Bong-Fest Coming To New York!
Nope, it's got nothing to do with Tommy Chong and you can't be arrested for attending. What it is is a mini-festival of all of Bong Joon-Ho's films - including two early shorts that I was completely unaware even existed - screening in New York City starting February 26th. The centerpiece of the festival is ostensibly the director himself attending a screening of The Host and participating in a post-screening Q&A but I'm every bit as fascinated by the chance to see the two shorts ... read on for the official announcement.
ONE OF KOREA’S HOTTEST DIRECTORS, BONG JOON-HO, MAKES WAVES WITH NEW YORK CITY MINI-FESTIVAL
BONG JOON-HO MINI FILM FESTIVAL TO RUN AT IFC CENTER STARTING MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26
New York, NY–February 5, 2007–Director Bong Joon-Ho is a cinematic sensation across the Pacific, making black comedies, gritty crime dramas and sci-fi thrillers that keep Asian audiences on the edge of their seat. His star is rising in Hollywood too: on March 9th, his blockbuster mutant horror film The Host will debut in the U.S.(distributed by Magnolia Pictures, www.magpictures.com) New York audiences can get to know his work before the buzz starts, at a Bong Joon-Ho Mini Film Festival—a screening of six of Bong’s films—at the IFC Center on Monday, February 26 and Tuesday, February 27.
Co-presented by The Korea Society and the Korean Film Council, the Bong Joon-Ho mini film festival will screen five of Bong’s best films, Incoherence, Sink and Rise, Barking Dogs Never Bite and Memories of Murder. The mini festival will also include a special advance screening of The Host at which Bong Joon-Ho will appear for a special director’s Q&A session. (See below for film and schedule details.)
General admission tickets are $11. For more information, please visit www.koreasociety.org. For directions to IFC Film Center, please visit www.ifccenter.com.
Bong Joon-Ho Mini Film Festival Schedule
Monday, February 26 at 7:00 PM
Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)
American Beauty hopped up on laughing gas, Barking Dogs Never Bite is a shaggy dog story about the mysteries of pregnancy, the length of toilet paper, lost dogs, and good stew for urban sophisticates.
Monday, February 26 at 9:15 PM
Memories of Murder
Korea's most acclaimed film of 2003, a master work based on the real story of the country’s first recorded serial killer
Tuesday, February 27 at 6:00 PM
Sink and Rise (2005) and Incoherence (1994)
Two of Bong’s early, short comedies; rippling with whimsy.
Tuesday, February 27 at 8:30 PM
The Host (2006)
Followed by director Q&A with Bong Joon-Ho
The Host, which attracted 13 million South Korean viewers (25% of the country), is an improbable union of Little Miss Sunshine and Godzilla: a family comedy, mutant drama and political satire. Bong expertly balances absurd humor against tense thrills, and domestic drama against mass mayhem, reasserting South Korea's place at the pinnacle of genre-busting cinema.
The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) was founded as a government supported body (Ministry of Culture and Tourism) in accordance with Article 7 of the Korean Film Promotion Law in order to improve the quality of Korean films and to promote the Korean film industry. The Korea Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of greater awareness, understanding and cooperation between the United States and Korea.
