Film & Media Archives - Page 3 of 10

Dessert and a Movie

Posted on August 12, 2015May 25, 2026 by

Watch Antique Bakery, a lighthearted buddy comedy with a dark mystery, and enjoy delicious Korean pastries and patbingsu (shaved ice with sweet beans and other toppings)!

The Dessert
Every Korean neighborhood now has a Western bakery, but each has added a distinctly Korean twist with Korean flavors and sweetness to the pastries! We’ll sample several tasty Korean pastries and make patbingsu, Korea’s most popular summer dessert.

The Movie
Based on the popular Japanese manga series Antique Bakery, the 2008 Korean comedy film Antique Bakery is about an heir to the family fortune who sets up a cake shop with a gay chef and two other friends. While trying to make a go of the bakery, they get caught up in a series of child abductions.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015 | 6 PM

Advanced ticket purchase required for this event. Space is limited.

Members: $10

Nonmembers: $20

If you have any questions, please contact Jamie Tyberg or (212) 759-7525, ext. 321.

Culinary programs are generously sponsored by SK.

14th New York Asian Film Festival

Posted on June 26, 2015May 25, 2026 by

The Korea Society presents the best of Korea cinema at the largest exhibition of Asian films in the United States. The festival will be attended by director Im Soon-rye, producers Shin Bum-soo & NAM Jung-Il from Whistleblower, director Lee Won-Suk from The Royal Tailor, and director Boo Ji-young, producer Shim Jae-myung from Cart.

View the full schedule for the 14th New York Asian Film Festival at Subway Cinema.

Friday, June 26 – Saturday, July 11, 2015

Best of Korea Cinema: Monday, July 6 – Thursday, July 9, 2015

Walter Reade Theater
165 W 65th Street, north side, upper level
Film Society of Lincoln Center

SVA Theater
333 West 23rd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues
SVA Theater

Monday, July 6, 2015	8:45 PM \| CART at Walter Reade Theater
Tuesday, July 7, 2015	8:45 PM \| THE WHISTLEBLOWER at Walter Reade Theater
Thursday, July 9, 2015	8:30 PM \| THE ROYAL TAILOR at SVA Theater

CART (103 min) 2014
카트

Monday, July 6 | 8:45 pm at Walter Reade Theater

NEW YORK PREMIERE
DIR. BOO JI-YOUNG | CAST: YUM JUNG-AH, MOON JUNG-HEE, KIM YOUNG-AE, KIM KANG-WOO, HWANG JEONG-MIN, CHUN WOO-HEE
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 103 MINUTES
Q&A WITH BOO JI-YOUNG and SHIM JAE-MYUNG

Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service in New York.

Boo Ji-young’s follow-up to Sisters on The Road is a formidable social drama and a moral shocker. Armed with a larger budget and a stellar cast, it nonetheless maintains the same human-scale storytelling that made her debut so memorable. Based on a true story, this is a David vs Goliath tale where a group of women band together and go on strike after their big box supermarket lays off all the temporary workers to cut costs.

Although there are no marching armies, grand disasters or international incidents, no definitive statements about life, death or society, the fate of these few women, citizens like any other, but unregarded, unmoored and untamed, leave an impression of grandeur, limitless suffering, and wrath. Boo allows each character in the ensemble quiet moments that personalize the massive labor issues South Korea faces. The women, facing their own doubts, poverty and the brutality of those trying to break the strike with incredibly fervent performances from the three leads Yum Jung-ha, Moon Jung-hee and Kim Young-ae.

THE WHISTLEBLOWER (113 min) 2014
제보자

Tuesday, July 7 | 8:45 pm at Walter Reade Theater

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
YIM SOON-RYE, 2014
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 113 MINUTES
INTRO AND Q&A w/ DIRECTOR YIM SOON-RYE

Yim Soon-Rye (one of Korea’s few female directors) turns in the All The President’s Men of biotechnology with The Whistleblower,a powerhouse thriller based on the true story of one of the biggest scientific frauds of the 21st century. Dr. Lee is a thoughtful scientist whose pioneering work with cloned stem cells is spurring talk of the Nobel prize. He is also a monster who has faked his research and when a TV producer gets involved, The Whistle Blower becomes a white-knuckle thriller where secret phone calls, boardroom confrontations, DNA analysis, and conversations that contain double, and sometimes triple, meanings are assembled into a high-performance engine designed to flood your brain with outrage. Not since Michael Mann directed The Insider has the world of corporate medical research seemed so out of control, so bleak, and so deadly.

Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service in New York.

The All The President’s Men of biotechnology, Yim Soon-Rye (one of Korea’s few female directors) turns in a powerhouse thriller based on the true story of one of the biggest scientific frauds of the 21st century. Dr. Lee is a thoughtful scientist whose pioneering work with cloned stem cells is spurring talk of the Nobel Prize. He is also a monster who’s faked his research and when a TV producer gets involved, The Whistle Blower becomes a white-knuckle thriller where secret phone calls, boardroom confrontations, DNA analysis, and conversations that contain double, and sometimes triple, meanings are assembled into a high-performance engine designed to flood your brain with outrage.

THE ROYAL TAILOR (127 min) 2014
상의원

Thursday, July 9 | 8:30 pm at SVA Theater

NEW YORK PREMIERE (U.S. CONTINENTAL PREMIERE)
LEE WON-SUK, 2014 | CAST: HAN SUK-KYU, KO SOO, PARK SHIN-HYE, YOO YEON-SEOK
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 127 MINUTES
INTRO and Q&A with director LEE WON-SUK

Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service in New York.

Two years after his anarchic comedy How to Use Guys With Secret Tips, Lee Won-suk returns to New York and the silver screen with his ambitious, big-budget period drama The Royal Tailor. His second feature is set during a clash between tradition and modernity in the royal court of 18th century Korea. Han Suk-kyu plays the king’s tailor Jo Dol-seok. After serving the court for three decades, he is on the brink of rising to the rank of nobleman. But his life’s dream is threatened with the sudden appearance of young, handsome and carefree “designer” Lee Gong-jin whose radical fashion ideas quickly earn the Queen’s favor. Unlike most films about the power of art (and music), Lee lets the striking costume designs of Jo Sang-gyeong speak for themselves, without resorting to reaction shots or exposition. The film’s traditional costumes took as much as six months to create, at a cost just shy of $1 million.

A playful, fresh and daring reinvention of one of Korea’s most conservative film genres.

The New York Asian Film Festival is co-presented by Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema

The Cold War on Film

Posted on June 8, 2015May 25, 2026 by

Dr. Hyangjin Lee, this year’s Kim Koo Visiting Professor of Korean Studies at Harvard University, examined the evolution of anti-Communist films in South Korea. Dr. Lee explored the historical legacy of anti-Communist drama through the oppressive film policy in the pre-democratization era and the subsequent democratic transformation of South Korea. To evaluate the historical legacy of the Cold War in the identity politics of South Korean national cinema, she highlighted three films that deal with the war and national division, namely The Marines Never Returned (Lee Man-hui, 1963), Rainy Days (Yu Hyun-mok, 1979) and Spring in My Hometown (Lee Kwang-mok, 1998).

Monday, June 8, 2015 | 6:30 PM

NYCulture current inverted white logo

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

FILM SERIES: Action Korea

Posted on April 3, 2015May 25, 2026 by

A series for the natural Bourne lovers and the head-spinning action followers, Action Korea explores the savant, signature blend of the delightfully silly and the deadpan serious that recent Korean cinema has brought to the silver screen.

From the North Korean spy tribulations of Commitment (2013; dir. Park Hong-Soo) to the heroic feats of an ancient noble marksman in War of the Arrows (2011 dir. Kim Han-Min), the peninsula has a surfeit of heroic tales.

In co-presentation with MoMI, The Korea Society presents a showcase of these startlingly resonant spectacles, fired by primeval fantasy and hurtling from one dramatic mode to the next, whirling with the force of weightlessness and propelled by the promise of escape.

Friday, April 3 – Sunday, April 5, 2015

Museum of the Moving Image
35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria
The Museum of the Moving Image

Directions:
From Midtown, 10 min. taxi from The Korea Society or N/Q Train outbound to 36th Avenue

Friday, April 3		7:00 KUNDO: AGE OF THE RAMPANT
Saturday, April 4	4:00 WAR OF THE ARROWS	7:00 CONFESSION OF MURDER
Sunday, April 5	4:00 THE MAN FROM NOWHERE	7:00 COMMITMENT

KUNDO: AGE OF THE RAMPANT (137 min) 2014
군도: 민란의 시대

Friday, April 3 | 7:00 PM

Dir. Yoon Jong-bin. 2014, 137 mins. With Ha Jung-woo, Kang Dong-won, Lee Kyoung-young, Lee Sung-min, Ma Dongseok, Cho Jin-woong, Yoon Ji-hye. Half kimchi epic, half spaghetti western, Kundo is a wild ride in the twilight days of the Joseon Dynasty: it’s 1859 in the Korean kingdom, when a gang of colorful bandits, or “Kundo”, decides to stand up against the tyranny of the wealthy and fight for the poor and the oppressed. The sky’s the limit for the seemingly invincible band of honorable thieves whose mission of righteous retribution takes a dramatic turn when they accept butcher Dolmuchi into their ranks. For the meat cleaver wielder, it’s not only about justice, it’s personal, and he won’t stop until he takes the life of the psychopathic nobleman who killed his loved ones.

WAR OF THE ARROWS (121 min) 2011
최종병기 활

Saturday, April 4 | 4:00 PM
In Korean with English subtitles

Dir. Kim Han-Min. 2011, 121 mins. With Park Hae-Il, Moon Chae-Won, Ryoo Seung-Ryong. The highest-grossing Korean movie of 2011, this is an epic chase film that gives audiences a taste of just how rad a Green Arrow movie would be. Park Hae-Il (The Host) and his sister are sent into hiding after their father is accused of being a traitor and murdered. 13 years later, Park has become something of an archery prodigy, while his sister (played by TV star Moon Chae-Won) is in love with the son of their host family. Park is furious at her choice, but he can’t stop the wedding. Even worse, their wedding comes on the exact same day that China’s Qing Army invades Korea. Living in a border town, the Qing military stops off at the wedding first, where they are totally uncool guests: trashing everything, taking Moon and her husband-to-be hostage, and then continuing into Korea, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Park barely escapes with his life, but now he has a mission: with only his bow, he’ll follow the Qing army and rescue his sister. Along the way, the Qing warriors start to realize that all their men are being killed by one lone archer, and so a task force of Manchu archers, wielding heavier, more powerful bows, are assembled to take out Park. The Qing conquest of Korea in 1592 is one of the most crushing defeats in world history – it took just two months before Korea’s king surrendered and gave his son to the Chinese as a hostage. War of The Arrows tells the story, but rather than writing it on an epic scale, it focuses on just a few people fighting to survive: a bride, her groom, and her brother.
At 121 minutes, you might think there’s some fat on these bones, but once the emotional core is forged, it becomes one massive chase sequence, studded with masterful set pieces that involve everything from man-eating tigers to a battle on the side of a cliff. If you were ever a kid who pretended to be Robin Hood, this one’s for you. Director and writer Kim Han-Min has made a blockbuster that does for archery what The Dark Knight did for bats.

CONFESSION OF MURDER (119 min) 2012
내가 살인범이다

Saturday, April 4 | 7:00 PM
In Korean with English subtitles

Dir. Jeong Byeong-Gil. 2012, 119 mins. With Jung Jae-Young, Park Si-Hoo. From the director of the hit documentary Action Boys (about the tough lives of stuntmen in the Korean movie biz), comes this thriller that’s got more twists than a snake with a broken back. Launching itself off the screen and coming at viewers like a runaway train in the first 50 seconds, this flick kicks off with lieutenant Choi (Jung Jae-Young, Castaway on the Moon) ending his investigation of a serial killer who’s murdered 10 women in a shower of broken glass, insane rootop leaps, and breathless sprints down dark alleys which climaxes with the masked killer slashing his face to shreds and getting away.
Years later, Choi’s a drunk, obsessed by the one who got away, and suddenly his world splits open when a handsome young man appears on the day the statute of limitations expires on the killings and declares that not only is he the murderer but you can read all about it in his tell-all book. Is the killer confessing? Is he a wannabe craving attention? Hard to tell. But it’s not just the impressive action set pieces that keep this movie hopping (although the centerpiece car chase should get a special award for insanity). With the addition of a vigilante group made up of the victim’s families, several bloodthirsty TV producers who want ratings, and a serial killer so slick he’s surrounded by fans wherever he goes, this movie changes pace every ten minutes. Even better, the killer is played by Park Si-Hoo, a TV star so famous that in the scenes of the killer’s fans going bananas the director simply let Park’s real-life fans on the set and filmed them.
Despite the life-or-death stakes, Confession of Murder still smells like real life: people have to borrow cars, they get giddy over celebrities, and live interviews with serial killers are interrupted by commercial breaks. Refusing to get bogged down in scenes of psychopathic sadism or needless suffering, Confession of Murder is this summer’s cinematic built-for-the-beach crime thriller that sends your pulse racing as you flip the pages faster and faster, caught up in the excitement what on earth could possibly happen next.

Description courtesy of Subway Cinema.

THE MAN FROM NOWHERE (119 min) 2010
아저씨

Sunday, April 5 | 4:00 PM
In Korean with English subtitles

Dir. Lee Jeong-Beom. 2010, 119 mins. With Won Bin, Kim Sae-ron, Kim Tae-hoon, Kim Hee-won. One part Batman, one part Bourne, Korean mega-star, Won Bin, revamped his image as a hard man of action with this movie about a spy coming out of retirement to take on a ring of organ harvesters. The number one movie at the Korean box office in 2010 (beating Inception and Iron Man 2), it took home 16 film awards! The cast includes Won Bin, Kim Sae-Ron, Kim Tae-hoon, Kim Tae-hoon and Lee Jong-Pil. Part of The Sea of Revenge Focus, The Man From Nowhere will screen in Korean with English subtitles.

Description courtesy of Subway Cinema.

COMMITMENT (113 min) 2013
동창생

Sunday, April 5 | 7:00 PM

Dir. Park Hong-Soo. 2013, 113 mins. With Choi Seung-Hyun (T.O.P.), Han Ye-Ri, Kim You-Jeong. Bending the hard-boiled North Korean spy genre into the confines of an affecting adolescent drama, director Park Hong-soo packs balls-to-the-wall action, political intrigue and poignant romance in one detonating bundle. After the failure of their father, North Korean teenager Myung-hoon (Choi Seung-hyun, aka T.O.P) and his young sister Hye-in (Han Ye-ri) are condemned to a labor camp. To save his sister’s life, Myung-hoon volunteers to become a spy and, posing as a defector, infiltrates the South as a high school boy. Despite his innocent good looks, the young man is actually a mean, highly-trained war machine, cleverly concealing his ability for combat behind his bashful demeanor.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

The Screening of Complete Works of Byung Hun Min

Posted on December 8, 2014May 25, 2026 by

2014 12 08 byung-hun-min icon

The Korea Society and The New York Film Academy will be hosting an exclusive Screening of Complete Works of Byung Hun Min at NYFA’s Union Square location beginning Monday, December 8 and will run through Friday, December 12. The 5-day event will screen 12 of the acclaimed Korean director’s films with a special Q&A session on Tuesday, December 9 that will follow the screening of his latest award-winning feature Love Never Fails.

With numerous awards under his belt throughout his career such as “Best Picture” and “Best Director” for films like Flight of the Bee, and Mask and Mirror, director Min has recently continued his success with the world premiere of Love Never Fails at the 2014 Busan International Film Festival. He received an overwhelming response where the sold out film left the audience wanting more as they remained in their seats well after the credits finished rolling.

Director Min is currently visiting New York to work on preproduction to the first part of his upcoming Essay trilogy with each film taking place in New York, Paris and Beijing respectively. Essay in New York will also be the first Korean feature length film to be shot in the U.S.

The New York Film Academy’s special screenings will be director Min’s U.S. debut and presents a unique opportunity for students of all backgrounds to learn and experience Korean film.

“We’re thrilled to host directors from all over the world, especially accomplished artists like Byung Hun Min,” said NYFA Senior Director David Klein. “We look forward to celebrating his works and his U.S. debut next week!”

Monday, December 8 – Friday December 12, 2014

2014 12 08 byung-hun-min schedule

FREE with RSVP at korea.rsvp@nyfa.edu

If you have any questions, please contact korea.rsvp@nyfa.edu

NEW YORK FILM ACADEMY

Screening Room, 4th Floor

100 East 17th Street

New York, NY 10003

nysca 200px white

The Screening of Complete Works of Hun Min is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

THE 12th NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL (NYKFF 2014) @ BAM

Posted on November 23, 2014May 25, 2026 by

What Subway Cinema started in 2001 with When Korean Cinema Attacks! – New York Korean Film Festival, and what has known many incarnations and iterations since then, is back in the funky and freaky curatorial hands of the festival’s original creators, now joining forces with BAMCinematek and The Korea Society to bring you the freshest crop of the record-breaking blockbusters and the must-see recent works of the peninsula’s internationally celebrated auteurs and mavericks. The new New York Korean Film Festival wants to serve as your road map for the best in contemporary Korean cinema.

All films in Korean with English subtitles.

THURSDAY – SUNDAY,
NOVEMBER 20-NOVEMBER 23, 2014

BAM Rose Cinema

30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn
(718) 636-4100 x 1
BAM

Thursday, November 20	7:15 PM GYEONGJU	with Q&A with director Zhang Lu
Friday, November 21	7:00 PM THE ATTORNEY		9:30 PM A HARD DAY
Saturday, November 22	7:00 PM THE ADMIRAL: ROARING CURRENTS		9:30 PM MAN ON HIGH HEELS
Sunday, November 23	5:00 PM THE PIRATES		8:00 PM FUTURELESS THINGS

GYEONGJU (경주) 2014

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20 @ 7:15 PM

US Premiere
Director Zhang Lu will be in attendance.

2014, 145 min. DCP
Directed by Zhang Lu
Cast: Park Hae-Il, Shin Min-A, Yoon Jin-Seo, Kim Tae-Hoon, Shin So-Yul, Baek Hyun-Jin, Ryoo Seung-Wan

An “existential ghost story” (Variety) and a poetic, sentimental journey in the vein of Hong Sang-soo’s best films, Zhang Lu’s new film follows the wanderings of Peking University professor Choi-Hyun (WAR OF ARROWS’ Park Hae-Il) as he returns to the city of Gyeongju to attend a friend’s funeral. Spurred by the memory of an obscene picture he saw seven years ago on the wall of a teahouse, he proceeds to go on a strangely aimless quest, fumbling between tantalizing possibilities of erotic satisfaction or perhaps something of a more spiritual nature.

THE ATTORNEY (변호인) 2013

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21 @ 7:00 PM

2013, 127 min, DCP
Director: Yang Woo-Seok
Cast: Song Kang-Ho, Kim Young-Ae, Oh Dal-Su, Kwak Do-Won, Siwan 2013, 127 min, Blu-ray

Based on the life of former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun, THE ATTORNEY was this year’s most controversial box office hit, with over 10 million admissions. Set during the days of the military dictatorship, it follows the moral transformation of a pragmatic, mercenary and a tad shady attorney-at-law Song Woo-Seok (star Song Kang-Ho), who only got into the legal profession for the money. But everything changes one day, when he decides to take on the country’s National Security Law by accepting as his client the student activist Jin-Woo (Lim Si-wan), who has been unfairly arrested and tortured by the government.

A HARD DAY (끝까지 간다) 2014

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21 @ 9:30 PM

2014, 111 min, DCP
Directed by Kim Seong-hun
Cast: Lee Sun-Kyun, Cho Jin-Woong, Jeong Man-Sik, Shin Jung-Keun, Kim Dong-Young, Joo Suk-Tae

A selection of the Directors’ Fortnight at this year’s Cannes film festival, A HARD DAY is a slick police thriller that follows detective Ko Gun-Soo (Lee Sun-Kyun, both a Hong Sang-Soo regular and a blockbuster frequent flyer) on a lung-bursting race against karma and all sorts of odds and (deadly) ends, as he runs over a stranger on an otherwise deserted, dark highway. Hastily shoving the dead body in his trunk in a moment of wild panic, the detective has just bought himself a world of trouble. What follows is a super-charged mixture of bone-crushing action, chases, black humor, and social satire, proving once again that no one makes smart genre films the way Korea does.

THE ADMIRAL: ROARING CURRENTS
(명량 – 회오리 바다다) 2014

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22 @ 7:00 PM

2014, 128 min, DCP
Directed by Kim Han-Min
Cast: Choi Min-Sik, Ryoo Seung-Ryong, Cho Jin-Woong, Jin Goo, Lee Jung-Hyun
World Premiere of World Wide Version

The blockbuster to sink all blockbusters (17.6 million admissions and counting), THE ADMIRAL: ROARING CURRENTS is a massive sea epic that depicts the 1597 Battle of Myeongryang, when a formidable Japanese fleet threatened the very existence of the peaceful peninsula. In a desperate, defiant last stand, Korea’s most celebrated historical hero, Admiral Yi Sun-Shin, portrayed by Choi Min-sik (Besson’s LUCY, Park Chan Wook’s OLDBOY) tries to save his homeland from a dire fate, with only a dozen ships at his command and his fierce determination not to go down without a good fight.

MAN ON HIGH HEELS (하이힐) 2014

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22 @ 9:30 PM

2014, 125 min, Digibeta
Directed by Jang Jin
Cast: Cha Seung-won, Oh Jeong-se, Esom, Ko Kyeong-pyo, Ahn Kil-kang, Lee Eon-jeong

After a three-year hiatus, Jang Jin (WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL), one of Korea’s most inventive writer-directors, is back to subvert the tough-guy detective genre and established notions of Korean masculinity. Detective Ji-wook (Cha Seung-won) is the most bad-ass cop in town, never missing an opportunity to beat the crap out of the bad guys. But deep inside, despite his uber masculine good looks, Ji-wook is tired of being a tough boy. Tortured by the unavowable desire to be a woman, he decides to get a sex change. Things get messy when a gang that Ji-wook had busted starts hurting people close to him: time to prove that, even in high heels, he can still kick some ass.

THE PIRATES (해적: 바다로 간 산적) 2014

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23 @ 5:30 PM

2014, 130 min, DCP
Directed by Lee Suk-Hoon
Cast: Kim Nam-Gil, Son Ye-Jin, Yu Hae-Jin, Lee Kyoung-Young, Kim Tae-Woo

Korea’s answer to PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN is a family-friendly, Hollywood-style swashbuckling period comedy, powered by an even-keeled ensemble cast, including Son Ye-Jin (WHITE NIGHT, MY WIFE GOT MARRIED) as a lady pirate and Kim Nam-Gil as the unshaven beau. Set in the 14th century during a crucial period in Korean history, the film follows four rival parties of pirates, bandits, and soldiers, as they collide on a search for a grey whale that swallowed a royal seal of great importance. Enter hard-ass sea wenches, a bad guy with an eyepatch, slapstick aplenty, and an impressive display of special effects. A perfect summer popcorn blockbuster that delivers the fun in spades. Arrrrr!

FUTURELESS THINGS (이것이 우리의 끝이다적) 2014

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23 @ 8:00 PM

North American Premiere
2014, 107 min, DCP
Dir. Kim Kyung-Mook
Cast: Kim Su-hyeon, Yoo Yeong, Jeong Hye-in, Gong Myeong, Shin Jae-ha

An affectionate and delightful comedy of manners, structured in 13 episodes, FUTURELESS THINGS chronicles 24 hours in the intertwined lives of young clerks working at the same convenience store, and brings into the spotlight the private joys and tears of usually invisible people. What’s revealed is that there’s nothing ordinary about ordinary existence as we’re thrusted into a fascinating world of part-timers, college dropouts, North Korean defectors, gays and lesbians and other social outcasts, eking out a living in the interstices of ultra consumerist South Korea.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

THE 12th NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL @ BAM

Posted on November 20, 2014May 25, 2026 by

The New York Korean film festival is back in business! That’s right. What Subway Cinema started in 2001 with When Korean Cinema Attacks! – New York Korean Film Festival, and what has known many incarnations and iterations since then, is back in the funky and freaky curatorial hands of the festival’s original creators, now joining forces with BAMCinematek and the Korea Society to bring you the freshest crop of the record-breaking blockbusters and the must-see recent works of the peninsula’s internationally celebrated auteurs and mavericks. The new New York Korean Film Festival wants to serve as your road map for the best in contemporary Korean cinema.

All films in Korean with English subtitles.

THURSDAY – SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20-NOVEMBER 23, 2014

BAM Rose Cinema

30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn
(718) 636-4100 x 1
BAM

Thursday, November 20	7:15 PM GYEONGJU	with Q&A with director Zhang Lu
Friday, November 21	7:00 PM THE ATTORNEY		9:30 PM A HARD DAY
Saturday, November 22	7:00 PM THE ADMIRAL: ROARING CURRENTS		9:30 PM MAN ON HIGH HEELS
Sunday, November 23	5:00 PM THE PIRATES		8:00 PM FUTURELESS THINGS

GYEONGJU (경주) 2014^

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20 @ 7:15 PM

US Premiere
Director Zhang Lu will be in attendance.

2014, 145 min. DCP
Directed by Zhang Lu
Cast: Park Hae-Il, Shin Min-A, Yoon Jin-Seo, Kim Tae-Hoon, Shin So-Yul, Baek Hyun-Jin, Ryoo Seung-Wan

THE ATTORNEY (변호인) 2013^

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21 @ 7:00 PM

2013, 127 min, Blu-ray
Director: Yang Woo-Seok
Cast: Song Kang-Ho, Kim Young-Ae, Oh Dal-Su, Kwak Do-Won, Siwan 2013, 127 min, Blu-ray

A HARD DAY (끝까지 간다) 2014^

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21 @ 9:30 PM

2014, 111 min, DCP
Directed by Kim Seong-hun
Cast: Lee Sun-Kyun, Cho Jin-Woong, Jeong Man-Sik, Shin Jung-Keun, Kim Dong-Young, Joo Suk-Tae

THE ADMIRAL: ROARING CURRENTS (명량 – 회오리 바다다) 2014^

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22 @ 7:00 PM

2014, 128 min, DCP
Directed by Kim Han-Min
Cast: Choi Min-Sik, Ryoo Seung-Ryong, Cho Jin-Woong, Jin Goo, Lee Jung-Hyun

MAN ON HIGH HEELS (하이힐) 2014^

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22 @ 9:30 PM

2014, 125 min, Digibeta
Directed by Jang Jin
Cast: Cha Seung-won, Oh Jeong-se, Esom, Ko Kyeong-pyo, Ahn Kil-kang, Lee Eon-jeong

THE PIRATES (해적: 바다로 간 산적) 2014^

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23 @ 5:30 PM

2014, 130 min, Blu-ray
Directed by Lee Suk-Hoon
Cast: Kim Nam-Gil, Son Ye-Jin, Yu Hae-Jin, Lee Kyoung-Young, Kim Tae-Woo

FUTURELESS THINGS (이것이 우리의 끝이다적) 2014^

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23 @ 8:00 PM

North American Premiere
2014, 107 min, DCP
Dir. Kim Kyung-Mook
Cast: Kim Su-hyeon, Yoo Yeong, Jeong Hye-in, Gong Myeong, Shin Jae-ha

Unfinished Works with AAFL and KAFFNY

Posted on November 6, 2014May 25, 2026 by

2014 11 06 UnfinishedWorksAAFilmLab icon The Korea Society, the Asian American Film Lab, and the Korean American Film Festival of New York, working together to promote multi-cultural collaboration, are delighted to present Unfinished Works, a program that featuresperformances and videos that showcase Korean and Korean-American stories, writers, and themes. The evening’s selections will feature works by Willem Lee and Savanna Washington.

Willem presents a staged reading of his co-written (with Mayuran Tiruchelvam) script, Nic of Time, which is a coming of age comedy about Nic, a jaded and bitter man, who travels back in time to undo the moment that has plagued and defined his past. Savanna screens an excerpt from her documentary, Playing Frisbee in North Korea, which captures the hardship of daily life in North Korea especially around the issues of freedom and food insecurity.

Film Lab’s Unfinished Works coordinator, Lorna Nowve, will moderate the event in the Film Lab’s signature style, welcoming audience participation in the creative process and directing interaction with the writers and filmmakers. Don’t miss this opportunity to see amazing new talent—come and enjoy the show!

Thursday, November 6 , 2014 | 7 PM

This event will take place at The Korea Society.

This is a FREE event, but please register in advance here. If you have any questions, please contact Claudia Pak or (212) 759-7525, ext. 321.

Contemporary Culture programs are generously sponsored by CJ

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About the ArtistsAsian American Film LabAsian American Film Lab

Willem Lee is a New York based filmmaker and recent graduate of Columbia University’s MFA Film Program with a focus on directing. His thesis film, The End of the World, premiered at 2012 Columbia University Film Festival and was awarded the IFP Audience Choice Award. It was also the recipient of the Best Short Film Award at KAFFNY. It has gone on to exhibit at festivals in the U.S. and abroad. He also produced Amateur Dictator, which was awarded Jury Honors and Student Selects at this years Columbia University’s Film Festival.

Willem recently returned from his second trip to North Korea where he was the cinematographer for documentary film director, Dai Sil Kim-Gibson. He is currently working on a number of feature film scripts, including a multicultural and generational NYC multi-narrative drama entitled Abba’s Orphans, Syndicate, a thriller (with co-writer Mayuran Tiruchelvam), and Paris Syndrome: A Traveler’s Dilemma, an existential film noir.

Willem has taught film directing at Columbia University and guest lectured at School of Visual Arts and Sacred Heart University. He holds a B.A. in philosophy from Gordon College.

Mayuran Tiruchelvam is a screenwriter and producer of narrative and documentary films. He is a 2014 Sundance Institute Creative Producing Fellow. His feature screenwriting and producing debut, The Girl Is In Trouble, executive produced by Spike Lee, was a selection of the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival’s All Access program, and will be released in 2015.

With producing partner Gerry Kim, Mayuran produced To Be Takei– a portrait of actor, activist and pop-culture maverick George Takei, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Mayuran is also producing the documentary Farewell, Ferris Wheel – an examination of the fading American carnival industry and its reliance on guest worker visas, which was funded by Latino Public Broadcasting and ITVS. For Ferris Wheel, he received a Film Independent Documentary Fellowship.

Mayuran has line produced independent feature films including The Mend, starring Josh Lucas and directed by John Magary, and Deniz Seviyesi, a Turkish-US production funded by the Turkish Ministry of Culture. Mayuran’s short form productions, including Derby Kings, The Boundary, and Domestic have aired on HBO, PBS, and at festivals including the Los Angeles Film Festival, Starz Denver Festival, Palm Springs ShortsFest, Urban World, and Amnesty International Movies That Matter.

While earning an MFA at Columbia University’s Graduate Film School, Mayuran received the Arthur Krim Memorial Award for Excellence in Producing and the Entertainment Partners Best Producer Award. He served as a Fellow in Producing, Post-Production, and Television Writing. Mayuran earned a B.A. from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He worked as a human rights observer in Latin America and a community organizer against the prison industrial complex in New York.

Savanna Washington received her M.F.A. in Directing from City College in New York. While attending City College she was awarded a Colin Powell Graduate Fellowship, the first filmmaker to be honored. As a community activist and activist educator, Savanna has used her life to effect change. Ms. Washington has over 15 years experience as a writer, director, and activist. As part of her activism, she was the Founding & Managing Editor of the Adams Avenue Herald, a community newspaper in San Diego. She was awarded a Puffin Grant for her film work on urban greening and was recently awarded a $25,000 grant from the Korean Issues & Insights Endowment for her current documentary, Playing Frisbee in North Korea.

She is currently an Assistant Professor at City University of New York, teaching Video Arts Production, Screenwriting, and Intro to Contemporary Media. She resides in Harlem.

The Asian American Film Lab (Film Lab) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to the promotion and support of gender and ethnic diversity in film and television through free monthly educational and outreach programming and the acclaimed annual 72 Hour Shootout filmmaking competition (www.asianamericanfilmlab.org) . This annual competition has inspired hundreds of filmmakers by helping nascent talent take brave steps towards a filmmaking career. The Film Lab was formed in 1998 by collaborative of New York-based filmmakers whose goals were to hone their craft and to share their knowledge, experience and resources. The membership has grown to comprise professionals, artists and other talented individuals who all share the common goal of creating great film and promoting all filmmakers of color, with a focus on Asian Americans, and the visibility of their stories and characters in film and television.

The Film Lab’s Unfinished Works program constitutes its longest running program, ongoing for 15 consecutive years. Unfinished Works allows writers to workshop, in a structured and constructive environment, unfinished plays, screenplays and television scripts.

The Film Lab is run under the direction of President Jennifer Betit Yen. The Unfinished Works program is coordinated through Lorna Nowve. Acting and Advisory Board members include Aaron Woolfolk, Eric Lin, Bea Soong, John Woo, Erik Lu, and James Kyson.

KAFFNY is the first and only film festival in New York City showcasing the diversity of Korean American and Korean diasporic perspectives in film. Since its inceptions in 2007 at the Anthology Film Archives, KAFFNY has continued to broaden its focus on emerging filmmakers to include international films by Korean and as well as non-Korean filmmakers.

THE KOREAN HORROR PICTURE SHOW @ MoMI

Posted on November 2, 2014May 25, 2026 by

This Halloween, we’re exploring the dark corners of Korean cinema with a selection of six genre-bending titles that will transport you to the world of gut-wrenching fear! The world of ghosts, wicked stepmothers, psychopathic serial killers, and webtoons that predict murder! The nihilistic and violent world where revenge is the only purpose of existence and a dish best served often with copious amounts of blood! Featuring canonical thrillers of Korea’s top auteurs Park Chan-wook (STOKER) and Kim Jee-woon (THE LAST STAND) and the pure horror films of directors Kim Yong-gyun and the Jung brothers, this program puts the spotlight on a generation of filmmakers with a taste for intense.

Curated by Subway Cinema and co-presented with The Korea Society.

THURSDAY – SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30-NOVEMBER 2, 2014

Museum of the Moving Image
35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria
The Museum of the Moving Image

Directions:
From Midtown, 10 min. taxi from The Korea Society or N/Q Train outbound to 36th Avenue

Thursday, October 30	7:00 KILLER TOON
Friday October 31	7:00 I SAW THE DEVIL
Saturday November 1	2:30 LADY VENGEANCE
Sunday November 2	2:30 EPITAPH	5:00 SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE	8:00 A TALE OF TWO SISTERS

KILLER TOON (104 min) 2013
더 웹툰 : 예고살인

Thursday, October 30 | 7:00 PM
Redstone Theater

South Korea. Dir. Kim Yong-gyun. 2013, 104 mins. With Lee Si-young, Um Ki- joo. A blockbuster hit in South Korea, this pulse-pounding thrill ride follows a successful web-comic artist (Lee Si-young) who becomes a prime suspect when her cartoons start to prefigure a series of gruesome real life murders. Bursting with out-of-left-field plot twists and imaginative visual flourishes—including dazzlingly inventive transitions from manga-style animations to flesh-and-blood crime scenes—Killer Toon is Korean horror at its most creepily atmospheric.

I SAW THE DEVIL (120 min) 2003
악마를 보았다

Friday, October 31 | 7:00 PM
Redstone Theater

South Korea. Dir. Kim Jee-woon. 2010, 141 mins. With Choi Min-sik, Lee Byung-hun. Splatter maestro Kim Jee-woon pushes K-horror to its limits in this shock-to-the-senses thriller. Hell bent on revenge, a government intelligence agent (Lee Byung-hun) hunts down the psychopath (Oldboy star Choi Min-sik) who murdered his pregnant wife—only instead of killing him outright, instigates a grisly game of cat and mouse, which drags them both through the darkest realms of depravity. This utterly berserk chamber of horrors is leavened by Kim’s wickedly twisted sense of humor and cool, ultra-stylish eye for violence.

SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE (112 min) 2003
친절한 금자씨

Saturday, November 1 | 2:30 PM
Redstone Theater

Dir. Park Chan-wook. 2005, 112 mins. 35mm. With Lee Yeong-ae, Choi Min-sik, Kim Shi-hoo, Kwon Yea-young. The third and final film of Park’s Vengeance Trilogy, Lady Vengeance follows the story of Lee Geum-ja, a woman imprisoned for a crime she did not commit. Lee seeks revenge on the true murderer, who blackmailed her to take the blame for his crime and kidnapped her daughter. Lady Vengeance features a breakout performance by Lee Yeong-ae in the title role (an American remake starring Charlize Theron has been announced).

EPITAPH (98 min) 2007

Sunday, November 2 | 2:30 PM
Redstone Theater

South Korea. Dir. Jung Beom-sik and Jung Sik. 2007, 98 mins. With Jin Goo, Kim Tae-woo, Kim Bo-kyung. Three bewitching tales of ghosts, medical horrors, and necrophilia comprise this uniquely unnerving horror anthology. Set in 1942, it chronicles mysterious goings-on at a hospital, where a young doctor falls in love with a corpse, a girl is haunted by spirits, and physicians are involved in a series of murders. Packed with breathtaking imagery (including a recurring, creepy crawly motif involving snails), this elegantly moody omnibus film from up-and-coming auteurs the Jung brothers is a supernatural brainteaser that maintains a carefully controlled sense of unease.

SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE (129 min) 2002
복수는 나의 것

Sunday, November 2 | 5:00 PM
Redstone Theater

Dir. Park Chan-wook. 2002, 129 mins. 35mm. With Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, Bae Doona, Lim Ji-Eun. The first film in Park’s Vengeance Trilogy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance trails a punky deaf-mute who desperately attempts to secure money for a kidney transplant his ailing sister badly needs. Because his blood type is incompatible and no donors are available, he turns to a group of black-market organ dealers who offer to find a matching kidney in return for one of his, plus ten million won. When the dealers rip him off, Ryu conspires with his girlfriend, a political activist, to kidnap his former boss’ young daughter and ransom her for the ten million won.

A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (115 min) 2003
장화, 홍련

Sunday, November 2 | 8:00 PM
Redstone Theater

South Korea. Dir. Kim Jee-woon. 2003, 115 mins. With Im Soo-jung, Moon Geun-young, Yeom Jeong-ah. This harrowing psychological thriller set a new standard for Korean horror in its hauntingly dreamlike evocation of sustained dread. Based on a Korean folktale, it follows two teenage sisters, just released from a mental institution, whose dysfunctional relationship with their icy stepmother manifests itself in a series of horrific incidents, which blur the line between fantasy and reality. The highest grossing K-horror film of all time, A Tale of Two Sisters unleashes a nonstop torrent of blood-splattered, retina-searingly surreal imagery up until the final twist.

This retrospective is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

The Essence of Ad Making

Posted on September 9, 2014May 25, 2026 by

2014 09 09 ad-making icon

Director Kyuhwan Kim, the mind behind South Korea’s most iconic television advertisements, explains his creative process when crafting memorable messages for companies like Samsung, Hyundai, Google, McDonalds, and Pepsi.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014 | 1:30 PM

FREE with RSVP at korea.rsvp@nyfa.edu

If you have any questions, please contact korea.rsvp@nyfa.edu

NEW YORK FILM ACADEMY

Screening Room, 4th Floor

100 East 17th Street

New York, NY 10003

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This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

Arts & Culture

Business & Economics

Education

Geopolitical Affairs

Signature Events

About The Korea Society

Annual Reports

Visiting Fellows Program

Category: Film & Media

Dessert and a Movie

14th New York Asian Film Festival

The Cold War on Film

FILM SERIES: Action Korea

The Screening of Complete Works of Byung Hun Min

If you have any questions, please contact korea.rsvp@nyfa.edu

THE 12th NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL (NYKFF 2014) @ BAM

THE 12th NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL @ BAM

Unfinished Works with AAFL and KAFFNY

THE KOREAN HORROR PICTURE SHOW @ MoMI

The Essence of Ad Making

If you have any questions, please contact korea.rsvp@nyfa.edu