The Wildflower Film Awards Korea will return for their 5th edition on April 12. Ahead of the ceremony the organizers have announced the nominees for this year’s awards, which include a new category for Best Music. The Wildflower Awards, founded by Korean film critic Darcy Paquet and co-organized by local critic OH Dong-jin, recognize achievements in the Korean independent film scene. This year’s n...

The Director’s Cut Awards, put on by the Directors’ Guild of Korea (DGK), gave its top prize this year to BONG Joon-ho for his Netflix-backed Okja. It is the first award for the film in the 2017 end-of-year awards run, with some bodies ruling the US-financed project out of contention. It’s BONG’s fourth time to pick up a prize at the event, following his Best New Director win for Barking Dogs Neve...

Box Office Report of 2017 The Korean film market reached new all-time benchmarks for income and admissions in 2017 after a strong December rally. Yet the real story behind the numbers was which unexpected films got audiences the most excited while several seemingly surefire hits stumbled out of the gate.With 219.87 million tickets sold when all was said and done, 2017 saw the Korean exhibition mar...

The Korean box office has had a rocky ride through the first two trimesters of 2017, but this period was not without its success stories. Though controversies and an uneven slate of films presented some obstacles, Korean history remained a strong driver for profits, particularly in a shifting political climate that may have aided the release of several politically-tinged hits. Riding on the critic...

With summer coming to an end and the humid heat making way for cooler breezes, cinemas saw a 30% dip in business as one new local release led a string of strong Korean holdovers, giving the domestic industry a commanding 80% advantage in the market. Unseating three-time champ A Taxi Driver was PARK Hoon-jung’s North Korea-themed serial killer thriller V.I.P., which is the third production by Warne...