KOREAN CINEMA 2006 www.kofic.or.kr/english Korean Cinema 2006 Contents FOREWORD 04 KOREAN FILMS IN 2006 AND 2007 05 Acknowledgements KOREAN FILM COUNCIL 12 PUBLISHER FEATURE FILMS AN Cheong-sook Fiction 22 Chairperson Korean Film Council Documentary 294 206-46, Cheongnyangni-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, Korea 130-010 Animation 336 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Daniel D. H. PARK Director of International Promotion SHORT FILMS Fiction 344 EDITORS Documentary 431 JUNG Hyun-chang, YANG You-jeong Animation 436 COLLABORATORS Darcy Paquet, Earl Jackson, KANG Byung-woon FILMS IN PRODUCTION CONTRIBUTING WRITER Fiction 470 LEE Jong-do Film image, stills and part of film information are provided by directors, producers, production & sales companies, and Film Festivals in Korea including JIFF (Jeonju International Film Festival), PIFF APPENDIX (Pusan International Film Festival), SIFF (Seoul Independent Film Festival), Women’s Film Festival Statistics 494 in Seoul, Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival, Seoul International Youth Film Festival, Index of 2006 films 502 Asiana International Short Film Festival, and Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul. KOFIC appreciates their help and cooperation. Contacts 517 © Korean Film Council 2006 Foreword For the Korean film industry, the year 2006 began with LEE Joon-ik's <King and the Clown> - The Korean Film Council is striving to secure the continuous growth of Korean cinema and to released at the end of 2005 - and expanded with BONG Joon-ho's <The Host> in July. First, <King provide steadfast support to Korean filmmakers. This year, new projects of note include new and the Clown> broke the all-time box office record set by <Taegukgi> in 2004, attracting a record international support programs such as the ‘Filmmakers Development Lab’ and the ‘Business R&D breaking 12 million viewers at the box office over a three month run. The storm released by <The School’ . These new programs are designed to cultivate new talent with an international outlook, Host>, however, was even greater. <The Host> attracted 13 million people to theaters, in the and to discover projects well-suited for international markets. With these new programs, KOFIC space of just a month after its release. hopes that Korean cinema will also contribute to cultural diversity worldwide. This success of ‘big’ films brought forth criticism of commercial films' monopoly of screens, Korean Cinema 2006 contains the most up-to-date information about Korean films that have however, and raised concern for the fate of ‘small’ films. These worries were amplified when the already been produced or are in production. Since the year 2006 saw a new high in the level of Korean government reduced the nation's screen quota by half as of the first of July. production, about 130 films, Korean Cinema 2006 will be more bountiful than any previous edition. We cordially invite you to the world of Korean Cinema 2006. Internationally, the scale of Korean film exports decreased. This was mainly due to a reduction in the market for Korean films in Japan, with so-called ‘Hallyu’ or the ‘Korean Wave’ retreating to a more realistic level. The Korean wave, with its over dependence on idol stars, will need to be December 2006 modified into a broader cultural exchange based on high quality contents. AN Cheong-sook Chairperson Korean Film Council Korean Films in 2006 and 2007 : Analysis and Outlook the conclusion can be reached that historical films have now become more diffuse and feature many tangled sub-stories. Although these characteristics might appear to be used only in the most successful films, the trend towards compounded plots has become more prevalent, which can be understood as an attempt on the part of filmmakers to broaden the target audience and to attract viewers with more critical tastes than in years past. Story for the Majority, Sensitivity for the Minority. The Decline of Cop Movies and the Emergence of Nouveaux Genres While the <King and The Clown> opened the year, <The Host> set the standard. 2006 was the year that While the other films squeezed between these two blockbusters might seem insignificant, they can in fact be two films, <King and The Clown> and <The Host>, generated hurricane winds that propelled them to the divided into different trends. The second half of 2005 saw the collapse of the gangster-comedy genre and the top. Although the <King and The Clown> opened in late December 2005, it proved to be so strong that it commencement of successful cop films. This phenomenon continued in 2006. It has now become attractive to reigned at the box office throughout the first half of 2006, becoming a sort of cultural phenomenon. The film place policemen at the forefront of a film in order to be able to show action scenes more freely. Conversely, simultaneously touches on a variety of issues ranging from homosexuality to artistic self-consciousness, the practice of using comedy to overcome the inherent limitations in the sort of actions that gangsters can historical drama and romance. <The Host> is also driven by its own codes. Though it is a unique family film, it perform has now become dated. However, even through they made ample use of guns, these new cop films includes elements of science fiction and the monster film, with political overtones. These two films stand as were not able to liberate their storylines. Like the police films of 2005 such as <Mr. Socrates>, <Never to good examples of recent trends in Chungmuro (the Korean film industry) in 2006, all of which are loaded with Lose>, and <Short Time>, they still looked like slight variations on the old gangster film genre. However, the compounded, mixed, and multi-layered codes. possibility of a transformation in this genre has begun to surface. While <Running Wild>, <Les Formidables>, and <Detective Odd> repeated the traditional images of police films and featured outdated tones rather Multi-Layered Plotlines than new ones, <Vampire Cop Ricky> shared in this year’s multi-layered trend. <Vampire Cop Ricky>, which The two films mentioned above can be characterized as compounded and multi-layered stories full of B-movie parodied a heroic Hollywood character, brought together all the conventions associated with different genres sentiments, with a nod toward social minorities. This can be taken as a sign that we have now entered a such as sexual comedies, horror and vampire films, thus tapping into the possibility of a new style of comedy new era. Though this certainly is not 2006's only sign of things to come, it is the main reason why these two called comic horror. films with themes unlike those found in previous box office hits attracted over 10 million viewers. While neither of these films were connected to the strong national sentiment identified with our divided country, Hyper Realistic Organized Crime Films and the Success of Kidnapping Films they nevertheless managed to attract 10 million viewers through the mere power of their views on minority Gangster-police films represent the most commonly repeated of the Chungmuro genre films. In this regard, sentiment. the most noticeable tendency in these films has been their traditional approach and the use of thrilling and energetic lifelike portrayals. For instance, despite the fact that they featured antiquated storylines, <A Dirty With its compounded, mixed, and multi-layered tendencies, <Forbidden Quest> can be included in the same Carnival> and <Bloody Tie> boast highly realistic stories, thus clearly demonstrating that hands-on research category as the above-mentioned two films. The highly artistic characteristics of an author and a reader, can produce more realistic films. While <A Dirty Carnival> delved into the roots of conventional gangster historical drama, and romance all mesh together in this one film. When compared to <Untold Scandal>(2003), culture, <Bloody Tie> introduced a lively tone to this genre by digging deep into the relationship between drug gangs and cops engaged in a parasitic relationship with one another. <The City of Violence> should also be popular than in investing much time in developing original screenplays. In this regard, cartoonist Kang Full has included in this genre. This film highlighted an organization of gangsters closely related to the local real estate found himself the object of attention of most of Chungmuro. Almost simultaneously, four of his works were boom, and showed invigorating scenes unique to the action genre with bravado and bluster, all of which was slated to be made into films, with his horror title <A.P.T> becoming the first to hit theaters. However, resolving mixed with the story of young punks living on the outskirts of the city. As shown in <A Dirty Carnival> and <The the difficulties associated with transferring the raw entertainment that the Internet provides to the big screen City of Violence>, the outstanding characteristics of this year’s action films was the emergence of concessions will be no ordinary task. <Dasepo Naughty Girls> is also based on an Internet cartoon. The stimulating edge for a (re)development zone, the demolition of a (re)development area and conflicts over real estate. In other associated with the world of taboo words and the sexual life of a freakish high school student, which proved words, we have now witnessed the onset of gangster films that look deeply into and vividly describe criminals’ very popular on the Internet, were toned down in this film in order to secure a 15 year-old and over rating. regular lives, especially their economic ones. This year’s trend in terms of gangster films can be expected to be continued in future films such as <Cruel Winter Blues>, and <The Show Must Go On>. Among the films based on Japanese novels one finds <Fly, Daddy, Fly> starring LEE Jun-ki and LEE Mun-sik, <Lovers over the Shoulders>, <Twinkle>, <Prison Hotel> and <Black House>.