Celebrate Korea as a center of excellence for classical arts with Juilliard violinist Jiwon Kim. Ms. Kim recently premiered Roberto Sierra’s Duo Concertante for violin and viola as part of the Summergarden series at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall and with the New Juilliard Ensemble, Juilliard Orchestra, and Sejon Soloists. Ms. Kim performs works by Bach (Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 1003), Ysaÿe (Violin Sonata No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 27, No. 4 “Fritz Kreisler”) and Corigliano (The Red Violin Caprices). Jiwon and sister Hyewon Kim, a cellist, perform together Gliere’s Huit Morceaux for violin and cello, Op. 39.
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
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.
Donald P. Gregg, former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea and Chairman Emeritus of The Korea Society, discusses his fascinating new memoir, Pot Shards. The book relates experiences from a career that includes thirty-one years as a CIA operations officer and ten years in the White House, which culminated in an appointment as the National Security Advisor to then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. A reception and book signing will follow the program.
Ambassador Donald P. Gregg’s Memoir: Pot Shards
Wednesday, November 5, 2014 | 12 PM
11:30 AM | Registration & Light Fare
12:00 PM | Discussion
If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie Lee or (212) 759-7525, ext. 313.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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 Korea Society partners with the University of Minnesota and All That Story America to present an afternoon of Korean culture in the Twin Cities, including an introduction to Sijo, Korean poetry, and performances by the National Orchestra of Korea and Hanyang Traditional Performing Arts.
Suki Kim, who has written about North Korea for Harper’s and The New York Review of Books,discusses Without You, There Is No Us, her fascinating new book which chronicles her six month stay in North Korea, where she taught English to the sons of the North Korean elite at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology during the end of Kim Jong Il’s reign. The book will be available for sale and a reception and book signing will follow.
Author Euny Hong discusses, with The Wall Street Journal Online’s columnist Jeffrey Yang, her first nonfiction book, The Birth of Korean Cool, which mixes stories from her childhood in Korea with in-depth reporting and exclusive interviews with government officials and cultural icons. The result is an entertaining look at how South Korea made an unprecedented leap into the 21st century to become a global leader in business, technology, education, and pop culture. The book will be available for sale and a reception and book signing will follow.
Lea Sneider has a passion for folk art: the ceramics, woodwork, paintings, and sculpture used and enjoyed in everyday life. While accompanying her husband, Richard L. Sneider, to his appointment as U.S. Ambassador to Korea in 1974, Mrs. Sneider became an avid explorer of the art galleries and museums of Seoul, Daegu, and Busan. She sought out scholars of the rich tradition of Korean folk art, a field largely unexplored in the West at the time.
After returning to the United States, Mrs. Sneider became an art dealer, curator, and influential mentor, as three of her former assistants went on to become East Asian art teachers in leading US universities: Princeton, Chicago and Brigham Young. Sneider, together with Robert Moes, former Curator of Asian Art at the Brooklyn Museum, produced the first-ever exhibition of Korean folk art in the West, Auspicious Spirits: Korean Folk Paintings and Related Objects, which opened in New York in 1983 and traveled across the country. “The work in Auspicious Spirits has the magic that has come to be expected from Asian art of the first quality,” wrote the New York Times.
This exhibition pays tribute to Lea Sneider, a great patron of Korean art and longtime board member of The Korea Society, with pieces from her personal collection.
October 14—November 21, 2014
Gallery Reception
Wednesday, October 15, 2014 | 5-7 PM
The Korea Society Gallery
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.
K-pop performers from Korea’s major labels are well known throughout the globe. Now, artists signed to Korea’s independent music labels are gradually attracting international recognition. Like a breath of fresh air, Lucite Tokki (루싸이트 토끼), a Seoul-based female pop duo, creates unique and honest music. Musicians Kim Sun Young and Cho Ye Jin compose pieces reflective of their evolving emotions and musical tastes. Join us to welcome Lucite Tokki for their first international performance, followed by a Q&A session.
Po Kim’s artistic career was characterized by an ever-evolving style, and an eagerness to seek out new areas of inspiration. His paintings, often large in scale, were bold and compelling, bursting with life, energy, and emotion. This work distinguished Kim as one of the premier Korean-American artists of his time. When the artist died earlier this year, he left behind a strong legacy in his paintings, the innumerable artists he inspired, and the gallery in New York and museum in Korea which bear his name.
Po’s life as an artist began in Korea, where he founded the Department of Fine Arts at Chosun University. Incarcerated and tortured during the Korean War, Kim left Korea in 1955 to accept a fellowship at the University of Illinois. He moved to New York City a few years later, and his artistic life flourished here over the next six decades.
This exhibition, through personal objects, photographs, catalogues, and paintings, seeks to provide viewers a deeper sense of an artist who found great inspiration in his identities as a Korean, an American, and a New Yorker. The objects are on loan from The Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery, an institution dedicated to the art of its founders and their personal mission of intercultural dialogue between the artistic communities of New York and the world.
August 28—September 26, 2014
OPENING RECEPTION | Gallery Talk
The Legacy of Po Kim
Wednesday, September 3, 2014 | 6 PM
Po Kim was a pioneering force in the Korean American art community. When the artist died earlier this year, he left behind a strong legacy in his paintings, the innumerable artists he inspired, and the gallery in New York and museum in Korea which bear his name. The evening’s panel features NYU’s Alexandra Chang, Hunter College’s Midori Yamamura and former curator at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum’s Mr. Jeffrey Wechsler. The panelists will discuss Mr. Kim’s life; the hardships and turmoil he endured, his long illustrious career as artist and teacher, his evolving style, his influences, and his contributions and impact on the art world.
The Korea Society Gallery
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.
Of Interest:
We cordially invite you to the special concert,”In Flight”, on Saturday, September 20th at 7:30 PM at the Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery.
In celebration of the life and artistic legacy of Po Kim, The Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery presents “In Flight,” a special concert of paintings and music. Professor Richard Miller (Columbia University) and the New York University String Quartet perform works by Mozart, Haydn, Bach and Villa-Lobos, as well as the premiere of a piece by Professors Youngmi Ha (New York University) and Jingfei Li (Shanghai University) that was inspired by two Po Kim paintings on view at the Gallery. This collaborative work captures the spirit and color of human desires in the combined media of moving images and music.
We hope you join us to celebrate the life and works of Po Kim. If you would like to attend, please RSVP info@waldandkimgallery.org or call 212. 598. 1155by Thursday, September 18.
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 
Po Kim’s artistic career was characterized by an ever-evolving style, and an eagerness to seek out new areas of inspiration. His paintings, often large in scale, were bold and compelling, bursting with life, energy, and emotion. This work distinguished Kim as one of the premier Korean-American artists of his time. When the artist died earlier this year, he left behind a strong legacy in his paintings, the innumerable artists he inspired, and the gallery in New York and museum in Korea which bear his name.