The Korean Film Council announced Wednesday that “The Man Standing Next” by director Woo Min-ho was chosen out of the 13 films that applied for submission for the Oscar for best international feature film. The 13 movie submissions included “Peninsula” by Yeon Sang-ho, “Deliver Us from Evil” by Hong Won-chan and “Beasts that Cling to the Straw” by Kim Yong-hoon, among others. “We had a lot of discussion as to which movie made this year has t

Director of family drama “Minari,” which won top prizes at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, said US audiences have come to embrace Korean films since director Bong Joon-ho’s ”Parasite” won multiple Oscars. “It’s (‘Minari’ winning the awards is) surprising. I think it is less surprising after ‘Parasite,’” director Lee Isaac Chung said during a press conference held via Zoom on Friday as part of the Busan International Film

Voice of Silence (Korea) Opened Oct. 15 Crime, Drama Directed by Hong Eui-jeong Tae-in (Yoo Ah-in) has the unusual job of disposing of corpses and cleaning up crime scenes for an organized crime syndicate, along with Chang-bok (Yoo Jae-myung). One day, Tae-in and Chang-bok become responsible for taking care of a girl (Moon Seung-ah) when her kidnapper, a member of a criminal organization, suddenly dies. Unhinged (US) Opened Oct. 7 Thriller, Action Directed by Derrick Borte Rachel Hunter (C

A political thriller depicting the intense power struggle among former President Park Chung-hee's top aides before one of them assassinated him in 1979 will represent South Korea in next year's Oscars. The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) said Thursday that it has chosen "The Man Standing Next" out of 13 films as the country's entry for the best international feature film category of the 93rd Academy Awards. The selection came after South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite"

The 25th Busan International Film Festival kicked off Wednesday for a 10-day run in a year that has seen many film festivals around the world canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this year’s BIFF is a much scaled down version with all large crowd-attracting events such as the opening and closing ceremonies, outdoor greetings and open talk sessions canceled. “Many leading overseas film festivals were canceled due to COVID-19, but we decided to hold it, as we have trust i

A local distributor of two South Korean movies is considering releasing the films on Netflix without theatrical runs as the novel coronavirus pandemic has disrupted their opening schedules, a company official said Friday. The thriller "Call," starring Park Shin-hye, was first planned to hit local screens in March, but the release has been postponed for several months due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The distributor has also been struggling to fix the release date for the crime thriller

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (US) Opened Oct. 8 Comedy Directed by Richard Linklater Architect-turned-recluse Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett) lives in Seattle with her husband Elgin Branch (Billy Crudup), and their 15-year-old daughter Balakrishna (Emma Nelson). One day, Bernadette’s daughter requests a family trip to Antarctica, which she reluctantly agrees to. As Bernadette prepares for the trip with her Siri-like virtual assistant named Manjula in India, an FBI agent comes to Be

The Seoul International Pride Film Festival, a festival featuring movies telling the stories of sexual minorities, will take place Nov. 5 - 11 at CGV Myeongdong Station Cine Library in Seoul. “Due to the pandemic, many film festivals are either going online or have been canceled. However, we decided to hold the festival offline as the situation in Korea is improving,“ Head of Executive Committee Kim Jho Gwang-soo said during a press conference on Tuesday. ”Initially, we plan

South Korean director Park Chan-wook will start shooting his new film, “Decision to Leave,” in October, having cast all the main characters. Tang Wei and Park Hye-il will star as the protagonists. Lee Jung-hyun, Go Kyung-pyo and Park Yong-woo are also part of the cast. The new movie centers on a polite and honest police officer named Hye-jun, played by Park Hye-il. Hye-jun looks into a suspicious death that occurred on a mountain and comes to suspect the dead man’s wife, Se

Actor Yoo Ah-in said he put no extra effort into playing a character with no lines in the upcoming crime drama “Voice of Silence.” “There was no extra preparation for the character. I just tried to form a stronger trust in director Hong Eui-jung and actor Yoo Jae-myung,” Yoo Ah-in said Monday during an online press conference. Tae-in, Yoo Ah-in’s character in the movie, has the unusual job of disposing of corpses and cleaning up crime scenes for an organized crim

"Pawn," a South Korean human drama about a debt collector and his new family, has topped 1 million admissions here, data showed Monday. The family movie attracted 1.07 million viewers Friday, passing the 1 million milestone in 11 days since its release on Sept. 29, according to the data compiled by the Korean Film Council. After debuting at No. 2 on its opening day, the film moved up to the top spot the next day and has since dominated the local box office. Its total viewers stood at

Actress Kim Hye-soo, who played an impressive police officer in the hit TV series “Signal,” is returning to the big screen as a cop in “The Day I Died.” “At first, I was aware of the fact that Hyun-soo is a police officer character (like Soo-hyun in Signal.) But for Hyun-soo, I could naturally focus more on portraying her emotions and less on her occupation,” Kim said during an online press briefing on Thursday. “I expect audiences will feel the same wa

Director Kim Kang-min became the first Korean to take home both the Nelvana Grand Prize for Independent Short and the Public Prize at the 44th Ottawa International Animation Festival, with his short film “KKUM” on Saturday. “KKUM,” meaning “dream” in Korean, is a black-and-white stop-motion animation about a mother who has prophetic dreams of the dangers her son will face and how the son matures in her love. “Winning the Grand Award at Ottawa was one

The combined revenue for South Korean movie theaters declined by over 70 percent as the new coronavirus pandemic has continued for months, according to a lawmaker Monday. Cinemas across the country posted revenue of 415.1 billion won ($356.9 million) in the first nine months of this year, more than a 70 percent fall from 1.448 trillion won a year ago, Rep. Park Jeung of the ruling Democratic Party said. The number of moviegoers also fell by some 70 percent, from 170 million to 48 million, over

Netflix on Monday said its highly anticipated K-pop documentary “Blackpink: Light Up the Sky,” directed by Korean American film director Caroline Suh, is set to premiere on Oct. 14. Once the film is released, Blackpink will be the fourth female act featured in a Netflix original documentary, following Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Taylor Swift. The documentary will mainly feature Blackpink’s short but intense journey to K-pop superstardom now from rookies in 2016. It also will hav