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Writer's pictureJudy T

Biggest Film Festival in Korea.

Updated: Dec 8, 2023

The Busan International Film Festival was held in early October and was a big event in South Korea. This year's festival had a specific newly established section, “Korea Diasporic Cinema,” which showcases critically acclaimed works by or featuring Korean Americans. This Gmama read the article with interest and was fascinated with a couple of insights these Korean Americans made that distinguish Korean shows from American shows. They eloquently verbalized what we've been noticing...


"I see the differences in the sense of humor and the acting – Koreans might be subtle in (certain) scenes whereas Americans might show more obvious expressions. When I watch Korean films, it feels like you are watching their lives,” said Lee Isaac Chung, a Korean American director.


“But from a structural point of view, Hollywood films value plot heavily, whereas Asian and Korean films really prioritize the emotional and philosophical elements over the plot sometimes,” said Justin Chon, a Korean American actor and director. I couldn't agree more with this sentiment!



As expected the big winner at Busan was Concrete Utopia featuring my favorite, Lee Byung-hun. This movie won for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Female Star of the Year, and Best Cinematography is about an earthquake that flattens Seoul except for one apartment building. It might be too brutal for this Gmama but has certainly been garnering praise. For those of us who speak English it is not available yet although we're anxiously waiting!


Also a notable winner is one of our favorite actors, Kim Seon-ho for Best New Actor in The Childe; we know him as 'dimples' from Hometown Cha Cha Cha and other Kdramas.


I feel like Judy: it’s exciting when our favorite actors win these prestigious awards but also frustrating that we can’t watch their performances. Judy, I’m counting on you to keep me posted on Concrete Utopia.

Park Bo-young, Lee Byung-hun, and Park Seo-joon in Concrete Utopia

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joonchild (deb)
joonchild (deb)
Dec 06, 2023

Concrete Utopia is in limited release in NYC & LA 12/8; wide release 12/15, so look for it! I'm in a small town so not sure it will come here; but it is a university town so we do get off-the-beaten track films.


I'm a major Kim Seon-ho fan, so have been following news about The Childe for ages. It's in limited release in the US through a distributor called WellGo USA but I can't find where. It's listed as going to dvd in January 2024 & Viki lists it as "coming soon" although I don't know how much faith to put in that. Originally we had no idea what type of character Seon-ho would be playing; then I saw…

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