Block Cinema present Korean Film Series!!

Block Cinema Winter 2008 Schedule
Block Cinema, a collaboration of Northwestern University's School of Communication and the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, screens classic and contemporary films. Block Cinema is dedicated to providing the Northwestern campus, the North Shore, and Chicago with a quality venue for repertory cinema.

http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/block-cinema/korean.html

Thursday, January 31, 8pm
Address Unknown
(Kim Ki-Duk, 2001, South Korea, 117 minutes, 35mm)
Director Kim Ki-Duk’s bleak tragedy explores the legacy of an American military base in the South Korean countryside. Kim expertly weaves together the stories of many characters — a horribly disfigured girl, an abandoned wife of an American soldier, an American army recruit coping with a relentlessly foreign environment — all searching for a happy ending that does not exist. Their desperate pleas for love and redemption are returned stamped in red, with “Address Unknown.”


Thursday, February 7, 8pm
Take Care of My Cat
(Jeong Jae-Eun, 2001, South Korea, 112 minutes, 35mm)
Jeong Jae-Eun's coming-of-age story Take Care of My Cat compassionately addresses the difficulties women in South Korea face as they search for their own identities. Melancholy and lush in a way that's reminiscent of the style of Sofia Coppola, Take Care of My Cat is a breakout Korean film, and unlike Coppola, Jae-Eun doesn't focus only on the drama of girls living a pampered life: this ostensibly modest film has a panoramic scope of Korean women from all economic and social backgrounds.



Thursday, February 14, 8pm
Oasis
(Chang-Dong Lee, 2002, South Korea, 132 minutes, 35mm)
After serving several years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, Jong-Du, a mentally ill young man, calls on the family of his victim. They send him away, but not before he falls for their daughter, a young woman severely disabled by cerebral palsy. Lee Chang-Dong, a Korean New Wave filmmaker who recently served as South Korea’s minister of culture and tourism, crafts an edgy, heartbreaking depiction of an unlikely romance between two people ostracized from family and society. Featuring a stunning performance by Moon So-Ri, who won the Marcello Mastroianni award for best actress at the Venice Film Festival.


Thursday, February 21, 8pm
Woman is the Future of Man
(Hong Sang-Soo, 2004, South Korea, 88 minutes, 35mm)
Heon-Jun has just returned to Korea from the United States, hoping to make it in the film industry. He runs into an old friend, Mun-Ho, who is now an art professor. Over dinner, the pair reminisce about their past and discuss Seon-Hwa, a woman they both dated in college. They hunt down Seon-Hwa, but when they find the former artist is now a bar manager, they slowly realize that she is not the same person they once knew–that sometimes the past is better left to memory. A challenging, unstable film, Hong Sang-Soo’s character study is also a critique of Korean men’s attitudes toward women.


Thursday, February 28 , 8pm
Memories of a Murder
(Bong Joon-ho, 2003, South Korean, 132 minutes, 35mm)
Two rural police officers are assigned to their first big case: finding Korea’s first serial killer. Without the benefit of “big-city” forensic methods, the rural cops have their own ways of extracting confessions — like beating them out of the accused, which means that everyone confesses — but when a city cop is assigned to the case, how to find the killer becomes more important than actually finding him. A black comedy loosely based on actual events, Memories of Murder is an off-center, keenly observant police procedural that was a huge hit in South Korea.


Thursday, March 6, 8pm
The President's Last Bang
(Im Sang-Soo, 2005, South Korea, 102 minutes, 35mm)
A hit on the international festival circuit, The President's Last Bang confronts Korean history and politics with bleak, sometimes grotesque satire. An agitated director of Korean intelligence plots to kill the president, but his carefully designed scheme completely unravels. From a jammed gun to an absurdly escalating body count, Im Sang-Soo turns farce into an outrageous indictment of Korean politicians. In 2005, a South Korean court ruled that four minutes of documentary footage of the assassination of a former Korean president had to be removed from The President’s Last Bang. Im Sang-Soo replaced the footage with a silent black screen.


Thursday, March 13, 8pm
Woman on the Beach
(Hong Sang-Soo, 2006, South Korea, 100 minutes, 35mm)
Film director Joong-Rae travels to the seaside town of Shinduri with his production designer, Chang-Wook, in order to finish his overdue screenplay. When Chang-Wook brings his beautiful crush, composer Moon-Sook, she and Joong-Rae hit it off — maybe. Reminiscent of Eric Rohmer’s work, Hong Sang-Soo’s wittiest film yet is about the clumsy indecisions of new romance.

The Air I Breathe - coming to Chicago 2/8

The following is an email passed on to me from a friend of mine as well as the director. I admit this is the first I've heard of the movie and/or the director but the trailer was solid and the cast is really good. If you get a chance, check it out - I definitely will.

I hope this email finds you all well and starting off 2008 on a great note. As most of you know, my first feature film "The Air I Breathe" will be hitting theaters soon and I just wanted to give you all a warm shout and ask you to please come out and support the cause -- and of course, to help spread the word!!

The film is a low budget indie--but we were able to wrangle a pretty talented cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Brendan Fraser, Andy Garcia, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Emile Hirsch, Kevin Bacon, Julie Delpy, Kelly Hu, John Cho and Clark Gregg. In a nutshell, it's a noir-driven romantic crime story that is half inspired by the Wizard of Oz, and half inspired by an Asian belief that we are all connected through 4 emotions: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. For a synopsis and more info on the film--please check out our website at: www.theairibreathemovie.com, and also www.myspace.com/officialairibreathemovie. On our website you'll find blogs, photos, our trailer and my director's statement (under director's blog) that'll help frame the film for you.

I'm not promising you Shakespeare, but it's been playing to sold-out theaters on the festival circuit and the audience reactions have been extremely gratifying. Our film launches next week on Friday, Jan 25 in NYC & SoCAL (LA, Burbank, Pasadena, Irvine, Orange and Santa Monica) -- and then wider on Feb 8 in other select cities. The more butts we get into theaters on opening weekend will determine how wide they release the film--so I'm pulling all my get-out-of-jail-free cards and imploring each and everyone of you to come out on Jan 25 (and bring your friends)!!!! As an indie, we have very little money for marketing--and the Writer's Strike has thrown a wrench in allot of our affordable promotional outlets--which all means that this film will live and die by the viral sword! So anything you can do to help spread the word will be incredibly helpful to us (I'm encouraging you all to BE that annoying mass e-mailer for once in your life because every hit counts...think of this as a good-karma chain mail ;-)

You can find a list of venues /screenings on our website (that will be continually updated) and I will follow up this email on wednesday with a final last blurb with exact times -- but for a quick snapshot I'm enclosing the info below:

CALIFORNIA - JAN 25
1) In LA: Laemmle Sunset 5 Theater (Director/Writer Q&A's on Friday--the evening 6-7-ish screening and the 8-9-ish screening; and the Saturday matinee - exact times to follow on Wed.)
2) In Burbank: AMC Burbank 30
3) In Pasadena: Laemmle One Colorado
4) In Orange: AMC 30 at The Block
5) In Irvine: Regal/Edwards Westpark
6) In Santa Monica: TBD

NYC - JAN 25
1) AMC Empire 25 Theater (Midtown)
2) AMC Village 7 Theater (Downtown)

REST OF THE COUNTRY - FEB 8
1) PORTLAND: The Regal Fox Tower
2) SAN DIEGO: AMC Fashion Valley 20
3) SAN FRANCISCO: Sundance Kabuki Theater
4) SEATTLE: Regal Meridan 16
5) CHICAGO: AMC Piper's Alley 4
6) AUSTIN TBD
7) Other Cities/States pending (AZ, FL, TX)

INTERNATIONAL: Unfortunately, I have not been informed about international venues yet--although I know for certain that it will be playing in Italy, England, Germany, France, Korea and India. I'm sure there are more countries (last I checked was months ago) so please look out for it!

Thank you all so much for your support--and apologies for the mass email. You are all the bedrock that keeps things real for me so remember that and tell a friend!!

Hope to see you all very soon, and much Love, Light and Laughter to everyone in the new year~*

Jieho


PS: For people in Los Angeles, Bob and I are trying to get all of our friends to come and hit the last screening on Friday night (probably will start around 9-ish but I'll have exact times for you by Wednesday) -- then we'll all try to migrate to a bar and get righteously loaded.

2008 Korean Language Class

FINALLY - A Korean Language Class is starting this week at the Korean American Community Center on California Ave [just south of Montrose] There are two classes - Tuesday nights at 6:30 pm for those who can read/write Hangul, and Wednesday nights for those who have to learn the alphabet first. I have actually been on the waiting list for this class for a year - this is the first time they are offering it in over 16 months. The classes are only $20 a month, and the Wednesday classes are 8 weeks long. pretty cheap. I don't know how long the Tuesday classes are - maybe they will be ongoing or something.


Starts on the week of January 14, 2008

Classes Time Fees
BASIC II Tuesday 6:30pm-8:00pm $20
BASIC I Wednesday 6:30pm-8:00pm $20

For more information, please contact 773)583-5501 ext. 222 or chlee@kacschgo.org

Korean American Community Services
4300 North California Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
Phone: (773) 583-5501
Fax: (773) 583-7009
Email: info@kacschgo.org
Website: http://www.kacschgo.org

Notes from the Panel Discussion on The Korean Wave

I was there!! Did anybody else go - and we just didn't recognize each other? I won a door prize = the 20 episode, 7 DVD set covering the 'White Tower' KDrama. Having already seen it, I am loath to remove the plastic covering - anybody want to view it?

Not knowing what to expect, it was actually interesting in what the Panel did not do, versus what it actually presented. The professors were detailed and informative, but did not provide anything you can already get from Darcy Pacquet's web page, or from googling 'KamiKazi girls' & 'Japanese fans of Winter Sonata'. Although I did not know that the male lead in Winter Sonata, Bae Yong Joon is now worth 2+ Billion (not sure if that is US$ or KWon) due to fan merchandise marketing and his product endorsement deals in the wake of the popularity.

The focus was on how to perpetuate 'Hallyu' for cultural/diplomatic/commerical gain. No discussion of the artistry and innovation of Korean Cinematic directors, which I asked the Consul Jung-Il Han about. I simply expressed my concern that the panel overlooked the valuable, albeit non-commercial contributions made by Korean film makers in terms of their original presentations of the human condition, and also in the artistry of their cinematography - e.g, several critical scenes in 'Bad Guy' look like paintings by Vermeer. He seemed pleased that I made this point, and agreed with me.

Oh!! The president of SMS Productions, which is located here in Chicago, has the know how to support/produce? film festivals. Check out their site.

Anyway, there was free pop, juice and bottled water, the office where it was held was incredible, and it was sponsored through the Illinois Council on the Humanities. Saw several clips of K dramas, but they were all ones I've already seen.