News

The annual New York Asian Film Festival is about to kick off this summer.

Presented by the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center, the 23rd edition of the festival will take place from July 12 through 22 at Film at Lincoln Center, with additional screenings from July 22 through 28 at the Sva Theatre and July 13–15, 18–21, and 23–25 at Look Cinemas W57, plus a special collaborative presentation of films at the Korean Cultural Center New York.

This year’s lineup marks the largest list of premieres, with 20 films debuting including the North American premiere of “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In,” which debuted at Cannes.

The opening night selection is the world premiere of Park Beom-su’s “Victory,” a cheerleading epic that’s billed as “Bring It On” meets “Parasite.” Lee Hye-ri (of 3rd-gen K-pop band Girl’s Day) will be in attendance with co-star Park Se-wan and director Park.

Essentially a sequel of ”Man Standing Next”, in terms of the succession of historical events, “12.12: The Day” became the highest-grossing Korean film of 2023, with many citing it as the movie that saved Korean cinema in the particular year.

12.12: The Day is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival 2024

The story begins in December 1979, after the assassinaton of President Park, with the whole country being in turmoil and martial law having been declared. The initial 30 minutes of the 140 of the movie set the base of what happened after the aforementioned events, additionally introducing the two main rivals, Defense Security Commander Chun Doo-gwan and Capital Defense Commander Lee Tae-sin, while the rest focus on the 9 hours which the coup unfolded, starting with the arrest of the Army Chief of Staff, Jeong Sang-ho.

Kim Seong-su directs the movie in a style that will remind many of the TV-news style implemented frequently in Japanese cinema,...

Essentially a sequel o f”Man Standing Next”, in terms of the succession of historical events, “12.12: The Day” became the highest-grossing Korean film of 2023, with many citing it as the movie that saved Korean cinema in the particular year.

“12.12: The Day” is available from Echelon Studios

The story begins in December 1979, after the assassinaton of President Park, with the whole country being in turmoil and martial law having been declared. The initial 30 minutes of the 140 of the movie set the base of what happened after the aforementioned events, additionally introducing the two main rivals, Defense Security Commander Chun Doo-gwan and Capital Defense Commander Lee Tae-sin, while the rest focus on the 9 hours which the coup unfolded, starting with the arrest of the Army Chief of Staff, Jeong Sang-ho.

Check also this article The 20 Best Korean Movies of 2023

Kim Seong-su directs the movie in a style that will remind...

A total of 35 films from 24 countries and regions have been shortlisted to compete for 16 awards at this year's Asian Film Awards.

Renowned Japanese director Kurosawa Kiyoshi will serve as the Jury President for this year's Awards. As the first Japanese director to hold this position, Kurosawa Kiyoshi is deeply honored. He will lead the Jury and over 200 Voting Members in selecting the winners for this year's Asian Film Awards.

The winners of other Afa awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Excellence in Asian Cinema Award, Afa Next Generation Award, and Rising Star Award, will be announced later.

The 17th Asian Film Awards Nomination List

Best Film

12.12: The Day (South Korea)

Evil Does Not Exist (Japan)

Paradise

Perfect Days (Japan)

Snow Leopard (Mainland China)

Best Director

Kim Sung-soo | 12.12: The Day (South Korea)

Gu Xiaogang | Dwelling by the West Lake (Mainland China)

Hamaguchi Ryusuke | Evil Does Not Exist (Japan)

Kore-eda Hirokazu...

‘Snow Leopard’, ‘Paradise’, ‘The Goldfinger’ and ‘Godzilla Minus One’ also land multiple nods.

South Korean box office hit 12.12: The Day and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist lead the nominations for the 17th Asian Film Awards, with six nods each including best film.

Also up for best film is Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise from Sri Lanka-India, Wim Wenders Perfect Days from Japan and Chinese feature Snow Leopard by the late Pema Tseden.

Scroll down for full list of nominations

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hong Kong on March 10 and will be decided by a...

Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, and the period action pic 12.12: The Day, from Korea, lead the nominations at this year’s Asian Film Awards.

Both films received six nominations, including Best Film and Best Director. Directed by Kim Sung-soo, whose credits include Asura: The City Of Madness and The Flu, 12.12: The Day is set against the backdrop of the real-life military coup of 1979, which resulted in an eight-year military junta in South Korea. The cast includes Hwang Jung-min (The Wailing), Jung Woo-sung (Asura: The City Of Madness), and Lee Sung-min (The Spy Gone North). Released on November 22, the film sailed past the 12 million admissions mark at the Korean box office over the Christmas holiday period, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023 in the market.

Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist — which debuted out of Venice — follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live...

Hit local titles include ’12.12: The Day’ and ‘The Roundup: No Way Out’.

South Korea’s box office admissions recorded a rise of 11% in 2023, boosted by two local hits, but saw 44.8% fewer cinemagoers than in pre-Covid 2019.

There was a total of 125.1 million admissions in 2023, according to the Korea Box-office Information System (Kobis), demonstrating steady growth year-on-year.

However, with audiences still not returning to cinemas at pre-pandemic levels, the number is a 44.8% decrease from 2019, which was year before the Covid-19 outbreak but also the all-time highest box office year on record in terms of admissions and gross.

Total box office gross...

The historial action drama has become the biggest film of 2023 at the local box office.

Historical action drama 12.12: The Day has surpassed 12 million admissions and $90m at the South Korea box office as of today (January 2), according to the Korea Box-office Information System (Kobis).

The Korean film has been revitalising the local box office, where the only stand-out hit of 2023 had been Don Lee’s crime action franchise film The Roundup: No Way Out, with 10.6 million admissions and $79.8m.

12.12: The Day, released by Plus M Entertainment on November 22, ended the year with more than 11.8 million admissions and $88m,...

Fact-based political thriller “12.12: The Day” dominated the Korean box office for the third successive weekend and advanced its takings haul beyond $50 million. It was far ahead of “Napoleon,” which opened a disappointing third.

The Kim Sung-soo-directed picture earned $11.4 million between Friday and Sunday, accounting for 75.8% of nationwide weekend cinema revenues, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

It has held up particularly strongly and dropped by only 12% in its third weekend. The latest weekend score was again higher than its opening frame. It earned $11.3 million in its opening weekend and expanded to $12.95 million in its second weekend.

Over 19 days of release, “12.12: The Day” (aka “Seoul Spring”) has earned $50.9 million from 6.97 million admissions. On both measures, that is the second highest performance this year by any Korean-produced movie and the third highest score in Korean cinemas in 2023. Disney/Pixar’s...

Box office in South Korea has faced a challenging 2023.

Korean drama 12.12: The Day has taken a strong $11.2m on its opening weekend in South Korea, delivering a shot of optimism to the local box office in the wake of a challenging year.

The film, distributed by Plus M Entertainment, comfortably claimed the number one slot and has taken $14.1m since its release on November 22. It has recorded nearly 1.9 million admissions to date and accounted for 80% of all tickets sold across its opening period.

Based on events that took place in the chaotic time after dictator Park Chung-hee was assassinated...

Korean drama “12.12: The Day” brought life back to South Korean cinemas with a powerful $11 million opening weekend.

Directed by Kim Sung-soo and starring the reliable Hwang Jung-min and Jung Woo-sung, the film recounts a nine-hour period in 1979 in which a military coup was attempted. It is understood to be based on real events, but with a fictional telling.

It earned $11.2 million between Friday and Sunday accounting for four out of every five tickets sold in the country. Over its five-day opening run it earned $14.1 million.

That is the second highest opening by any film this year, behind only summer hit “The Roundup: No Way Out” and it is expected to achieve two million ticket sales on Monday.

The strong performance lifted the overall box office for the weekend back above $10 million for the first time since the Chuseok holiday in late September and only the second time since the summer.

Update, writethru: Ridley Scott’s Napoleon has exceeded expectations with $78.8M global across the five-day opening frame, including $46.3M from the international box office. This is higher than the Friday estimate (see below), and well above pre-weekend projections.

Produced by Apple Original Films and distributed by Sony Pictures, the action epic started worldwide release on Wednesday and expanded to 56 offshore markets through Friday.

Overseas, the Joaquin Phoenix-starrer doubled both Killers Of The Flower Moon and House Of Gucci, and is 86% ahead of Elvis in like-for-like markets at the same point in release. The bulk of play is coming from Europe with $33M, led by the UK’s No. 1 $6.6M and France’s No. 1 $5.6M. Germany, also at No. 1, grossed $3.4M, Spain did $3.3M at No. 1 and Italy took $3.1M.

In IMAX, Napoleon delivered $9M globally, including $3.7M from 324 international runs.

Sony spread the word globally...

Warner Bros. Discovery among those to have secured rights to action feature.

South Korean sales firm Finecut has sealed a raft of Asia deals for action-thriller Christmas Carol ahead of its local release on December 7.

Warner Bros. Discovery has picked up the film for Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and Brunei, while it has also been sold for Japan (At Entertainment), Taiwan (Cai Chang International) and Thailand (Sahamongkolfilm International).

Based on a Korean best-selling novel of the same name by award-winning author Joo Won-kyu, the story follows a young man who sets out to avenge his twin brother,...

Corruption and the way it usually connects the police with the politicians and the “capital” has always been a source of inspiration for filmmakers, with a number of titles presenting its blights in their respective countries, with particularly Korean cinema leaning heavily on the subject.. The result is frequently masterful, with a number of great films of all time having the particular concept as their main theme. 24 of those are amassed in this list, in alphabetical order, as usually, with a focus on diversity.

1. A Dark, Dark Man

The most evident element here is the direct accusation Yerzhanov points towards the Kazakh system, particularly in rural areas, with the ways the police conduct their business in cooperation with politicians essentially deeming them even worse criminals than the ones they are supposed to deal with. At the same time, this comment allows for the two protagonists to stand out, through a rather thorough character analysis,...

Leading independent sales agency Finecut has picked up rights representation duties for “Greenhouse,” which will play this week in the Busan International Film Festival’s Vision section.

The director, Lee Sol-hui previously saw her Korean Academy of Film Arts graduation short film “Anthill” play in the festival’s Wide Angle: Korean Short Form Competition. With Kim Seo-hyung (“The Villainess”) in the lead role, the film tracks the pain and suffering of a woman who suffers a psychological disorder.

Also new on the company’s line up at the Asian Contents & Film Market is revenge-themed thriller “Christmas Carol,” adapted from a Korean best-selling novel of the same name. Directed by Kim Sung Soo, who also made “Save Me,” a 2010 cult series on Korean cable channel, Ocn. The film has the ingredients for a fan following among K-Pop fans as it stars boyband, GOT7’s Park Jinyoung.

Finecut comes to the market...

Despite becoming famous on an international level just recently, though the huge success of “Squid Game” which also just netted him an Emmy, Lee Jung-jae has actually been popular in S. Korea for decades, having a career that started in the 90s, and came to include a number of the most successful blockbusters in the country, not to mention a couple of masterpieces. As a tribute to a great actor, and on the occasion of the Emmy, we decided to make a list of 10 of his works that definitely deserve a look, in chronological order.

1. An Affair (1998) by Lee Jae-yong

The story focuses on Seo-hyun, a late-thirties housewife who has a settled life, a successful architect husband and a loving son. Her day is a set of routines, which is all thrown into disarray by the arrival of Woo-in, her younger sister’s fiancé. When her sister misses her flight from LA to Seoul,...

Thriller is a genre that has been done to death in South Korea and directors now need to constantly reinvent narratives and genre tropes if they want to make a substantial feature that stands the test of time. Where many fail to do so, Director Kim Sung-soo managed to do just that in 2016 with “Asura: The City of Madness”, a production which subverted expectations in a number of different ways.

This is a very dark film featuring a number of characters, all played by A-listers, yet manages to surprise as every single one of these characters is so despicable and deplorable that you do not find yourself rooting for any. This is particularly an achievement for a narrative that has you hooked from the first minute to the last, with the power struggles between the characters proving to be the best part. Genre fans can revel in its web of...

Outdoor adventurer Bear Grylls has teamed up with Bollywood star Ranveer Singh for interactive adventure reality special “Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls.”

Singh takes off on a date with nature, fending for himself and learning new survival skills as he ventures into the depths of the wild to find a rare flower for his lady love in the harsh forests of Serbia. Viewers get to pick the course of his escapades.

The show is produced by Banijay Asia in association with Grylls and Delbert Shoopman’s The Natural Studios. It launches on Netflix on July 8, 2022. The company Friday released a trailer.

“ ‘Ranveer vs Wild’ is a huge step in pushing the envelope of interactive reality TV. While the world is familiar with Ranveer’s electrifying spirit and adventurous side, with this show, we’ll see the best of both sides coming out as he embarks on his quest for love,...

(Screened at the 2013 London Korean Film Festival.) A deadly outbreak devastates Korea in “The Flu”, the latest film from acclaimed “Musa the Warrior” director Kim Sung Su, and his first in some ten years. The blockbuster thriller takes the real life threat of a mutated version of the avian flu virus and ramps it up in classic disaster movie fashion, placing an A-list cast in its path with the usual apocalyptic results. Popular stars Jang Hyuk (“Iris 2”) and Soo Ae (“Athena, Goddess of War”) headline, racing against time as they try to save themselves and find a cure. The film begins with a container full of illegal Hong Kong immigrants arriving in a suburb of Seoul, only for the smugglers to open it and find them dead, victims of a particularly nasty new strain of avian flu. A lone survivor escapes and unwittingly starts spreading the disease, with thousands more...