Category: Media & Performing Arts

The Korea Society and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) are proud to present seven films from one of the earliest, and most complex, periods of Korean cinema. Recently discovered in a Chinese warehouse and restored by The Korean Film Archive, the films date from the 1930s and ’40s, a period when Korea was dominated by the dictates of Japanese colonialists. These dramas are thus uncomfortably pro-Japanese. Yet simultaneously, their rich aesthetics and formal experimentation reach beyond imperial Japanese ideology to express timeless themes of longing, loss and duty. 

The films will be shown in five programs from January 28 through February 1 at The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters at MoMa.
All films are in Korean with English subtitles. 

Wednesday, January 28 – Sunday, February 1, 2009

Museum of Modern Art
11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019

Tickets may be purchased from the MoMA box office. 
Click here for more information. 
(Museum full admission includes any film for that day.)

SPRING IN THE KOREAN PENINSULA (84 min) 1941

Wednesday, January 28 | 6 PM
Saturday, January 31 | 1 PM

Directed by Lee Byeong-Il. Starring Kim Il-Hae, Seo Wol-Young and Kim So-Young. A film adaptation of a traditional Korean tale, Spring in the Korean Peninsula is a backstage romance between a director and an actress that falls into crisis when the director is jailed.

STRAITS OF CHOSUN (75 min) 1943

Wednesday, January 18 | 8 PM
Saturday, January 31 | 3 PM

Directed by Park Ki-Chae. Starring Nam Seung-Min, Moon Yae-Bong and Kim Shin-Jae. Made at the height of World War II, when Japanese censorship was at its tightest, Straits of Chosun tells the bittersweet story of a husband and wife separated by war. 

FISHERMAN’S FIRE (52 min) 1939

Thursday, January 29 | 8 PM
Sunday, February 1 | 1 PM

Directed by Ahn Chul-Yeong. Starring Park Hak, Nah Woong and Park Jung-Kyeong. Following a fisherman’s daughter as she moves from her seaside village to bustling Seoul and is quickly beset by shady characters, Fisherman’s’ Fire is about the things you lose when you lose your home. 

VOLUNTEER (55 min) 1941

Thursday, January 29 | 8 PM
Sunday, February 1 | 1 PM

Directed by Ahn Seok-Young. Starring Choi Woon-Bong, Moon Yae-Bong and Lee Keum-Ryong. A simple Korean farmer’s son who aches to leave the countryside behind and fight for Imperial Japan finally gets his chance when colonial authorities enact a draft.

ANGELS ON THE STREET (73 min) 1941

Friday, January 30 | 6 PM
Saturday, January 31 | 5 PM

Directed by Choi In-Kyu. Starring Kim Il-Hae, Moon Yae-Bong and Kim Shin-Jae. Notably realistic for its era in depicting the gritty poverty of contemporary Seoul, Angels on the Street is the story of a man struggling to set up an orphanage for the city’s street kids.

SWEET DREAMS (46 min) 1936

Friday, January 30 | 8 PM
Sunday, February 1 | 3:30 PM

Directed by Yang Ju-Nam. Starring Cho Taek-Won, Moon Yae-Bong and Yoo Sun-Ok. Korean cinema’s first talkie, Sweet Dreams nearly left audiences speechless with its scandalous melodrama about a wife who abandons her family to live with another man.

MILITARY TRAIN (66 min) 1938

Friday, January 30 | 8 PM
Sunday, February 1 | 3:30 PM

Directed by Seo Kwang-Jae. Starring Wang Pyeong and Moon Yae-Bong. Won-jin passes information about a Japanese military train to resistance fighters, putting the life of his best friend, the engineer, in danger in this hybrid of a spy thriller and a pro-Japanese morality play. 

Presented with the Korea Society

Friday, November 28, 2008 | 9:30 PM

Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th Street
New York, NY 10011

THE BOW (90 min) 2005
활

Dir. Kim Ki-duk. Starring Jeon Sung-Hwan, Han Yeo-Reum, Seo Ji-Seok. With a bow and arrow, a sixty-year old man protects the young girl he plans to marry when she turns seventeen. She’s content with their life on a fishing boat until a young man arrives and changes everything. 

The Bow illustrates the Bhutanese proverb: “The arrow of divine beings with absolute wisdom: it cannot be seen when shot, but can be seen when it hits.”

The blockbuster TV Drama from Korea
Monthly Screening Series

In an age when women were treated as if they were invisible, Hwang Jin Yi, the celebrated Korean courtesan-singer-poet of the 16th century, was larger than life. Her beauty, wit and intellect propelled her from obscurity into the company of Korea’s most powerful aristocrats. The defining romance of her life broke across Korea’s rigid class lines and was in turn shattered by tragedy. A symbol of art and individuality, the subject of countless novels, movies and operas, Hwang Jin Yi remains a powerful feminist figure in Korea to this day.

Directed by Kim Cheol-gyu (More Beautiful Than Flowers) and written by Yoon Sun-Ju (The Immortal Lee Soon Shin), the acclaimed KBS TV drama series Hwang Jin Yi retells the tumultuous life story of Korea’s most famous kisaeng (courtesan). Join The Korea Society on Wednesday, November 12—and on the second Wednesday of each month through February—as we screen selected episodes from this lavish and epic series. Top actress Ha Ji-won’s portrayal of Hwang Jin Yi made the series an instant television event when the series first aired in Korea in 2006, causing a nationwide rediscovery of the role kisaeng played in Korean history.

All screenings presented in Korean with English subtitles.

November 12, 2008 – February 11, 2009 | 6:30 PM

The Korea Society
950 Third Ave., 8th Floor
New York, NY 10022

Admission:
$5 Members / $10 Non-members

Order tickets online or by calling The Korea Society at (212) 759-7525, ext. 323.

PART 1: THE ZENITH OF A KISAENG

Wednesday, November 12, 2008 | 6:30 PM

Hwang Jin Yi’s intelligence, beauty and talent have made her the most famous kisaeng in Korea—every man desires her, every woman is jealous of her. But at the height of her fame, Hwang Jin Yi shows only contempt for the aristocracy that adores her. After the death of her first love, shevows to become as unfeeling as the cold moon, and adopts Myŏngwŏl (bright moon) as her courtesan name.

Part One will be introduced by David McCann, professor of Korean Literature at Harvard University. The screening will be followed by a discussion of Hwang Jin Yi and Chosun society with director Kim Cheol-gyu and David McCann.

PART 2: THE BIRTH OF A KISAENG

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 | 6:30 PM

Hwang Jin Yi’s mother fears that her young daughter will follow in her footsteps and become a kisaeng: a singer, dancer and hostess who lives a life catering to the whims of the yangban elite. Determined that her daughter should become more than a mere plaything for men, she sends Hwang Jin Yi deep into the forest to be cared for by an old monk. But when Hwang Jin Yi slips away and glimpses the beauty of a kisaeng dance, she is drawn to her destiny.

Special Guest: Actress Jeon Mi-seon (the mother) will appear from Korea through an exclusive video conference to discuss the making of Hwang Jin Yi and answer audience questions.

PART 3: GRIEVANCE

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 | 6:30 PM

Hwang Jin Yi islearning dance from Yim Baek-moo, one of the best court dancers in the kingdom and a harsh and manipulative teacher. When Hwang Jin Yi’s first love ends tragically, she sees Yim’s scheming behind it. Jealousy and bitterness build between the two as they prepare for what turns out to be a fateful performance of the crane dance. 

Special Screening Guest Hwang Jin Yi writer Yoon Sun-ju
will join the audience by videoconference after the screening to talk about writing for the series and take questions.

PART 4: FINALE

Wednesday, February 11, 2009 | 6:30 PM

Having won the acclaim of King and court, Hwang Jin Yi is confidant that she will win the heart of the people by performing her elegant dances in the marketplace. The people turn out to be a much harder audience to impress than the nobility. Hwang Jin Yi wrestles with the question of whether her life’s passion is really meaningful if it doesn’t resonate with the people among who she was raised.

Co-sponsored by KBS.

With
Nicholas Bonner, Producer of Crossing the Line

In the 1960s, four U.S. soldiers serving in the Korean Demilitarized Zone crossed the most heavily fortified border on earth and defected to Communist North Korea. Trapped in the most secretive country on earth, their life was hidden from the outside world for 40 years. Not even the U.S. government knew their fate. James Joseph Dresnok, one of these four American defectors, is the only one who remains in North Korea today.

The Korea Society has organized an eight-campus screening tour of Crossing the Line, a new documentary film that tells his story, from October 27 through November 12, 2008. The program includes a post-screening discussion led by the documentary’s co-producer Nicholas Bonner who will talk about Dresnok, North Korea and the experience of filming a documentary in one of the least media-friendly environments in the world.

The filmmakers of Crossing the Line were allowed unprecedented access by the North Korean authorities to the subject of their documentary. They were permitted not only to interview Dresnok extensively but also to follow him through his daily life in Pyongyang. Their film, narrated by actor Christian Slater, presents a story that the New York Daily News has called “fascinating” and “unforgettable.”

Join The Korea Society on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 for a screening of this unique documentary, followed by a conversation with co-producer Nicholas Bonner, or check the schedule below for a screening near you. 

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 | 6 PM
6:00 PM–6:30 PM ♦ Registration and Reception
6:30 PM–8:30 PM ♦ Screening and Q&A

The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue., 8th Floor
New York, NY 10023
(SW corner on 57th)

Admission:
$10 Members / $15 Non-members
(Walk-in registration will incur an additional charge of $5.)

For more information or to register for the program, contact Heewon Kim at (212) 759-7525, ext. 355, or by email.

Schedule:

Monday, October 27, 2008–6:15 PM
Harvard University 
CGIS South Building (Tsai Auditorium)
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Contact #: (617) 496-2141

Tuesday, October 28, 2008–6:30 PM
The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue, Eighth Floor
New York, NY
Contact #: (212) 759-7525, ext. 355

Wednesday, October 29, 2008–5:30 PM
Johns Hopkins University 
Kenney Auditorium in the Nitze Building
1619 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
Contact #: (202) 663-5830

Thursday, October 30, 2008–6:30 PM
Ohio State University  (poster pdf) 
University Hall 0014
230 North Oval Mall
Columbus, OH
Contact #: (614) 688-4253 

Monday, November 3, 2008–6:30 PM
University of Missouri, Columbia 
100 Stewart Hall
Columbia, MO
Contact #: (573) 882-6902 

Monday, November 3, 2008–7:00 PM
University of Kansas 
Alderson Auditorium
Lawrence, KS
Contact #: 785-864-3849

Tuesday, November 4, 2008–4:00 PM
University of Kansas (poster pdf) 
English Room, Kansas Union
Lawrence, KS
Contact #: (785) 864-3849

Wednesday, November 5, 2008–7:30 PM
University of Notre Dame (poster pdf) 
Eck Visitors Center Auditorium
100 Eck Center
Notre Dame, IN
Contact #: (574) 631-8873

Saturday, November 8, 2008–5:00 PM
Nestrick Room (Dwinelle 142)
UC Berkeley
San Francisco, CA
Contact #: (510) 642-5674

Monday, November 10, 2008–4:00 PM
University of California at Los Angeles 
314 Royce Hall
UCLA Campus
Los Angeles, CA
Contact #: (310) 825-3284 

Wednesday, November 12, 2008–6:15 PM
University of California at Santa Barbara 
McCune Conference Center (HSSB 6020)
UCSB Campus
Santa Barbara, CA
Contact #: (805) 893-3907

Screening And A Conversation
With Filmmaker Y. David Chung And Prof. John Kuo Wei Tchen

“Koryo Saram” (the Soviet Korean phrase for Korean person) tells the harrowing saga of survival in the open steppe country and the sweep of Soviet history through the eyes of these deported Koreans, who were designated by Stalin as an “unreliable people” and enemies of the state. Through recently uncovered archival footage and new interviews, the film follows the deportees’ history of integrating into the Soviet system while working under punishing conditions in Kazakhstan, a country which became a concentration camp of exiled people from throughout the Soviet Union.

Today, in the context of Kazakhstan’s recent emergence as a rapidly modernizing, independent state, the story of the Kazakhstani-Koreans situated within this ethnically diverse country has resonance with the experience of many Americans and how they have assimilated to form new cultures in our world of increasingly displaced people.

The screening will be followed by a conversation between filmmaker Y. David Chung and Prof. John Kuo Wei Tchen, Founding Director of A/P/A Institute at NYU.Visit www.apa.nyu.edu

Thursday, September 25, 2008 | 6:30 PM

Cantor Film Center
36 East 8th Street
Theater 102
New York, NY 10003
(212) 998-4100

Free and open to the public

Please RSVP by Tuesday, September 23 to apa.rsvp@nyu.edu or call 212-992-8653

Co-sponsored by:
The Korea Society & the NYU Center for Media, Culture, and History/Center for Media and Religion
With support by Asia Society

With
Christine Choy, Film Director
Jung-Bong Choi, Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU
Jina Kim, Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies, Smith College

 The Korean film industry, which once struggled to attract domestic audiences, has been successfully exporting its products and expanding its influence throughout Asia, Europe and North America in the past decade. These days, casual observers associate Korean cinema with the broader cultural phenomenon of hallyu (“Korean Wave”). But contemporary Korean cinema’s roots run deep and hallyu is only the latest chapter in a rich history.

Join The Korea Society for a screening of this exciting new documentary, followed by a discussion on the current state of Korean cinema. Director Christine Choy will introduce her film, and field questions from the audience with Jung-Bong Choi, assistant professor of cinema studies at Tisch School of the Arts and Jina Kim, assistant professor of East Asian Studies at Smith College.

Thursday, August 28, 2008 | 5:30 PM

5:30 PM-6:00 PM ♦ Registration and Reception
6:00 PM-7:00 PM ♦ Screening
7:00 PM-8:00 PM ♦ Presentation and Q&A

The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue., 8th Floor
New York, NY 10023
(SW corner on 57th)

For more information or to register for the program, contact Patrick Clair at (212) 759-7525, ext. 328 or email.

CINEMA KOREA (50 min) 2006
Directed and written by Christine Choy

In her new documentary, Cinema Korea (a Dreamville production), Academy Award-nominated director Christine Choy brings together interviews with actors and directors, archival footage of classic Korean films and accounts of defining historical events to give a fully rounded view of Korean film culture. Interviewees include Im Kwon-taek, Kim Ki-duk, Jang Dong-gun, Jeon Ji-hyun, Lee Byung-hun, Kwak Kyung-taek, Bang Eun-jin.

Sponsored by yKAN.