Director’s Talk with Filmmaker Christine Yoo: The Making of Wedding Palace

 2012 05 10  wedding palace icon2First-time director Christine Yoo shares her remarkable experience making Wedding Palace, a loving portrayal of a tight-knit Korean family. Christine began writing the script in 1999 and, when major studios passed on it, she decided to make the film on her own. Actor Stephen Park (Fargo, In Living Color, and Wedding Palace) will join Christine to discuss how she successfully financed, directed, and distributed a film shot on location in both Los Angeles and Seoul. The evening’s program includes the premiere of a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the film which was called “just as crazy as the film itself.” Members’ Free Film Night: My Way

 

Thursday, May 10, 2012

 6:30 PM

 

Korean Film in Focus @ The Korea Society
The Making of Wedding Palace

A conversation with 
Filmmaker Christine Yoo

and

Moderated by
Stephen Park
Actor (Wedding Palace)

 

 

Book Cafe: Hearts of Pine

 

 

In the wake of the Asia-Pacific War, Korean survivors of the “comfort women” system—those bound into sexual slavery for the Japanese military—lived under great pressure not to speak about what had happened to them. Joshua Pilzer’s Hearts of Pine provides a window into the lives of three such survivors: Pak Duri, Mun Pilgi, and Bae Chunhui. Over the course of ten years, the author worked with these elderly women: smoking with them, eating with them, singing and playing with them, and trying to understand and document their worlds of song.

During four decades of secrecy and the subsequent decades of the “comfort women” protest movement, music helped these women cope with and express their experiences, forge and sustain identities and social relationships, and record and convey their struggles and philosophies of life. Through these intimate portraits, Hearts of Pine illustrates the personal and social power of music, and presents heretofore unrecorded histories of the “comfort women” system and postwar South Korean public culture as written in women’s song. In this presentation, the author introduces his ten-year project of fieldwork. He discusses recording and collecting songs, attempts to understand the many gulfs of culture and experience that separated him from the survivors, and the idea of Korean music as an alternative Korean history.

 

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Hearts of Pine

with

Dr. Joshua D. Pilzer
Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of Toronto

An Evening with Benson Lee, Director, Producer, and Writer

An Evening with Benson Lee, Director, Producer, and Writer Benson Lee is an award winning filmmaker who has worked in both documentary and feature film. Mr. Lee was the first Korean American to be accepted to the Sundance Film Festival where his feature, Miss Monday, won the Special Grand Jury Prize for Best Actor. In 2007, he directed Planet B-Boy a documentary that the New York Times described as “fun, sometimes thrilling and packed with illuminating details and striking personalities”. Most recently, Mr Lee directed a 3D remake of Planet B-Boy titled Battle of the Year: The Dream Team. Starring Josh Holloway (from ‘Lost’) and the pop star Chris Brown, the remake is scheduled to be released by Sony Pictures in January, 2013. His films have been shown on HBO, MTV, and theatrically distributed worldwide.

Join us for an evening of conversation with Benson, as he recounts his extraordinary career as a Korean American filmmaker and how his journey has inspired his latest project, Obangsaek, the first comprehensive 3D documentary about Korea for a global audience. A cocktail reception will follow.

 

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

 6:30 PM

 

An Evening with Benson Lee, Director, Producer, and Writer

Members’ Free Film Night: My Way

 

For our first Members’ Free Film Night, The Korea Society and CJ Entertainment are pleased to invite our members to an Exclusive Advanced Screening of My Way. Directed by Kang Je-Kyu, and starring Jang Dong-gun, Joe Odagiri, and Fan Bingbing, the film tells the story of two bitter marathon-running rivals, Korean native Kim Jun-shik and Japanese aristocrat Tatsuo Hasegawa, who find themselves in the Japanese army fighting the Chinese and Soviets. After both are taken prisoner by the Soviets, their mutual hatred and mistrust boils over into a feud that is only stopped by the horror of the war. Forced to fight for the Soviets, the two eventually rely on each other for survival, making it to Germany, where they are, in turn, separated and forced to fight for the Nazis. They meet again at Normandy Beach, both unlikely survivors, bonded by history as they struggle to survive one more terrible battle as the Allies arrive on D-Day.

A Q&A with director Kang Je-Kyu and film critic Jeffrey Lyons will immediately follow the screening.

 

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

 6:30 PM

 

Members’ Free Film Night: My Way

 

Clearview Chelsea 9 Cinema
260 West 23rd Street (between 7 & 8th Avenues)


 

Blue and White Concert

2012 03 22 Blue-and-White ICON3Master percussionist Pak Vongku leads a recital of Korean buk and Japanese stringed koto, marrying the melodies of ancient Korea, Japan and India in a thoughtful zen/son-inspired performance for Asia Week New York 2012. Pak appeared recently for The Korea Society as part of its Seattle outreach program and has received rave reviews in New York City and nationally. Enjoy drummer Pak (janggu) and string-and-flute accompaniests Masayo Isigure (koto) and Steve Gorn (bansuri). The Contemplative Traditions series 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.

 

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Made possible with the support of the New York State Council on the Arts.

 

 

Thursday, March 22, 2012

7PM 

Contemplative Traditions Concert: Blue and White

 

 

The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor


 

Asia Week 2012 Gallery Talk with Artist Park Jihyun

2012 03_22__park-jihyun_icon

In conjunction with the gallery exhibition ASH: Contemporary Korean Art & Ceramics, artist Park Jihyun speaks to the creative process and his technique of burning incense onto rice paper. Park also will discuss his professional and personal exploration of both traditional and contemporary cultures.

 

Thursday, March 22, 2012

5 PM


Asia Week 2012 Gallery Talk with Artist Park Jihyun

The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor

Gallery Talk with Artist Park Jihyun

2012 03 22  park-jihyun icon

In conjunction with the gallery exhibition ASH: Contemporary Korean Art & Ceramics, artist Park Jihyun speaks to the creative process and his technique of burning incense onto rice paper. Park also will discuss his professional and personal exploration of both traditional and contemporary cultures.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

5 PM


Asia Week 2012 Gallery Talk with Artist Park Jihyun

Explore Korea and Young Professionals’ Network members
attend this program for free with REGISTRATION

 

Hong Sang-soo Film Retrospective @ Museum of the Moving Image

2012 03 23  Hong-Sang-soo-retrospective icon2The Korea Society celebrates Asia Week with a screening of works by celebrated director Hong Sang-soo (The Day He Arrives, Hahaha) at the newly renovated Museum of the Moving Image, home to New York City’s finest, state-of-the-art screen. Film free with museum admission. 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. 

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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.

 

 

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

 

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, MARCH 17-18, 2012 and FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012

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

 

 


Saturday, March 17 2:00 The Day a Pig Fell into the Well 5:00 Woman on the Beach  
Sunday, March 18 2:00 Night and Day 5:30 Like You Know It All  
Friday, March 23     7:00 Oki’s Movie

 

 


 

The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (Daijiga umule pajinnal) 1996 

The Day a Pig Fell into the Well 1996 The Day a Pig Fell into the Well 1996 The Day a Pig Fell into the Well 1996 The Day a Pig Fell into the Well 1996 The Day a Pig Fell into the Well 1996 

SATURDAY, MARCH 17 @ 2:00 PM 

With Bang Eun-hee, Cho Eun-sook, Park Jin-seong. Hong Sang-soo’s debut film was a critical success, winning awards at the Rotterdam and Vancouver film festivals. A story of individuals desperately longing for connection—a common theme in Hong’s work—the film depicts angled and tragic relationships: Min-jae obsessed with Hyo-sub, a struggling writer; Po-kyung, a married woman, in an affair with Hyo-sub; and Dong-woo, Po-kyung’s husband alone. The title is from a 1954 book by John Cheever. 113 min. 

@ MoMI


 

Woman on the Beach (Haebyonui yeoin) 2006

Woman on the Beach (Haebyonui yeoin) 2006 Woman on the Beach (Haebyonui yeoin) 2006 Woman on the Beach (Haebyonui yeoin) 2006 

SATURDAY, MARCH 17 @ 5:00 PM 

With Go Hyun-jung, Kim Seung-woo, Kim Tae-woo, Song Seon-mi. Joong-rae embarks on a road trip with friend Chang-wook and Chang-wook’s girlfriend, Moon-sook. In the beautiful beach setting of Shinduri, Joong-rae and Moon-sook find themselves attracted to each other and spend a passionate night together. But where does life go the morning after? A filmmaker, writing his latest script at a seaside resort town, becomes involved with two women. As ever, Hong is comically and painfully lucid in outlining the jealousy and self-absorption that fuel his male characters’ excess. 128 min. 

@ MoMI


 

Night and Day (Bamgua nat) 2008 

Night and Day (Bamgua nat) 2008 Night and Day (Bamgua nat) 2008 Night and Day (Bamgua nat) 2008 

SUNDAY, MARCH 18 @ 2:00 PM 

With Kim Yeong-ho, Park Eun-hye, Seo Min-jung. Kim Sung-nam, a married 40-something painter in Seoul, flees Korea after he’s caught smoking marijuana while drunk at a gathering. In Paris, he takes refuge at a Korean-owned run-down lodge, calls his abandoned wife, and hits the streets looking for action. Night and Day premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2008 and screened at the 46th New York Film Festival. 144 min. 

@ MoMI


 

Like You Know It All (Jal aljido mothamyeonseo) 2008      

Like You Know It All (Jal aljido mothamyeonseo) 2008 Like You Know It All (Jal aljido mothamyeonseo) 2008 Like You Know It All (Jal aljido mothamyeonseo) 2008 

SUNDAY, March 18 @ 5:30 PM 

With Kim Tae-woo, Uhm Ji-won, Go Hyun-Jung. In this entrant into the 2009 Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight, Kim Tae-woo (Women on the Beach, Woman is the Future of Man) plays a critics’ filmmaker, often drunk and confused as his work takes him across the country and into contact with the past. Director Ku attends a festival in a small town and bumps into old friend, Bu. Over drinks, he meets Bu’s wife. Soon after, Ku goes to Jeju Island to give a lecture. There he meets his college senior and finds out that his new wife is Ku’s love from his twenties. 126 min. 

@ MoMI


 

Oki’s Movie (Ok-hui-ui yeonghwa) 2010 

Oki’s Movie (Ok-hui-ui yeonghwa) 2010 Oki’s Movie (Ok-hui-ui yeonghwa) 2010 Oki’s Movie (Ok-hui-ui yeonghwa) 2010 

FRIDAY, March 23 @ 7:00 PM 

With Jeong Yu-mi, Lee Seon-gyun. Oki’s Movie was the closing film for the Horizons section of the 67th Venice Film Festival. A story told in four chapters, Oki’s Movie follows a film student and her complicated relationships with a young director and a middle-aged professor. The awkward romantic triangle serves as the inspiration for her film project. 80 min. 

@ MoMI


 

 

Juilliard @ The Korea Society: Classical Guitar with Bokyung Byun

2012 03 15 Juilliard Bokyung-Byun Guitar ICON

Born in Seoul in 1994, Bokyung Byun began playing at six, and by her teen years had won competitions held by the Korea Guitar Association, the Embassy of Spain, and the Music Association of Korea. She went on to take top prizes at the Vienna Forum Guitar International and the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA). Her special Asia Week program includes Capricho Árabe (Francisco Tárrega); Fuge and Allegro from BWV998 (J. S. Bach); Fantasie Hongroise (J. K. Mertz); Un Sueño en la Floresta (A. B. Mangoré); Zapateado from Tres Piezas Españolas (J. Rodrigo); Koyunbaba (C. Domeniconi); and Fuoco from Libra Sonatine (R. Dyens).

 

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Juilliard @ The Korea Society: Classical Guitar with Bokyung Byun

 

For additional inquiries, please contact Nikita Desai or 212-759-7525×355.

 

The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor

ASH: Contemporary Korean Art & Ceramics by Park Jihyun & Lee Inchin

 

Kick off Asia Week New York 2012 (March 16-24) with the works of internationally recognized artists Park Jihyun and Lee Inchin. Using incense to burn thousands of tiny holes onto rice paper, Park practices reverse-pointillism, puncturing the paper’s fragile surface with tiny marks and thereby subtracting rather than adding dots of paint and color. Lee’s masterful employment of the traditional wood-firing kiln and ash yield ceramics with a spectrum of colors ranging from yellow to bright orange, red-brown to black. Lee’s ceramics and Park’s incense work harness the creative and destructive power of fire, smoke, and ash. Curated in cooperation with Jiyoung Koo and KooNewYork.


March 15-May 18, 2012

Gallery Opening
Thursday, March 15, 2012
6 PM