Yeonghwa is the Korean word for film, and since South Korean cinema now features prominently in every major international film festival, it is a good word for cineastes to know. Korean film tends to blend technical excellence with idiosyncratic expression and an entrepreneurial spirit—filmmakers often write and direct their work, and both actors and filmmakers benefit from the country’s homegrown “star system”—while embracing a wide variety of styles and subjects. Korean cinema is generally made for a national audience, so its vision is rarely diminished by compromises in the name of global appeal. This second edition of Yeonghwa includes nine new feature films, including Yim Soon-rye’s Rolling Home with a Bull, along with a program of award-winning short films by major directors; a two-fi ... Go to event
Hallyu: Riding the Korean Culture Wave for a Globalized World
As a leading organization seeking to generate new ideas across a variety of fields, Asia Society Korea Center has launched the Korean Wave Initiative in Asia and the United States to build upon Korea’s numerous cultural assets. Once known as the “Hermit Kingdom,” South Korea has spread its contemporary culture across a wide and diverse geography and demographic of enthusiasts.
Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, has swept Korean popular music, comic books, films, and television drama serials into diverse societies around the world. Hallyu is now Korea’s global brand, and the cultural boom emanating from the Korean peninsula is rich, diverse, and complex. The purpose of our events is to convene both academics and ... 
Part of Korean Cinema Now
Dir. Hong Sang-soo. 2011, 79 mins. With Kim Sang-Jung, Yu Jun-Sang. In the latest from master filmmaker Hong Sang-soo, Sungjoon, a director who no longer makes films, heads to Seoul to meet a friend. He runs into an actress he used to know, shares a drink with some young film students, and against his better judgment, heads to his ex’s house. The next day, or perhaps some other day, Sungjoon finally meets his friend. They go to a bar whose owner bears a striking resemblance to his ex. The next day goes very much like the first; the one after that, the same. Eventually, Sungjoon has no other choice than to face his “today.”
Free with Museum admission.
When: Sunday, December 11, 2011
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Where:Museum of the Moving Image, New York
For more info click her ... 
A modest hit in Korea that deserves far more attention than it received, this sharp dramedy from The Servant director Kim Dae-Woo has the endearing Yun-Seo ( the legendary Han Suk-Kyu) randomly coming across an ‘indecent novel.’ Hesitant to read it at first, he’s soon inspired to write one of his own, even asking his family rival and infamous captain of guards, Gwang-Heon (Lee Beom-Su, City of Violence), to illustrate it for him. Their book is soon the most talked-about in town and it’s eventually picked up by Jeong-Bin, the king’s favorite concubine. But when she becomes a little too involved, the two men are soon drawn in a tricky web of palace intrigue that will leave no one safe.
Tribeca Cinemas:
54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, one block from the A, C, E and 1 train Ca ... 
Holy blockbusters! A big hit at the Korean box office, Sword is the epitome of posh, luscious, decadent period filmmaking. Based on the real life Empress Myeongseong, it tells her story through the eyes of a bounty hunter who becomes her bodyguard (Cho Seung-Woo, now doing his mandatory military service). She tries to stand up to Russian and Japanese intervention in 19th Century Korea and the results are a series of luxurious, CGI-enhanced action scenes alternating with carefully calibrated and eye-meltingly colorful scenes of court life, making this movie feel like an unholy mix of Merchant-Ivory and The Matrix.
Tribeca Cinemas:
54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, one block from the A, C, E and 1 train Canal Street stops
All seating is first-come, first served.
Doors open at ... 
