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Category: Arts & Culture

Crossing The Line

Posted on by Yurim Oh

 

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

 

Koryo Saram: The Unreliable People

Posted on by Yurim Oh

 

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

 

 

North Korean Images at Utopia’s Edge

Posted on by Yurim Oh

 

 

Exhibition

September 9 – December 12, 2008

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The Korea Society presents, for the first time ever in the United States, the art of North Korean woodblock printing. In an exhibition spanning the last three decades of North Korean artistry, North Korean Images at Utopia’s Edge features 24 prints from the Nicholas Bonner Collection. These prints offer a fascinating picture of North Korean conceptions of daily life and work, family and Fatherland. Four subject areas delineate the contours of North Korea’s vision of an earthly paradise: harmonious families, plenteous landscapes, male laborers and women at work.
 
Following its engagement at The Korea Society, North Korean Images at Utopia’s Edge will be available for travel to colleges, universities, galleries, and non-profit institutions across America.

Related program:

Crossing the Line, directed by Daniel Gordon and narrated by Christian Slater
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
6:00 PM-6:30 PM • Registration and Reception
6:30 PM-8:30 PM • Screening and Q&A

Join The Korea Society for a screening of this unique documentary, followed by a conversation with co-producer Nicholas Bonner.

mt_gallery:nkwoodblock

 

Cinema Korea: The Past, Present and Future of Korean Films

Posted on by Yurim Oh

 

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

cinemakorea1.jpg cinemakorea5.jpg
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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.

 

A Korean Actor on the World Stage: Ahn Sung-ki

Posted on by Yurim Oh

ahnsk2.jpg

A Discussion
 
with

Ahn Sung-ki

 
moderated by Hyangsoon Yi, University of Georgia.
 
Wednesday, August 27, 6:30PM
6:00 PM-7:00 PM ♦ Registration and Reception
7:00 PM-8:30 PM ♦ Discussion and Q&A
The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue, Eighth Floor, New York City
(Building entrance on SW corner of Third Avenue and 57th Street)

Ahn Sung-ki, the “people’s actor” of Korea, will speak about his long and rich acting career as well as his own life story that very nearly coincides with the history of contemporary Korean cinema. Given his experience as a veteran actor who has appeared in an exceptionally wide range of genres and roles, Ahn is uniquely qualified to provide an insider’s perspective on the remarkable evolution of South Korean cinema from its fumbling beginnings into one of the most vibrant cultural forces in Asia. From his vantage point as president of the Korean Actors’ Guild, Ahn also will address the relationship between actors and the national film industry, inter-Asian cinematic projects, and the “globalization” of Korean cinema.

This discussion, part of the New York Korean Film Festival 2008 (August 22-31), will be followed by a reception.

(Walk-in registration will incur an additional charge of $5)
For more information or to register for the program, contact Yuni Cho at (212) 759-7525, ext. 323 or email.

 
Tour organized by Hyangsoon Yi, with the generous support of the Korea Foundation.
 
Co-sponsored by yKAN ykan_s.gif

 

 

New York Korean Film Festival Opening Reception

Posted on by Yurim Oh

 

Join us for an exciting week of film, shorts, panels and parties at the largest celebration of Korean cinema in the United States. The New York Korean Film Festival showcases dynamic and exciting currents in contemporary Korean cinema and this year looks back on the career of award-winning actor Ahn Sung-ki with a special retrospective. You are invited to come kick off this year’s Festival at a star-studded reception and screening at one of New York City’s newest and most celebrated spaces, TheTimesCenter.

The New York Korean Film Festival, running from August 22 through August 31 at Cinema Village in Union Square and BAMcinématek in Brooklyn, is a program of The Korea Society.

 

Thursday, August 21, 2008 | 6:00 PM

The New York Times Building
The Times Center
242 West 41st St.
(between 7th and 8th)
New York, NY

For more information, please call (212) 759-7525, ext. 355

 

 

6:00 PM
Cocktail Reception with special guests:
Hwang Jin-Yi director Chang Youn-hyun 
and actor Yoo Ji-tae

7:30 PM
Hwang Jin-Yi Film Screening
Starring Song Hye-kyo and Yoo Ji-tae

For a full schedule of events, visit www.koreanfilmfestival.org.

 

 Community Partners:

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The Kyopo Project

Posted on by Yurim Oh

 

 
Exhibition

kyopoproject-gallery.jpgThrough Friday, August 15, 2008

Kyopo (교포) is a Korean term for people of Korean descent who reside permanently outside of the Korean Peninsula. The Kyopo Project is a collection of images created by photographer CYJO to highlight the diversity of the global kyopo community.

Emigration from Korea to other countries in Asia began as a trickle in the mid-nineteenth century, and accelerated during the first half of the twentieth century as the depredations of Japanese colonial rule increased. A second wave of emigrants began leaving for the Western Hemisphere, particularly the United States, in the mid-1960s. Kyopo hail from virtually every country in the world, but the vast majority reside in just three countries: China, the U.S. and Japan. Today, kyopo number approximately 6.5 million—one for every ten Koreans residing in the Korean Peninsula.

This exhibition features a series of 171 full-length portraits of kyopo from around the world. It shows each subject in their analogical plenitude, as Roland Barthes would say, and betrays/displays the intimate relation of the photographer to the portraits. The subjects are posed frontally, with their eyes returning the camera’s and the viewer’s gaze. Thus, each subject connects with and mirrors the others, while also reflecting their inherent differences. Ranging in age from teenagers to a septuagenarian, they are novelists, actors, teachers, comedians, athletes, executives and retirees. The striking diversity of the group—the subjects do not appear to have much in common other than their Korean ancestry—challenges the idea of a monolithic, authentic Korean identity and stimulates exploration of what it means to be Korean. The exhibition also poses the question of how kyopo negotiate the sometimes conflicting expectations and sensibilities arising from their intrinsic bicultural identity.

Asian Diasporas: New Conceptions, New Formations, a collection of essays co-edited by Rhacel Salazar Parreñas and Lok Siu, will be available for purchase at The Korea Society during the exhibition.

 

 

For inquiries about the exhibition in The Korea Society Gallery, contact Jinyoung Kim at (212) 759-7525, ext. 316 or email .

This exhibition was made possible in part by support from the Joh Foundation, Andy S. Ree, Asian/Pacific American Institute at New York University, Gie Kim, Alexander Brodsky, the Network of Korean-American Leaders (NetKAL), Bomsinae Kim, P.J. Kim and Hoon-jung Kim. Additional thanks to Timothy Archambault, Stephan Valter, Joseph and Linda Kang Chong, Kevin and Clara Kim, Younmee Shin, Min Yang, Charles No and all The Kyopo Project  participants. 

Read more about The Kyopo Project:

 

ChelseaNow
KoreAmJournal.com
Korea Daily May 22, 2008 (Coverage of exhibit in Korean)
PBS 13 Sunday Arts News June 28, 2008 (video)
Asians in America Magazine, June 2008

 

ImageExhibiting Korea 2007
A New, Monthly Series of Gallery Talk Programs at The Korea Society

The Kyopo Project

with

 
 

Cindy Hwang
Photographer

 

Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 6:30 PM

The Korea Society Auditorium

 

Millions of Koreans live outside of Korea; many of them have never even set foot in their home country. In Korean, they’re known as kyopo. And the Kyopo Project, organized by photographer Cindy Hwang, tells their story.

 
 

Begun in November of 2004, the Kyopo Project is a collection of over 100 portraits-both photographic and literary-of overseas Koreans from around the world. The stories and images of these kyopo, fully integrated into countries as far afield as the U.S., Canada, Denmark and Brazil, reveal an emerging, dynamic identity that defies received wisdom on kyopo in both Korea and around the world.

 
At an enlivening and inquisitive gallery talk, Cindy Hwang will display sections of the Kyopo Project, and discuss how today’s trans-national kyopo communities are reshaping their host countries and Korea.

Photo: Daniel Dae Kim, Photo © CYJO

About the Presenter

Cindy Hwang is a freelance photographer in New York City. Her photos often seek to capture the inherent beauty of her subjects through traditional and interpretive portraiture. Much of her work included in the Kyopo Project focuses on capturing the collective persona of a cultural diaspora and the inherent synergies produced by subjects during the documentation process. Hwang is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. A fashion industry expert, her clients include Guess Watches, Equilend, Elle International, Angelo Filomeno and Jessica Corr.

 
 
 

Questions, registration? call Jinyoung Kim, senior program officer for arts, 212-7597-525 ext 316 or emailThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 
 
 

Exhibiting Korea
A New, Monthly Series of Gallery Talk Programs at The Korea Society

Exhibiting Korea, a new monthly series of presentations on the fine arts, film, fashion and architecture of the Korean Peninsula, is debuting this April. Series programs will address contemporary trends in cultural expression in Korea, and take audiences back to important movements they might have overlooked. These gallery talks, given by top experts, critics and artists, will put the colors and shapes of modern Korea on display-and explain the cultural and historical contexts behind them. Please join us.

Other Programs in this Series
(all held at The Korea Society Auditorium, 6:30 PM)

Date

Title

Speaker

April 5, 2007

How Did Korea Become a “Land of Apartments”?

Valérie Gelézeau

May 24, 2007

The Forgotten Legacy of the Minjung Art Movement in South Korea

Soyang Park

June 7, 2007

The Modern Boy and Modern Girl in Colonial Korea: 1910-45

Yeon-Shim Chung

July 12, 2007

Film Screening of A Petal and Q&A with actress Lee Young-Lan

Lee Young Lan

October 25, 2007

Dressed to Kill: Women’s Fashion and Body Politics in North Korea

Suk-Young Kim

November 15, 2007

The Kyopo Project

Cindy Hwang

 

 

 

Classic Movie Night: Films From the North

Posted on by Yurim Oh

 

South Korean films continue to set box-office records across Asia and win laurels in international film festivals. Meanwhile, little attention is given to the cinema from the other half of the peninsula. From May 12 to 14, 2008, three films from the DPRK’s canon will be screened as a special presentation in the Classic Movie Night series.

The films—Hong Gil Dong, Bellflower, and My Look in the Distant Future—have been rarely seen outside the former Eastern Bloc. Cinema in the DPRK is an original expression of social realism and a primary vehicle for conveying state ideology. Even so, the tales—of peasant farmers struggling against feudal lords, anti-Japanese resistance fighters, and ordinary citizens loyal to their hometowns—are also told with genuine artistry.

6:00 PM Opening Reception for the Series 
Introduction by Professor Charles Armstrong, Director, Center for Korean Research, Columbia University

Classic Movie Night continues to the themes of critical realism in Korea on Thursday, May 15th with The Ball Shot by a Midget.

 

 

Monday, May 12 – Wednesday, May 14, 2008 | 6:00 PM

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

Admission:
$7 Members / $12 Non-members
All three movies: $18 Members / $30 Non-members

For more information, please contact Yuni Cho at (212) 759-7525, ext. 323 or email. 

 

 

Monday, May 12 6:30 HONG KIL DONG
Tuesday, May 13 6:30 BELLFLOWER
Wednesday, May 14 6:30 MY LOOK IN THE DISTANT FUTURE

 

HONG KIL DONG (104 min) 1986

홍길동

Monday, May 12 | 6:30 PM

Directed by Kim Kil-in 
Starring Ri Yong-ho, Ri Gwon and Ri Ri-youn

Mixing Hong Kong-style kung fu with a socialist ethos, the Robin Hood-esque Hong Kil Dong took the Bulgarian box office by storm in the late 1980s. Forever barred from privilege, the eponymous protagonist-the illegitimate son of a nobleman-wanders Korea helping farmers fend off feudal exploitation. But when Korea is invaded by Japanese ninja, he must unite with his perennial enemies to defend the fatherland.

BELLFLOWER (83 min) 1987
도라지꽃

Tuesday, May 13 | 6:30 PM

Directed by Jo Kyong-sun
Starring O Mi-ran, Kim Ryong-jo, Song Yon-ok and Kim Hye-son 

As the most popular North Korean production of the 1980s, Bellflower earned lead actress O Mi-ran the honorific title “People’s Actor.” O’s character, Jin Song Rim, strives to turn her humble mountain hometown of Pyokgye-ri into a model socialist village. Released when the economic foundations of the DPRK were starting to tremble, Bellflower praises the spirit of workers who accept their roles and work for the betterment of the nation.

MY LOOK IN THE DISTANT FUTURE (102 min) 1997
먼 후날의 나의 모습

Wednesday, May 14 | 6:30 PM

Directed by Jang In-hak
Starring Kim Myong-mun and Kim Hye-gyong

 Reeling from famine in the mid-1990s, North Korea mobilized tens of thousands of urban residents for emergency agricultural work in the countryside. My Look in the Distant Future depicts that dire period with an optimistic gloss. Sent to the countryside, a young, urban loafer finds inspiration in a stalwart village leader and decides to become a model worker.

 

 

 

 

Lee Chang-Dong and Moon So-ri present “Oasis”

Posted on by

 

With Director Lee Chang-Dong and Actress Moon So-ri. 

 

 

Wednesday, May 5, 2008 | 7:00 PM

Asia Society
725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street)
New York, NY 10021

Admission:
$10 Members / $12 Non-members

 

OASIS (133 min) 2002
오아시스

Kundo Cover Kundo Screenshot

Lead actress Moon So-ri will join director Lee for audience Q&A after the screening.

Jong-du Hong (Sol Kyung-gu) is just out of prison for manslaughter and decides to call on the family of the victim. They send him away, but not before he has met the victim’s daughter Gong-ju (Moon So-ri), a young woman disabled by cerebral palsy. Both victims of family abuse these two misfits form a fragile but supportive relationship.

 

 

Inside North Korea with the New York Philharmonic

Posted on by Yurim Oh

 

 
Exhibition

April 24–May 16, 2008

Opening Reception
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The Korea Society is pleased to present Inside North Korea with the New York Philharmonic, an exhibition of photographs by award-winning photographer Mark Edward Harris that document the concert by the New York Philharmonic orchestra in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on February 26, 2008.

In these fascinating and often-stunning photographs, Harris offers a portrait of the historic event, encompassing both the concert itself and all the other major activities of the nearly 300-member delegation—artists, staff, accompanying patrons, guests and press corps. The exhibition captures multiple aspects of the New York Philharmonic orchestra’s two-day visit to Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Most notably, the photographs afford an inside view of this previously unimaginable influx of Americans—the largest group since the days of the Korean War over half a century ago—and insights into the inhabitants of this reclusive country.

The exhibition is accompanied by Harris’ book, Inside North Korea, published by Chronicle Books in 2007, which features photographs from previous visits to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. These photographs document life in Pyongyang and scenes from along the northern border with China, the highly militarized DMZ and the tightly controlled economic and tourist zones. The book, which includes short essays, extended captions and a foreword by noted North Korea expert Bruce Cumings, will be available for purchase at The Korea Society during the period of the exhibition.

  • Voice of America News (Coverage of exhibit in Korean)
  • FrictionTV (Video with President of The Korea Society, Evans Revere, and photographer Mark Edward Harris)

Following its run at The Korea Society, Inside North Korea with the New York Philharmonic will be available for travel to colleges, universities, galleries and non-profit institutions across America.