News

Directorial debut of Kang Seung-yong known for his production design work in “King and the Clown” (2005), “The Throne” (2015) and “Gangnam 1970,” as well his art production in “Addiction” (2002) and “Virgin Snow” (2007), “1980: The Unforgettable Day” takes place five months after the coup d'etat shown in “12:12: The Day,” and revolves around six family members living in Gwangju.

Follow our coverage of the deeper depths of Asian cinema

After years of efforts, the patriarch of a family has managed to open his Chinese restaurant in Gwangju, named “Peaceful Restaurant”, with three generations essentially running it. While he handles the food, with red bean paste noodles being the specialty, his first son's wife is waiting the tables, while her sister, who has aspirations of becoming a pop singer, also tries to help, although with not much success. His second son, Sang-du feels bitterness that he cannot inherit the restaurant due to being second in line,...

Gun-woo (Lee Soo-hyuk) is the heir of an oil refining conglomerate who devises a heist that could earn him even more money. He plans to siphon off oil from a major pipeline that runs between Honam and the Seoul to Busan highway. Pindol (Seo In-guk), a gifted young drilling technician, agrees to help Gun-woo for a large fee. But to meet the deadline, Pindol has to recruit and work with a ragtag team of misfits including an expert welder, an excavation specialist, an operations professional, a geographer and a tech specialist. Racing against time and with their lives at stake, they must overcome their self-interests to complete this ultimate team play. However, a street-smart detective Man-sik (Bae Yoo-ram) is onto them and tries to shut the operation down.

This non-traditional caper film with a fresh idea of oil theft is directed by Yoo Ha, who is known as one of...

The final installment of director-screenwriter Ha Yoo’s “street series” trilogy (Once Upon a Time in High School and A Dirty Carnival the other two) entailed all the reasons to become a great film, both commercially and artistically. Elaborate story, based on actual sociopolitical conditions, a general theme that seems to produce, constantly, masterpieces all over the world, a cast that combined popularity with accomplished acting, stylized cinematography, action, violence, sex and a little of melodrama and politics. However, in the end the result was disappointing, at least according to the initial expectations.

The film takes place in the ’70s, in the Gangnam district of Seoul, where two orphan friends, Jong Dae and Yong Gi try desperately to earn their living by selling whatever they manage to find in the streets, including trash. Nevertheless, the money they earn is not even enough to heat the building they live in,...

Apple TV+ this month will commence production on Pachinko, an adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Min Jin Lee, to be told in Korean, Japanese and English and film across multiple continents.

Soo Hugh (The Terror) penned the adaptation and will serve as showrunner and an executive producer.

More from TVLineServant Season 2: Find Out When the Creepy Nanny Drama Will ReturnKate Hudson to Headline Truth Be Told Season 2 at Apple TV+Dickinson Renewed at Apple TV+, Gets Return Date and a Spooky Teaser

Chronicling “the hopes and dreams of four generations of a Korean immigrant family” and described as “epic in scope,...

Apple has officially announced the cast for its “Pachinko” series, with Korean superstar Lee Min Ho among those starring in the series.

Set to begin production on Oct. 26, “Pachinko” is an adaptation of the Min Jin Lee novel of the same name. It chronicles the hopes and dreams of four generations of a Korean immigrant family. The story begins with a forbidden love and moves into a saga that journeys between Korea, Japan and America to tell the story of war and peace, love and loss, triumph and reckoning. The story will be told in Korean, Japanese, and English.

Lee will play Hansu, described as an enigmatic outsider and merchant with ties to organized crime who embarks on an illicit romance with far-reaching consequences. Lee’s other notable roles include “Boys Over Flowers,” “The Heirs,” “Gangnam Blues,” “Bounty Hunters,” and “The King: Eternal Monarch.” He is repped by Artist International Group,...

Actress Gong Hyo-jin reigns supreme when it comes to romantic dramas for television, with any new series featuring her gaining a lot of momentum and fetching good ratings throughout its runtime and awards once its finished. On the silver screen though, she has consciously been trying to build a completely different image to her small screen avatar, featuring in actions films like “Hit-and-Run Squad” and thrillers like “Door Lock” and “Missing”. Likewise, actor Kim Rae-won has also had a strong presence and following in the romance genre on television but has been seen in action dramas like “The Prison” and “Gangnam Blues” on the big screen. Both of them haven’t been in a romantic feature since “You are More than Beautiful” in 2013 and “My Little Bride” in 2003 respectively. So when director Kim Han-gyul managed to sign both of them for her debut “Crazy Romance” which of course, as the title suggests,...

2017’s smash hit “The Outlaws” propelled its lead Ma Dong-seok into superstardom and established its debutant director Kang Yoon-sung as a talent to watch out for. While he is already signed on to direct a sequel to his debut feature, his sophomore film “Long Live the King” is set to release soon.

Synopsis

Jang Se-chool is a gangster boss. He has been in love with Kang So-hyun for the past 3 years, even though she tries to push him away. One day, in order to make him give up on her, Kang So-hyun tells him that she wants to be a first lady. Jang Se-chool is confused by her comment. Meanwhile, his friend Jung Choon-taek is a death row convict. His friends tells him that his execution date has been set. Nobody can save him except, possibly, the South Korean president. To marry Kang So-hyun and to save his friend, Jang...

 

 

The Grand Bell Awards , also known as Daejong Film Awards, is an awards ceremony presented annually by The Motion Pictures Association of Korea for excellence in film in South Korea.

 

About The Grand Bell AwardsAward Winners

The 52nd ceremony was held on November 20, 2015 in the Kbs Hall in Seoul and hosted by Shin Hyun Joon and Han Go Eun. To promote the awards beyond the borders of Korea, the show was also broadcasted live online in China and a new category was added, regarding foreign actors. Furthermore, the head of the steering committee announced that they were pressing for North Korean directors and actors to attend and compete.

Gao Yuanyuan

 

However, the ceremony was an utter disaster, chiefly due to a number of mishandling and much controversy. Roughly a month before the ceremony, the organizers announced that they would present awards only to the winners that attended the ceremony. Otherwise,...

China will continue to be the big box-office focus internationally in 2015, but the importance of other key markets can’t be discounted. Among them, Korea, Russia and Brazil remain hugely significant territories for the studios, while nations such as Malaysia and Venezuela are on the rise — and present their own challenges. China has expansive growth, a massive population and throws off huge grosses every time a Hollywood movie gets in under the quota system — and it keeps hurtling forward. Leaving aside the big dragon in the room, I looked at these other key markets that have been experiencing their own shifts, good and bad. Here’s a snapshot of how they fared this year and what we can expect up ahead:

Brazil

A funny thing happened to Brazil in 2014: the World Cup helped the box office. Although the national team advanced all the way to the third-place match, people still went to the movies.