BAMcinématek presents the 11th New York Korean Film Festival, Feb 22—24 Eight films, including one US premiere and three NY premieres Includes the NY premiere of Kim Ki-duk’s controversial Venice prizewinner Pieta and the US premiere of Jo Byeong-ok’s All Bark, No Bite The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor of BAM Rose Cinemas and BAMcinématek. Brooklyn, NY/Jan 31, 2013—From Friday, February 22, to Sunday, February 24, BAMcinématek and the Korea Society, in partnership with CJ Entertainment, present the 11th New York Korean Film Festival (NYKFF), showcasing the best contemporary films from the cinematically prolific peninsula. BAMcinématek has been a strong champion of Korean cinema, hosting the festival on nine separate occasions, as well as showcasing many other series of Korean films: the first-ever US retrospective of auteur Hong Sang-soo (Woman on the Beach), as well as retrospectives of Park Chan-wook in 2005, Bong Joon-ho in 2010, and Kim Ji-woon in 2011. Since the festival’s inception, Korean film has made many inroads stateside—most notably Park Chan-wook’s fanboy revenge favorite, Oldboy (2003), and Bong Joon-ho’s monster-on-the-loose blockbuster, The Host (2006). Opening the festival on Friday, February 22, is the New York premiere of Kim Ki-duk’s controversial Pieta (2012), which won the top prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival—the first Korean film to do so at any of the three major film festivals. An unholy mix of Christian iconography and carnal appetites, the film follows the unpredictable Oedipal entanglement of a ruthless loan shark and a middle-aged woman who claims to be his long-lost mother (a stunning Cho Min-soo in her breakout role). At once a psychologically penetrating melodrama and a gruesome revenge tale, Kim’s acclaimed return to form “offers up the director’s vintage blend of cruelty, wit, and moral complexity” (Leslie Felperin, Variety). Pieta is followed by the US premiere of Jo Byeong-ok’s All Bark, No Bite (2012), a popular ensemble dramedy about a group of small-time thugs whose power is challenged when the former top dog of the town makes a surprise return. On Saturday, February 23, the series highlights some of the most commercially successful Korean films of 2012, starting with Lee Suk-hoon’s Dancing Queen. This rom-com blockbuster, which Elizabeth Kerr of The Hollywood Reporter called “polished entertainment with a subtle message,” reunites pop diva Uhm Jung-hwa and Korean melodrama mainstay Hwang Jung-min in their third onscreen collaboration, as a married couple thrust into the public eye when Hwang becomes a city hero and decides to run for Seoul mayor. Uhm must decide whether to revive her dream of becoming a singer or put it on hold for Hwang’s career. Also screening on Saturday are Choo Chang-min’s dynasty costume drama Masquerade (2012), currently the fourth highest grossing Korean film of all time, and Jo Sung-hee’s A Werewolf Boy (2012), a strangely poignant, paranormal love story, which recently became the highest grossing melodrama in Korean film history. Making its New York premiere on Sunday, February 24, is Lee Yong-ju’s bittersweet paean to the 90s, Architecture 101 (2012—Feb 24). In this touching love story, thirty-something Seo-yon tracks down a college crush she met years ago in an architecture class. Flashbacks to their school days “capture that sweetly awkward phase when two people are closer than friends yet not quite lovers” (Maggie Lee, Variety) and are rife with 90s nostalgia—from pagers and Discmans to Guess? t-shirts. Also on Sunday is Hong Sang-soo’s acclaimed In Another Country (2012), “at once a comedy of manners and an oblique commentary on the power of cinema to expose and alter reality” (A.O. Scott, The New York Times), which stars Isabelle Huppert as three different women traveling in a seaside town in Korea. The New York Korean Film Festival closes with the New York premiere of Park Jung-woo’s relentlessly paced epidemic thriller Deranged (2012). For press information, please contact Gabriele Caroti at 718.724.8024 / [email protected] Lisa Thomas at 718.724.8023 / [email protected] New York Korean Film Festival Schedule Fri, Feb 22 7pm: Pieta 9:30pm: All Bark, No Bite Sat, Feb 23 4pm: Dancing Queen 6:30pm: Masquerade 9:15pm: A Werewolf Boy Sun, Feb 24 2pm: In Another Country 4:30pm: Architecture 101 7pm: Deranged Film Descriptions All Bark, No Bite (2012) 96min US premiere! Directed by Jo Byeong-ok. With Kim Moo-yul, Jin Seon-kyu, Seo Dong-gab, Jo Min-ho. In this popular ensemble dramedy, a group of friends enjoy their status as small-time thugs, asserting control over their town from the rooftop of a rundown coffee house but posing little actual threat to their neighbors. Their power is challenged when the former top dog of the town makes a surprise return and a violent bid for domination. Fri, Feb 22 at 9:30pm Architecture 101 (2012) 118min NY premiere! Directed by Lee Yong-ju. With Uhm Tae-woong, Han Ga-in, Lee Je-hoon. This touching love story and bittersweet valentine to the 90s—complete with pagers, Discmans, and 1GB hard drives—follows Seo-yon as she tracks down a college crush she met years ago in an architecture class. Enlisting him to design her family house, she finds herself falling back in love, but one thing stands in the way of her happiness: his fiancée. Sun, Feb 24 at 4:30pm Dancing Queen (2012) 121min Directed by Lee Suk-hoon. With Hwang Jung-min, Uhm Jung-hwa. “Polished entertainment with a subtle message” (The Hollywood Reporter), this rom-com blockbuster marks the third onscreen collaboration between pop diva Uhm and Korean melodrama mainstay Hwang. A married couple renews their lust for life by making some radical career changes. After coming to the aid of a drunk man, the husband becomes a public hero and runs for mayor of Seoul, while the wife revives a childhood dream to become a singer. Sat, Feb 23 at 4pm Deranged (2012) 109min NY premiere! Directed by Park Jung-woo. With Kim Myung-min, Moon Jung-hee, Kim Dong-wan. A lethal form of horsehair worm is burrowing into human brains to reproduce, causing a horrific epidemic in which several victims have drowned themselves in the Han River. This relentlessly paced thriller follows the ensuing nationwide panic, the media’s role in fanning the flames, and the Herculean struggle to find a cure. Sun, Feb 24 at 7pm In Another Country (2012) 89min Directed by Hong Sang-soo. With Isabelle Huppert, Yoo Jun-sang. This playful, structurally inventive comedy stars Huppert as three different women traveling in a sparsely populated seaside town in Korea. Creating a rich pattern of motifs, Hong explores alienation and sexual frustration with the light and graceful touch that is his trademark. Sun, Feb 24 at 2pm Masquerade (2012) 131min Directed by Choo Chang-min. With Lee Byung-hun, Ryoo Seung-ryong, Han Hyo-joo. Transposing Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper to 17th-century Korea, this massive box-office hit imagines what might have transpired during a legendary 15-day gap in the Joseon Dynasty historical records. When the tyrannical King Gwanghae begins to suspect that someone in the royal court is trying to poison him, he enlists a peasant jester as a lookalike to take his seat on the throne while he slips away to lay low with his mistress. Juggling the two lead roles with his usual charisma but also new depth and versatility, Lee gives the performance of his career in this extravagant portrait of palace intrigue. Sat, Feb 23 at 6:30pm Pieta (2012) 104min NY premiere! Directed by Kim Ki-duk. With Jo Min-soo, Kang Eunjin, Kim Jae-rok. The Golden Lion winner at last year’s Venice Film Festival, this unholy mix of Christian iconography and carnal appetites follows the unpredictable entanglement of a ruthless loan shark and a middle-aged woman who claims to be his long-lost mother. At once a psychologically penetrating melodrama and a gruesome revenge tale, celebrated auteur Kim’s return to form balances its stomach-churning Oedipal premise with two sublimely tender lead performances. Fri, Feb 22 at 7pm A Werewolf Boy (2012) 122min Directed by Jo Sung-hee. With Song Joong-ki, Park Bo-young. In this strangely poignant, paranormal love story—which recently became the highest grossing melodrama in Korean film history—an elderly woman reminisces on her adolescent romance with a feral boy her family rescued from the wilderness and attempted to civilize. Sat, Feb 23 at 9:15pm About BAMcinématek The four-screen BAM Rose Cinemas (BRC) opened in 1998 to offer Brooklyn audiences alternative and independent films that might not play in the borough otherwise, making BAM the only performing arts center in the country with two mainstage theaters and a multiplex cinema. In July 1999, beginning with a series celebrating the work of Spike Lee, BAMcinématek was born as Brooklyn’s only daily, year-round repertory film program. BAMcinématek presents new and rarely seen contemporary films, classics, work by local artists, and festivals of films from around the world, often with special appearances by directors, actors, and other guests. BAMcinématek has not only presented major retrospectives by major filmmakers such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Manoel de Oliveira, Shohei Imamura, Vincente Minnelli (winning a National Film Critics’ Circle Award prize for the retrospective) Kaneto Shindo, Luchino Visconti, , but it has also introduced New York audiences to contemporary artists such as Pedro Costa and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.