Director Jeon Kyu-hwan has garnered international attention since the 2008 debut of Mozart Town, the first in his Town Trilogy. His second film, Animal Town, was lauded by critics and festival attendees. The third installment, Dance Town, earned awards at Berlin and the Pusan International Film Festival.Variety Magazine’s Russell Edwards hailed Dance Town as a “confrontational slice of urban life that plays like a blend of John Cassavetes and Ken Loach with a sharp kimchi taste.” Jeon’s next feature film is Varanasi, currently in pre-production. He addresses The Korea Society on the trilogy, shown as part of the MoMA series, as well as his upcoming feature. The event is moderated by Dr. Choi Jung-bong, Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies, New York University.
Monday, October 3
6 PM
Korean Film in Focus Director’s Talk with Jeon Kyu-hwan
The Korea Society 950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
Yeonghwa, or “film” in Korean, is a good word for cinéastes to know, given the Korean film industry’s success at festivals and among critics and audiences worldwide. Korean film blends technical excellence, idiosyncratic individual expression, and an entrepreneurial spirit—filmmakers often write and direct their work, and both actors and filmmakers benefit from the country’s homegrown “star system”—while embracing a wide variety of styles and subjects. Korean cinema is generally made for a national audience, so its vision is rarely diminished by compromises in the name of global appeal. This second season of Yeonghwa includes eight feature films, opening with Rolling Home with a Bull, by Lee Soon-rye (whose 1996 Three Friends was the first film by a female Korean filmmaker to be shown in MoMA’s New Directors/New Films), and Jean Kyu-hwan’s remarkable Town Trilogy. Enriching the exhibition are short works by major Korean filmmakers from Jeonju International Film Festival’s Digital Film Project and a two-film retrospective of the late popular director Lee Man-hee (1931–1975), whose work has recently been rediscovered by a new generation of Korean film critics. All films are in Korean with English subtitles. Special thanks to Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, The Museum of Modern Art.
Trailer credit: Hosik Kim
Thursday, September 22 through Sunday, October 2
Museum of Modern Art 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019 (212) 708-9400 http://www.moma.org
Join The Korea Society and the Museum of The Moving Image for a cinematic wild ride from director Kim Jee-woon’s. Set in the 1930s Manchurian desert, where lawlessness rules and ethnic groups clash, three Korean men fatefully meet on a train: a bounty hunter, the leader of a gang of bandits, and a train robber with nine lives. The three strangers chase across Manchuria to take possession of a valuable map. In Korean with subtitles.
Special Screening @ The Museum of the Moving Image/Outdoor Cinema 2011 Socrates Sculpture Park
Director Kim Ji-woon’s latest film follows a bloody cycle of catch-and-release as the protagonist inflicts “equal sorrow” on his fiancée’s killer. Kim casts a distinctive mark in each of his films, and is known for the best “genre films” in Korean cinema. Kim Ji-woon made his directorial debut with The Quiet Family, a film hailed by critics and audiences for its unique styling. Kim went on to direct The Foul King (2000), A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), A Bittersweet Life (2005), and The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (2008). This screening of his latest release is part of the Korean Cinema Now showcase presented by the Museum of the Moving Image and The Korea Society. The museum recently reopened after a $67 million expansion, with dynamic new architecture by Thomas Leeser, capturing, according to Nicolai Ouroussoff of The New York Times, “in a building, the essence of a world in which images proliferate all around us.”
Due to depictions of violence and adult content, parental guidance is strongly advised.
Winner of the 2010 Pusan International Film Festival NETPAC Award, Director Zhang Lu’s film explores the friendship between two boys, one a DPRK defector who has crossed the Dooman River and the other an ethnic Korean living in China. When more refugees arrive, their tranquil existence is shattered. Zhang Lu’s careful minimalism infuses emotion and touches the hearts of film-goers. Zhang Lu’s first short film, Eleven, appeared at several international films festivals, including the Venice International Film Festival, Busan Asian Short Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival. His first feature film, Tang Poetry,’ won the Locarno International Film Festival in 2004. His next film, Grain in Ear,’ won the Grand Prix-New Currents Award at the Pusan International Film Festival in 2005. He also directed Hyazgar (2007), Chongging (2008), and Iri (2008). This screening is part of the Korean Cinema Now showcase, co-presented by the Museum of the Moving Image and The Korea Society.
The Korea Society is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) organization that is dedicated solely to the promotion of greater awareness, understanding and cooperation between the people of the United States and Korea. (more...)
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