‘Decision To Leave’ Director Park Chan-Wook On His Romantic Detective Noir & “Opening Your Eyes Within The Mist” [NYFF]

By Photography by Chloe Kim—the 22-year-old **snowboarding phenom—**needs little introduction. She’s been the in snowboarding circles for more than six years, the first athlete in the sport’s history to take home all four major snowboarding titles—gold in the Olympics, the Youth Olympics, the FIS Snowboarding World Championships, and the X Games. She is the Simone Biles of snow, a genre-redefining athlete with air awareness that leaves judges’ mouths agog every time she drops into the halfpipe.

It’s been a hot minute since we heard from filmmaker Mark Pellington, known for “The Mothman Prophecies” and “Arlington Road.” Pellington famously got his start in MTV-era music videos directing Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” video to great acclaim, including winning four MTV awards in 1993, including Best Director and Video of the Year. Pellington used that success to move into dramatic live-action features, which segues nicely into his latest (re) release.

The new Kander & Ebb stage musical New York, New York, inspired by the 1977 Martin Scorsese film starring Liza Minnelli and ‎Robert De Niro, will begin performances Friday, March 24, 2023 and officially open Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at Broadway’s St. James Theatre.

Netflix must like working with South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho. With a new season of “Hellbound” on the way and an adaptation of the manga series “Parasyte: The Grey,” another series from Yeon is coming to the streamer.

Netflix announced an upcoming thriller Korean series, The Bequeathed, to be written by Train To Busan and Hellbound director Yeon Sang-ho.South Korean news outlet Yonhap News Agency reported yesterday (October 18) that Netflix had decided to produce the brand-new series written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho. The streaming platform also announced the casting of actors Kim Hyun-joo (Trolley, Love All Play) and Park Hee-soon (A Model Family, My Name) in lead roles for The Bequeathed.

Park Chan-wook is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of the past 20 years. He’s also one of the rare South Korean filmmakers who has broken through the foreign-language barrier to become a recognizable name throughout the world.

“Till,” directed by “Clemency” filmmaker Chinonye Chukwu, was released in five cities this weekend and grossed $240,940, bringing its per theater average to $15,059 as it will expand to 150-200 theaters in 30 cities next weekend. With critical acclaim on Rotten Tomatoes with a 100% approval rating and a 92% positive rating on Comscore/Screen Engine’s Posttrak, “Till” has built Oscar buzz for lead actress Danielle Deadwyler for her performance as Mamie Till-Mobley, who spent years fighting for justice after the racist lynching of her 14-year-old son, Emmett.

HYBE’s request to trademark V from BTS‘ popular ‘Borahae’ phrase.The phrase, now synonymous with BTS, was first coined by V during a BTS fanmeet event in 2016. The term, a portmanteau of the Korean words saranghae (I love you) and borasaek (purple), was created with the following message in mind to be used between BTS and their fanbase, per Soompi: “Just as purple is the last colour of the rainbow, I will trust and love you until the very end.”A report from Sports Kyunghangclaims that the South Korean entertainment giant’s request to trademark the ‘Borahae’ phrase was rejected as it went against the “principles of good faith”, as translated by Soompi.KIPO noted in their statement that the term was first coined by V – referred to in the report by his birth name, Kim Tae-hyung – during a BTS fanmeet on November 13, 2016, and that the entity entitled to the trademark is V himself.

Heo Chan is leaving VICTON.

Robert Downey Jr. comes out for the Decision To Leave premiere at the Linwood Dunn Theater on Thursday (October 6) in Los Angeles, California.

BTS‘ exemption from military service by December.The announcement was made during tourism minister Park Bo-kyun’s attendance of the South Korean National Assembly’s parliamentary inspection of the administration yesterday (October 5), per Ten Asia. Park shared a timeline for the decision after People Power Party member Lee Yong-ho requested for him to “actively review the issue of BTS’s military service”, as translated by Soompi.“Member Jin’s enlistment is set to be sorted out by December, but the MCST will finalise our stance as soon as possible before then,” Park said in response.

Rebecca Souw Along with “Return to Seoul” and Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Broker,” Singaporean comedy film “Ajoomma” joins a growing list of recent foreign movies set in Korea or probing contemporary Korean culture.  “Ajoomma,” which premieres at the upcoming Busan International Film Festival on Friday in the New Currents competition section, tells the story of stereotypical Singaporean middle–aged woman (or “auntie”). Her obsession with Korean TV dramas leads her to visit Korea for the first time and as a result, embarks on a journey of self-discovery. 

Naman Ramachandran Celebrated filmmakers Anthony Chen (“Wet Season”), Anurag Kashyap (“Dobaaraa”), Ifa Isfansyah (“Losmen Bu Broto”), Joko Anwar (“Impetigore”) and Ho Yuhang (“The Ghost Bride”) are serving as directing mentors for the ongoing Malaysian Development Lab for Fiction Feature Films (mylab) initiative at the Busan International Film Festival. The directing mentors will work with the filmmakers of mylab and participate in depth conversations and exchanges on cinema and filmmaking. An incubator program for scriptwriters, directors, producers to work on developing scripts and film projects under lectures and the guidance of regional and international experts in scriptwriting, directing, producing, distribution, and markets and festivals, mylab focuses on projects at an early stage of development, with a team of scriptwriter, director and/or producer attached, targeted at regional or international audiences. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong multi-hyphenate Peter Chan Ho-sun is far too intellectual to call himself an “arms dealer,” as Sony Pictures has in casting itself as an unattached supplier to streaming platforms. But politeness and Bob Dylan references aside, Chan’s new company, Changin’ Pictures, aims to become a major independent purveyor of premium Asian TV content for the streamers. The company is using this week’s Busan International Film Festival as its launchpad and will unveil the first five series of its 20-title pan-Asian slate.  Chan’s thesis is that global audiences are hungry for Asian content but have not been able to access it easily under legacy film and TV distribution systems. With streaming making everything accessible everywhere, and audiences no longer balking at subtitles, quality Asian drama can and will travel.

BTS‘ potential military enlistment continues to be a hot topic.

Busan International Film Festival. It has been a struggle for Asian film festivals and rights markets to return to normal as conservative governments and reticent populations warily and belatedly embraced reduced quarantine periods, the end of mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing. But Wednesday night’s hosts were at pains to stress that this year’s 27th BIFF is operating at full capacity. “I can’t tell you how emotional I am tonight,” said Lee Yong-kwan co-founder of the festival and now its chairman.

AKMU‘s Lee Chan-hyuk will be making his debut as a soloist later this month with his first album, ‘Error’.Lee’s upcoming effort, titled ‘Error’ was first announced via social media earlier today (October 5). It will mark the musician’s first-ever solo project outside of sibling duo AKMU.A teaser image for Lee’s forthcoming record was also unveiled alongside the announcement, which features a cryptic photo of himself distorted by oversaturated film filters.

Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Ho-sun Chan has launched a production company to focus on streaming content, Changin’ Pictures, with a debut slate of five projects and talent including action star Donnie Yen and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.