corporal Hong Byeong-soo (Kwak Do-won) from the Daecheon Police Station, goes on his first overseas trip to the Philippines. His sweet dream is short-lived when he falls for mob killer Patrick’s (Kim Hee-won) scheme and gets tagged as a murderer and starts investigating the case with local guide and hometown friend Man-cheol (Kim Dae-myung) to clear his name.

However, unlike his eager heart, Byeong-soo doesn’t speak well enough English and he’s getting old. In addition, nuisance of a childhood friend...

South Korea celebrated the centennial of the country’s cinema in style. “Parasite” became the first film to win the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival as well as the first film to be nominated for and win a Golden Globe award after being nominated for both Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film, eventually being awarded the Best Foreign Language Film of the year. Commercially as well, Korean films enjoyed a successful year, with both “Extreme Job” and “Exit” benefiting from a strong word of mouth to secure their places among the highest grossing Korean films of all time at the domestic box office. Simultaneously, independent cinema also flourished last year, with several smaller films winning big at various international film festivals around the globe, sending hopeful signs for the country’s independent cinema.

Naturally, expectations are high from what Korean cinema has to offer this year.

Once again, Ma Dong-seok looks to be finishing his year strong. Where last year he had two films, “The Villagers” and “Unstoppable” in November last year, this year he has two films releasing yet again in the month of December. Along with “Ashfall“, he will also be seen director Choi Jeong-yeol’s coming-op-age comedy “Start-Up”.

Synopsis

Taek-il recklessly leaves home, defying his mother who asks him to go to college. In the unfamiliar neighborhood, he happens to get a job as a delivery man for a Chinese restaurant, where he mingles with new people such as Geo-seok, a chef, and Kyung-ju, a boxer. Meanwhile, Sang-pil, a friend of Taek-il, enters the private loan business to make money.At first, it seems easy to make a big fortune, but soon he finds himself in pain as he faces unexpected things. The two boys in stormy period are becoming real adults as...

The 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival, now entering its third week, announces the award winners of its monumental 23rd edition. The victors were chosen through the deliberation of juries assigned to each competition, and were announced at a live ceremony on 21 July 2019.

Lee Su-Jin’s Idol takes top honours, nabs fest’s coveted Cheval Noir Award for Best Feature

Cheval Noir Award – Feature Films

The jury, presided over by Annick Mahnert, and comprised of Shaked Berenson, Amy Darling, Miles Finberg, and Maurizio Guarini (composer), awarded the following prizes:

Best Film: Idol (d. Lee Su-Jin)

In a statement, the jury noted, “From start to finish, Idol is an incredibly well-made film. We were struck by the great screenplay, performances, and directing.”

Han Soek-kyu and Sol Kyung-gu in “Idol”

Best Actor (tie): Han Seok-kyu and Sul Kyung-gu (Idol)

“Both actors brilliantly go through a wide range of emotions while their lives are colliding and collapsing,...

After receiving the New York Asian Film Festival’s Star Asia award last year, actor Kim Yoon-seok returns, this time as the director of his first feature, Another Child, the sensitive tale of two teenagers caught in a web of domestic upheaval. Kim spoke exclusively with Lmd about his directorial debut, his role in the also featured thriller, Dark Figure of Crime, and confirms his upcoming collaboration with director Ryoo Seung-wan. The Lady Miz Diva: Welcome back to the festival on the occasion of your directing debut. I remember discussing plans for your first directing project last year. I am also happy to see that you must also be a fan of the hit drama, Sky Castle (Another Child features Sky Castle stars...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

If you had told me previously that the actor from such action thrillers as “The Chaser”, “The Yellow Sea”, “Haemoo” or “The Thieves” would make his directorial debut with a tender human drama about adultery, friendship, responsibility and growing up, while also having co-written the script for the film, I would have probably laughed you out of the room. Yet here we are, with “Another Child” proving to be a triumphant directorial debut for Kim Yoon-seok.

“Another Child” is screening at New York Asian Film Festival

Joo-ri is in a dilemma. The high-school student has just found out that her father Dae-won is having an affair with Mi-hee, the mother of another student Yoon-ah from her school, who she really doesn’t get along with, and that Mi-hee is carrying her father’s child. Both Joo-ri and Yoon-ah are completely against the relationship and have been thinking of ways to...

It’s time for genre lovers to converge on Montreal for one of the best film festivals, pound for pound, in North America: Fantasia International Film Festival. With over 130 features from all across the globe, their 23rd year of fun has something for everyone.

Twenty years after Fantasia debuted Ringu to North American audiences, director Hideo Nakata returns to the franchise’s iconic character for an Opening Night celebration (July 11) with his latest J-horror Sadako. Combine that with a Special Screening of Fox Searchlight’s Ready or Not (July 27) and Closing Night film Promare (August 1) for a trio of hotly-anticipated films spanning the entire three-week event.

Fill out the rest of your schedule with a stellar line-up including the Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg-starring Vivarium, the world premiere of Hirotaka Adachi’s Stare, an advance screening of Abner Pastoll’s A Good Woman Is Hard to Find, Gabriela Amaral...

New York, NY – Film at Lincoln Center and the New York Asian Film Foundation announce the 18th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff), June 28 – July 14, 2019.

After last year’s Savage Seventeen, this year’s program is dubbed the “Still Too Young to Die” edition with five international premieres, 23 North American premieres, four U.S. premieres, and eight New York premieres, showcasing the most exciting action, comedy, drama, thriller, romance, horror, and art-house films from East Asia, and bringing close to 30 directors and nine actors from Asia.

Eighteen – Still Too Young to Die: Many will recognize the cheeky reference to Nyaff 2016 audience award winner, Kudo Kankuro’s Too Young to Die!, in which a busload of high-school students plummet to their deaths. They either end up in heaven or hell, both of which defy expectations. Graduating into adulthood, Nyaff aims to defy expectations cinematically.

With the irreverent action-comedy...