The Secrets Beyond the Door - Korea’s Apartment-Set Horrors

Late last month, after months of depressed grosses, Korean cinemas came roaring back to life with the release of the local zombie horror-drama #ALIVE. The film benefitted from its attractive young cast (YOO Ah-in and PARK Shin-hye) as well as its positioning a...

Hollywood Studios Double Down on Korean Productions

Sony Becomes Latest Tinseltown Major to Wade into Korean Market In early July, major local films started to return to the Korean market but while box office has been steadily improving despite ongoing fears owing to the Covid-19 crisis, one piece of news that...

KOFIC and Korean Cinema Heading Into Cannes Virtual Film Market

Korean Film Center and Sales Agents to Hold KOFIC SUPPORTS As the Cannes Film Festival made the decision to hold an online film market online, all the usual institutions that have been introducing in Cannes the film industry of their respective country are als...

Jeonju Switches to Hybrid Format for 21st Edition

The first major Korean film festival to take place amidst the global COVID-19 Pandemic, the Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) is currently staging its 21st edition, which kicked off on May 28. The vastly scaled-back main portion of the festival, taking...

Summer Release Schedule Cautiously Fills Up Amid Continuing Covid-19 Concerns

Since late February, when the first major cluster of Covid-19 infections gripped the country, theaters in South Korea have experienced a massive downturn in business, although they have mostly managed to remain open, unlike many other countries around the worl...

Korea’s Film Industry Sees First Steps Toward Recovery after COVID-19 Standstill.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has had a serious impact on the production schedule of upcoming films as it turned into a global pandemic. Many projects that involved plans for location shooting in foreign countries were postponed and refocused on domestic photography, w...

Shut-ins and Castaways, Self-Isolation in Korean Cinema

Covid-19 cases dropped throughout April and early May in South Korea, and as the number of local transmissions hit zero a sense of relief began to wash over the country and consumer confidence was starting to return. However, a new cluster of cases that has em...

Resurgence in Popularity for Korean Pandemic Thrillers

Theaters may still be open in Korea but with fears of community spread and a lack of enticing new talent, the halls of the multiplexes are largely deserted. Viewers are instead retreating to their home entertainment systems, as they binge on a steady mix of ne...

Korean Film Industry Faces Unique Challenges Amid Covid-19 Crisis

Despite being one of the first hotspots of the Covid-19 pandemic outside of China, South Korea has managed to keep down infections and deaths related to the disease through a combination of aggressive testing and case tracking. This has allowed many sectors of...

PARASITE Marks Historic First with Best Picture Win at the Oscars

The long road has finally come to an end, and what an ending it was. Almost nine months after its May 21 premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, BONG Joon-ho’s history-making seventh feature Parasite (2019) went the distance at the Academy Awards, where it becam...