Filmmaker Hark-Joon Lee chronicles the making of an all girl band in this insightful documentary on K-Pop—the multi-billion dollar South Korean musical entertainment industry. 9 Muses of Star Empire follows the nine young women in a new girl group for a year as they are molded and trained by the powerful Star Empire Agency to be the next big K-pop sensation. As the everyday life of these girls unfolds, they relentlessly pursue their dreams in a world of jealousy, betrayal, and scandal. You’ll never look at K-Pop in quite the same way.
Following the screening, director Hark Joon Lee will be available to answer questions about the documentary, as well as what’s happened to 9 Muses since the 2010 filming.
(82 minutes, 2012)
Directed by Hark Joon Lee
Produced by Min-Chul Kim (Minch & Films) and Suk Kee Lee (Style Chosun)
Thursday, April 17, 2014 | 7:00 PM
The Korea Society 950 Third Ave., 8th Fl (Entrance on 57th St.)
Director Hark-Joon Lee, long-time reporter turned filmmaker, discusses his amazing, and in some cases life-threatening, experiences making documentaries on two wildly different subjects: North Korean defectors trying to escape to freedom and K-Pop, Korea’s musical entertainment industry. Lee deeply embeds himself in his film projects and goes to extraordinary lengths in pursuit of stories he thinks are worth telling.
From 2007 to 2011, Director Lee lived among North Korean defectors in China filming episodes which tell the moving and dramatic stories of a few of the many North Korean defectors who have crossed into China and made the harrowing journey along the 20,000 kilometer escape route stretching through China to Laos and Thailand or north into Russia, traveling through Khabarovsk, Tynda and on to Moscow. Posing as a North Korean defector, Lee risked his life filming undercover to capture the haunting stories first-hand. He witnessed human trafficking, the smuggling of illicit drugs by North Korean soldiers, and a rare successful escape from North Korea by sea. Crossing Heaven’s Border, which captures several of these harrowing, heartbreaking stories, aired in 2009 on Wide Angle, a PBS series, and received an Amnesty International’s best in human rights journalism award and a 2010 Emmy award nomination. Another documentary, Across Land, Across Sea, received an Emmy nomination in 2012 and has been shown in Korea and Europe.
For his documentary, 9 Muses of Star Empire, Lee got extraordinary access to the inner workings of the Star Empire agency by agreeing to become the 9 Muses’ manager during the year-long filming of the band as they prepared to make their debut. What emerges is a fascinating look at Korea’s musical entertainment industry, as well as a candid portrait of a physically grueling and psychologically challenging life, where the young singers must decide whether the price of fame is worth it.
In order to experience Hark-Joon Lee’s work, The Korea Society will be showing Across Land, Across Sea for the first time in the U.S. on April 16 at 6 PM, preceding our talk with Director Lee. 9 Muses of Star Empire will be shown at The Korea Society on April 17 at 7 PM. You can also watch his award-winning Crossing Heaven’s Border on PBS’s Web site.
Across Land, Across Sea 9 Muses of Star Empire Crossing Heaven’s Border
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
6:00 PM | Pre-Program Screening of Across Land, Across Sea
7:00 PM | Director’s Talk with Hark-Joon Lee
The Korea Society 950 Third Avenue, 8th floor New York, NY 10022
A Conversation With Nicolas Archambault, Director of Asian Programming, Fantasia International Film Festival, and Tom Vick, Curator of Film Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution. Moderated by Samuel Jamier, Co-Director New York Asian Film Festival and Rufus de Rham, Director of Operations for Subway Cinema, organizers of the New York Asian Film Festival.
Boasting record box office numbers and critical accolades from the major film festival circuit, Korean cinema has seen a spectacular boom. New blood has pumped life into the Korean film business, while established Korean filmmakers have been making their Hollywood debuts (Kim Jee-woon with The Last Stand, Park Chan-wook with Stoker, and Bong Joon-ho with the Korean-produced English-language Snowpiercer). Industry commentators and observers have talked about a “renaissance” or even a new “golden age” of Korean cinema, after the sluggish recovery from the slump of 2007-08.
The Korea Society and the New York Asian Film Festival, working together to promote multi-cultural collaboration, are delighted to present Nicolas Archambault, Director of Asian Programming, Fantasia International Film Festival, and Tom Vick, Curator of Film of the Freer and Sackler Galleries at the Smithsonian Institution. They will consider the prospects of Korean cinema, for the near and long term, in the context of its recent achievements.
With Spring just around the corner, learn the basics of Korean flower arranging in this introductory course. Traditionally, flowers in Korea have been associated with specific characteristics. Former New York Botanical Garden instructor Claire Won Kang introduces this Korean language of flowers to convey unique expressions in floral design. Through demonstration and hands-on design using Korea’s traditional color palette, Oh-bang-saek (black, blue, red, white, and yellow), master the concepts of harmoniously balancing flowers and space to create a beautiful yet simple arrangement which can be taken home.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
No prior floral design experience necessary.
Advanced ticket purchase required for this event by March 27. Space is limited.
$140 Members / $155 Non-members
Fees include all materials for the flower arrangement.
Explore Korean fine art from The Korea Society vaults and new acquisitions, with an eye to Korea’s celebrated ceramics. This exhibition honors recent gifts from Asian art specialist Lea Sneider and other donors.
Highlights: Selections from The Korea Society Collection
Special Asia Week Reception:
Thursday March 20, 2014 | 3–5 PM Complimentary
Vessel
March 24–31
This temporary exhibit, timed with the release of the UN Commission of Inquiry report on North Korean human rights abuses, employs an ancient Silla vessel representing the individual; an etching from artist Jahee Yu alluding to suffering in today’s gulag.
If you have any questions, please contact Jahee Yu or (212) 759-7525, ext. 301.
The Korea Society 950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
Shin Kim, culinary instructor and food writer, makes Mandoo in this hands-on workshop, while sharing fun historical stories and video clips that illustrate the cultural significance of the simple dumpling! She’ll demonstrate how to make steamed buns, a dipping sauce, and the wrappers from scratch. As a class, we’ll learn how to make kimchi mandoo and gullim mandoo. Our mandoo-making party concludes with a meal of kimchimandoo and gullim mandoo in a hearty soup, sweet red bean steamed buns, and a thirst-quenching drink.
Thursday, March 6, 2014 | 6 PM
Advanced ticket purchase required for this event. Space is limited.
The Korea Society teams up with The Film Society of Lincoln Center and the New York Asian Film Festival to present the New York premiere of the horror/comedy Intruders, and its director, Noh Young-seok.
A twisty blackly comic suspense thriller from South Korea, where sometimes it seems like they do this sort of thing better than anyone else. Looking for peace and quiet, a screenwriter rents a winter cabin in a remote country backwater to concentrate on his latest project. On the bus he does his best to rebuff a talkative character fresh out of prison, who unfortunately gets off at the same destination. Throw in a group of obnoxious kids on a ski vacation in the cabin next door, a pair of menacing game hunters who turn out to be related to the ex-con, and a shifty cop and you can see where things are headed, right? Maybe, maybe not. In his second effort, indie director Noh Young-seok shows he’s a talent to watch out for.
Director Noh Young-seok in person on February 20 !
Thursday, February 20, 2014 | 6:30 PM Thursday, February 27, 2014 | 4:15 PM
Film Society Lincoln Center Walter Reade Theater 165 West 65th Street, New York, NY (212) 875-5600
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.
Maedeup, the traditional Korean art form of knotting silken cords, consists of over 35 intricate knots—with colorful names such as “dragonfly” and “plum blossom”—skillfully made into beautiful ornaments and accessories. In this introductory workshop, learn how to make the dongsimgyeol knot, also known as the “one mind” or “binding two hearts forever” knot since it was used to decorate the letter containing a marriage pledge between the bridegroom’s family and bride’s family. Variations of this knot and various applications, including bookmarks, pendants, and accessories to cell phones, ipads, or purses, will be demonstrated.
Wednesday, February 26 , 2014 | 6 – 8 PM
Advanced ticket purchase required for this event. Space is limited.
On February 21st, 2014, The Korea Society hosted a public screening of Daytime Drinking, Director Noh Young-seok’s breakthrough first film, at the New York Film Academy’s Battery Place Campus. After the film, the director answered questions for the audience on his career, filmmaking techniques, and plans for future projects.
Friday, February 21, 2014 | 9 AM
If you have any questions, please contact Estefanía Lee or (212) 759-7525, ext. 313.
The Korea Society 950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.
Fresh from participating in the Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale, artist Young-mi Kim reports on her three-month journey to kilns, studios, and ceramic heritage sites throughout Korea.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014 | 6 PM
This program is now FREE to all guest, but please RSVP. Limited seats available.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.
