Last Witness. Detective Oh Byeong-ho investigates a murder at a local brewery and uncovers the secret history of violence, and tragedy, between the communist guerrillas and right-wing militias that fought in the area during the Korean War. The film’s exploration of communism made it controversial in South Korea during the 1980s. Government censors cut 40 minutes from the theatrical release.
The 2010 season of The Korea Society's Classic Movie Night series will begin on Wednesday, January 20. To commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, The Korea Society has selected a schedule of classics that examine the conflict, and the deep, sometimes unexpected scars it has left on the Korean people.
Beginning with Man With Three Coffins on January 20, and continuing with Last Witness (February 17) and Crossing (March 17), this season's classic films will examine how, even 60 years on, the effects of the War continue to haunt communities, divide families and fracture Koreans' sense of identity. Each film will be followed by a guest speaker who will discuss its artistic and cultural context.
Classic Movie Night 2010
Facing the War: Six Decades of Film Since the Korean War
Monthly Screenings
 ♦ Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 6:30 PM
Last Witness
최후의 증인
Directed by Lee Doo-yong
Starring Choi Bool-am, Han Hye-sook, Hah Myung-joong and Jeong yun-hui
1980, 158 minutes
Detective Oh Byeong-ho investigates a murder at a local brewery and uncovers the secret history of violence, and tragedy, between the communist guerrillas and right-wing militias that fought in the area during the Korean War. The film’s exploration of communism made it controversial in South Korea during the 1980s. Government censors cut 40 minutes from the theatrical release.
Guest Speaker (via video interview): Cho Jun-hyoung, researcher, Korean Film Archive; Lee Sang-joon, adjunct professor of cinema studies, New York University
Buy Tickets today for February and March 2010 film screenings.
The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
(Building entrance on SW corner of Third Avenue and 57th Street)
Tickets to each screening are available for $5 (members) or $10 (nonmembers). For more information contact Yuni Cho at (212) 759-7525, ext. 323 or
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Director Bong Joon-ho has rapidly become one of the most powerful creative and commercial forces in the Korean film industry. After releasing the critically acclaimed Barking Dogs Never Bite and Memories of Murder, Bong stepped into the international spotlight with his 2006 monster movie The Host. Throughout his films, Bong has forged an unmistakable style that fuses the inner realities of contemporary Korea—especially the shame, guilt, and trauma left over from the democratic movement of the 1980s—with all the power and fun of genre movies. His new film Mother, set for U.S. release in March, utilizes this powerful style in the service of a murder mystery.
Join us on Thursday, February 25, for a conversation with Bong Joon-ho about his filmmaking method and his career in the Korea movie industry. The evening will include a special preview of clips from the upcoming Mother.
 Discussion Moderated By
Michael Atkinson
Professor of Film
Long Island University
Thursday, February 25, 2010
6:00–6:30 PM * Registration and Reception
6:30–8:30 PM * Discussion and Q&A
The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
(Building entrance on SW corner of Third Avenue and 57th Street)
Tickets are available for $10 (members) or $15 (non-members).
For more information contact Yuni Cho at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or 212-759-7525 ext. 323.
This program is supported by Magnolia Pictures.
Mother will be released in theaters nationwide on March 12, 2010. Watch the trailer here.
Buy Tickets
About the Moderator
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 Since 1977, KBS’ television series Korean Ghost Stories (a.k.a. Hometown of Legend) has thrilled Korean audiences with spooky tales of the supernatural. Join the members of The Korea Society as we screen three hour-long episodes of this perennial Korean favorite on Thursday, November 19, and Thursday, December 17.
Often drawn from ancient folklore, these tales of tortured ghosts and supernatural curses have a uniquely Korean flavor, as women, forced by Confucian culture into subservient roles, return from the dead to take revenge on the men who caused them misery. The tales also touch on Korean attitudes towards justice, suggesting that the duty of the powerful to protect the powerless transcends even the grave.
Korean Ghost Stories
Classic Korean TV Series Comes to the U.S.
Thursday, November 19 and Thursday, December 17, 2009
6:30 PM * Screening
The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
(Building entrance on SW corner of Third Avenue and 57th Street)
SCREENING SCHEDULE
Screening of Haunted House and The Reincarnated Princess
Thursday, December 17, 2009 – 6:30 PM
The second installment of Korean Ghost Stories features two spine-tingling episodes. In Haunted House (starring Lee Duck-hwa, Lee Min-woo, and Yoo Hye-jung), the ghost of a young woman haunts the family members who sold her into a life of corruption, and two sisters return from the grave to seduce and punish the men who killed them in The Reincarnated Princess (starring Lee Jin, Kang Sung-min, and Lee Ji-hyun).
 Download a podcast of our interview with Lee Min-hong, director of several episodes including
The Reincarnated Princess, from iTunes or our Podcast page.
The interview is also available as a video on YouTube.
  
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| The Korea Society and the Film Society of Lincoln Center presented Korea's oldest surviving film, digitally restored, and accompanied by live musicians and narrators (byeonsa) of the type found in Korean theaters of the 1930s.
Crossroads of Youth (Cheonchun's Sipjaro) 
On Saturday, October 4, The Korea Society and the Film Society of Lincoln Center recreated the film-going experience of early modern Korea when they presented Korea's oldest surviving silent film, Crossroads of Youth (Cheonchun's Sipjaro, 1934), at a special screening accompanied by live musicians and narrators (byeonsa).The enthusiastic members of New York's film community—who nearly filled Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall on a Saturday morning—were transported to a bygone era when live music heightened the drama and byeonsa (live, dramatic narrators who recapped the plot and gave voice to the characters' silent expressions) provided a uniquely Korean twist to the on-screen action.
The Korea Society and the Film Society of Lincoln Center wish to thank the Korean Film Archive, as well as KOIS (Korean Culture and Information Service), and Korean Cultural Service NY, for their generous support of this successful program.
  
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 Podcast Release and Free Screening South Korean star director Park Chan-wook (JSA, Old Boy), has thrilled both critics and audiences in his native country for a decade. His "vengeance" trilogy brought international recognition, including a Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize (2008) and a Jury Prize (2009), and established Park as a virtuoso filmmaker with a thoroughly original artistic vision. On July 24, 2009, The Korea Society recorded a special interview with the director in which he spoke about his influences, his meteoric ascension into the pantheon of internationally celebrated directors, and his latest film, Thirst.  Download the podcast of the interview from iTunes or www.koreasociety.org. For English, please click here (mp3) or the icon below. The original Korean interview direct download is here. To celebrate its release, The Korea Society is also offering free admission to a special advanced screening of Thirst!
The first Korean film to be co-financed and co-produced by Hollywood, Thirst is a stylish vampire thriller with a dramatic bite, and continues Park's exploration of the dark side of the human soul. A devout priest (Song Kang-ho, The Host) on a mission to Africa volunteers as a test subject in a vaccine trial-gone-awry. Now a vampire, he returns to Korea to endure the torments of temptation, embodied by a childhood friend's wife (Kim Ok-bin). The screening will begin at 6:30 PM on Thursday, July 30 at the Landmark Sunshine Theatre in New York City. No tickets are required. A line will form in front of the theater box office and admission will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. |
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