Busan Confirms Nam Dong-Chul & Kang Seung-Ah To Head Festival As Former Chiefs Exit In Management Crisis

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean star Park Eun-bin is confirmed to lead Netflix’s upcoming series “Castaway Diva,” set to premiere in late 2023. Park previously starred in “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” the hit series that featured in Netflix’s non-English global top ten chart for 21 weeks and reached the top ten titles in 57 countries. In the new series, Park brings to life the character of Seo Mok-ha, an aspiring singer turned castaway who, after being stranded on a deserted island for 15 years, commences her journey to become a diva. Joining her are renowned actors Kim Hyo-jin, Chae Jong-hyeop, Cha Hak-yeon, and Kim Joo-hun. Kim Hyo-jin portrays a once-popular singer who is the idol of Seo and who seeks a new lease of life after encountering her fan from the island.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief

Disney+ has announced a slate of Asia originals for the second half of 2023, including Korean dramas Moving and The Worst Of Evil and the latest project in its collaboration with Hybe, BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star.

Will Tizard Contributor Bulgarian crime story “Blaga’s Lessons” by Stephan Komandarev scored the top prize and $25,000 at the 57th Karlovy Vary Film Festival on Saturday, capping a week of celebrating art film, stars and bold global work. With sold out screenings ranging from Russell Crowe introducing “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” to rare Japanese masterworks by Yasuzo Masumura and a tribute to actor Daniela Kolarova, Czech audiences proved once again to be hungry for every kind of film they cannot experience at any other venue. The Crystal Globe competition special jury prize, along with $15,000, went to “Empty Nets,” a German-Iranian gritty love story directed by Behrooz Karamizade.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The great Choi Min-sik was on hand to take early headlines at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan). Described somewhat blandly as “a highly reliable performer” by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), Choi is not only the star of Korea’s top grossing film of all time “The Admiral: Roaring Currents,” he continues to be available for work of all different levels. He appears in no less than ten titles that played at the festival this week. The festival also does reliable — in its own way – as it plays up to its “stay strange” mantra, cooperates with other festivals of a similar fantasy leaning and sidesteps the political infighting that currently bedevil Korea’s best-known festivals.

BST Hyde Park, BLACKPINK have made history as the first K-Pop band to headline a major UK festival. Check out footage of the show, as well as the full setlist below.Taking to the stage this weekend, the girl group performed an electrifying 17-song set to their sold-out crowd of 65,000 fans, and made history as the first Korean pop group to headline a major UK festival.Introducing themselves to their London audience, Jennie, Jisoo, Rosé and Lisa kicked off their milestone set with ‘Pink Venom’, ‘How You Like That’, ‘Pretty Savage’ and ‘Kick It’, before breaking into a rendition of their first-ever single ‘Whistle’ — which first launched them to fame in 2016.The four-piece also brought the energy to their 90-minute-long set, blasting through back-to-back choreography and outfit changes. During the show, Rosé declared: “​​We’re absolutely honoured to perform here at Hyde Park… It’s a dream come true!”Other fan favourites played at the gig included ‘Tally’ and ‘Typa Girl’, as well as a “solo” part of the show where each member took the limelight and performed an individual rendition of one of their favourite tracks.

Rebecca Souw Korea’s leading entertainment company, CJ ENM has appointed Choi Ju-hui as CEO of the TVing streaming service in which it has a controlling stake, following the recent resignation of CEO Jay Yang. Choi becomes the first female CEO in the Korean OTT platform business. Choi’s appointment also follows completion of the merger between TVing and Seezn, a smaller streamer previously owned by local telco giant, KT Corp. The merger is expected to bring cost savings in marketing and customer acquisition, benefitting from KT’s network of 14 million subscribers.

The National Association of Theatre Owners VP & Chief Communications Officer Patrick Corcoran is departing after 24-plus years.

Oh Seok-geun, director of Busan International Film Festival’s industry platform, Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM), has resigned from his post, the latest in a string of resignations to rock the festival. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oh Seok-geun, head of the Asian Contents and Film Market in Busan, has resigned. Oh’s exit follows the resignation earlier this week of Busan International Film Festival chairman Lee Yong-kwan and the earlier departure of festival director Huh Moonyoung. “I submitted my resignation to the BIFF. I decided this was the best choice I could make. I hope my decision will help solve the BIFF situation,” Oh told Variety. A spokesman for the festival confirmed that Oh had tendered his resignation and said that the organization will frame its response next week.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lee Yong-kwan, one of the original founders of the Busan International Film Festival, says he is stepping down as the event’s chairman – this time with immediate effect. He says the move is intended to defuse a morass of factional infighting and political interference surrounding Asian’s most prominent film festival. A festival spokesman told Variety that the board of directors “has decided to persuade the chairperson to return. So, the resignation has not been accepted yet.”

P Nation, founded by Psy, has confirmed that it is in talks to sign MAMAMOO member Hwasa.Today (June 27), South Korean news outlet Xportnews reported that Hwasa is currently in the final stages of contract discussions with Psy’s P Nation agency. It also noted that the singer’s contract with long-time label RBW is set to expire at the end of June.In response to the news report, P Nation told MyDaily that “A contract with Hwasa has not been confirmed”, while also confirming that it is “currently under discussion”, as translated by Soompi.Hwasa has been signed to RBW since 2014, when she made her debut as a member of K-pop girl group MAMAMOO.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Some 18 film industry guilds and trade associations are calling for urgent structural reform of the Busan International Film Festival. They point out that this year’s edition of the festival is looming less than 100 days away. The festival’s management has made a succession of management missteps in recent weeks, including one that resulted in an official apology. At the beginning of May, a decision to split the festival’s senior management in two by creating a new position for Cho Jongkook, was followed by consternation among guilds and the resignation of festival director Huh Moonyoung.

EXCLUSIVE: Korean multi-hyphenate powerhouse Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok) is set to star in and produce an English-language feature adaptation of New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sansbury Smith’s dystopian sci-fi novel series Hell Divers. The film will draw from the first three books in the series whose first installment was published by Blackstone in 2016; there are 10 books in total. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Busan International Film Festival has apologized for its mishandling of the resignation of its executive director Huh Moon-young and related sexual harassment allegations. “We sincerely apologize over the sexual harassment case that occurred in the workplace,” BIFF said in a Korean-language statement on Thursday. (A festival spokesperson said that an English-language statement, along with an update, will be issued in the coming days.) Huh has publicly denied the allegations, though he has not replied to email and telephone requests for comment by Variety.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief C CGV, a company that is one of the world’s top ten cinema exhibitors and is also a major cinema technology developer, is to raise close to $800 million in order to shore up its finances after a devastating COVID era. The company operates the largest cinema chain in its native South Korea and has significant numbers of screens in Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey and mainland China, with smaller operations in Myanmar and the U.S. It also owns CJ 4DPlex, which developed the technology for films to be augmented with practical effects, including motion-seats, wind, strobe-lights, simulated-snow, and scents. In addition, its ScreenX system provides screenings that use the side walls of an auditorium to create a 270-degree sensory experience.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The International Olympic Committee said on Thursday that Swiss-based, Chinese-owned Infront Sports & Media would handle broadcast right sales in much of Asia for the next series of Summer and Winter games. The deal covers 22 territories including Afghanistan, Brunei, Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam – but not China, Japan or South Korea, and runs 2026-2032. That means it will cover the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and the Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Summer games. The 2030 Winter Olympics, which have yet to be allocated a host, and all Youth Olympic Games during this period will also be covered.

K-pop stadium concert later this year.On June 14, the Korea Management Federation (KMF), which represents at least 350 Korean entertainment agencies, announced that Poland would soon be hosting the a massive K-pop festival this September at a venue with a capacity of 50,000 people. It will be the first K-pop stadium concert held in the country.The upcoming concert, titled ‘2023 K-pop Nation x Korea Music Festival’, will be held at the PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw on September 23.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Killing Romance,” one of the most creative Korean films of the past year, has been set as the opening night title for the upcoming New York Asian Film Festival. The deliberately multi-genre picture tells the tale of a beautiful movie star with dubious acting skills (portrayed by Le Ha-nee) who suddenly quits the industry and retires to newly-married life that turns out to be anything but bliss. When she decides to return to acting she teams up with a fan and an absurd plot to kill her absurdly rich husband. The film is directed by Lee Won-suk who previously attended the NYAFF with his first film, “How to Use Guys With Secret Tips,” in 2013 and returned with his second feature, the big-budget period drama The Royal Tailor, which earned the audience award at NYAFF in 2015.

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track… So, we’re going to do the hard work for you.