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Korea Herald
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Submissions open for Mise-en-scene Short Film Festival
Korea's premier short film fest returns after four-year hiatus, revamps program with homage to landmark Korean films The Mise-en-scene Short Film Festival is accepting submissions through June 19. Filmmakers can submit works under 30 minutes, completed after Jan. 1, 2024, through the festival's online portal. Applicants must select one of five genres: social drama, romance/melodrama, comedy, horror/fantasy, or action/thriller. Finalists will be announced in September following preliminary and final jury screenings. The October event marks the festival's arrival after a four-year hiatus. Founded in 2002, MSFF suspended operations after its 20th edition in 2021. Long seen as a springboard for rising filmmakers, the festival has helped launch the careers of industry names like Na Hong-jin ("The Wailing"), Jang Jae-hyun ("Exhuma"), Yoon Jong-bin ("The Spy Gone North," "The Match") and Um Tae-hwa ("Concrete Utopia"). Now in its 21st edition, the festival is organized by film magazine Cine21 with Naver stepping in as the new main sponsor, replacing previous backer Amorepacific. For this edition, MSFF has revamped its section titles, replacing references to international cinema with nods to acclaimed Korean genre films. The social drama section has been renamed 'Take Care of My Cat,' while romance is now 'Jealousy Is My Middle Name,' comedy 'Conduct Zero,' horror/fantasy 'Epitaph' and action/thriller 'Nowhere to Hide.' "We've moved from foreign classics to Korean films of the 2000s that inspired the current generation of filmmakers," the organizers said. A new executive committee of seven filmmakers is overseeing the festival: Jang Jae-hyun, Han Jun-hee, Yoon Ga-eun, Um Tae-hwa, Lee Sang-geun, Yi Ok-seop and Cho Sung-hee.
Korea Herald
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Korean cinema's dust-covered dystopias
Where smog-filled cityscapes mirror the darkness within Last week's wave of yellow dust from China blanketed Seoul in a hazy shroud, turning the metropolis into something akin to a setting of a real-time apocalypse movie. As people donned masks and hurried through their daily routines, the cityscape came off as eerily familiar to fans of dystopian cinema. The annual spring ritual of constantly monitoring air quality apps while watching layers of dust settle on every surface offers a timely lens through which to view Korea's growing catalog of home-grown dystopian films. While Hollywood's apocalypses tend toward bombastic spectacle, Korean filmmakers have crafted more intimate portraits of societal collapse that feel uncannily prescient as the skyline vanishes behind thick clouds of toxic particulate matter. Here are three standout Korean dystopian films that use environmental degradation among other issues as backdrops for deeper explorations of human nature. "Concrete Utopia" (2023) When a devastating earthquake reduces Seoul to rubble, the residents of an apartment complex find their building mysteriously left standing amid the ruins. Director Um Tae-hwa crafts a gripping social experiment as the survivors, led by the enigmatic Young-tak (Lee Byung-hun), establish a makeshift community that quickly devolves from democratic idealism to totalitarian insularity. The film's ashen color palette and desolate cityscape form a visual language for moral decay. As resources grow scarce and outsiders beg for shelter, the residents' once-noble principles crumble faster than the surrounding buildings. A young couple, Min-sung (Park Seo-jun) and Myung-hwa (Park Bo-young), embody the ethical tug-of-war at the heart of the film -- is compassion for strangers a luxury only the privileged can afford? "Concrete Utopia" earned South Korea's Oscar submission for best international feature in 2023, and despite its occasionally heavy-handed messaging, it's easy to see why. Its exploration of how quickly social order cracks under pressure resonates far beyond Korean borders. Available on Netflix with English subtitles. "Time to Hunt" (2020) Director Yoon Sung-hyun's sophomore feature drops viewers into a financial dystopia where the dollar has become the only valuable tender. Through smog-choked streets and decrepit buildings, four desperate young men plot to rob an illegal gambling den for a chance at escape. Korea as depicted on screen is a pollution-smothered nightmare of economic inequality. Yellow dust hangs perpetually in the air, creating an oppressive metaphor for the characters' desperate circumstances. Yoon crafts his setting with impressive attention to detail -– abandoned buildings, massive surveillance screens and crowded slums suggest a world where environmental collapse and financial ruin have gone past the point of no return. The film's technical strengths -- from experimental lighting to its atmospheric set pieces in urban spaces -- create a dystopian sandbox that at once feels alien and uncomfortably plausible. Available on Netflix with English subtitles. "The Tenants" (2023) In Yoon Eun-kyung's stark black-and-white nightmare, Seoul's housing crisis and pollution problems have spiraled into a Kafkaesque hellscape. The film follows Shin-dong (Kim Dae-gun), a fatigued office worker who hopes to score a coveted transfer to Sphere 2, a utopian city supposedly free from Seoul's suffocating air. When threatened with eviction, Shin-dong reluctantly participates in "wolwolse," a government program allowing tenants to sublet portions of their already cramped apartments. His new tenants -- a bizarrely tall man and his near-silent wife -- request to live in his bathroom. This absurdist premise quickly transforms into genuine horror as the couple's unsettling behavior ramps up and Shin-dong discovers an entire ecosystem of people living in increasingly subdivided spaces. Yoon's monochromatic visuals capture a world drained of both color and hope. The air pollution is so severe that citizens have become "clones in this zombie-like city," mechanically trudging through lives reduced to mere survival. As Shin-dong's home becomes progressively less his own, "The Tenants" delivers a scathing critique of housing problems that risk dignity for profit. moonkihoon@
Korea Herald
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
CGV launches Korea's first AI film contest
Competition offers 50 million won in prizes for generative AI-produced short films CGV announced on Tuesday that it is hosting an artificial intelligence film competition, becoming the first theater chain in Korea to do so. The contest invites filmmakers to submit original, previously unpublished short films ranging from 10 to 20 minutes in length, created using generative AI technology. Entries can explore either the theme of "heroes and villains" or tackle any subject of the creator's choosing. Submissions will be judged on storytelling (40 percent), creativity (30 percent) and technical execution (30 percent). After initial screenings in which 15 finalists will be selected, a panel of industry experts will choose five winners through a combination of juried evaluations and online audience voting. The panel of judges includes notable figures such as "Concrete Utopia" (2023) director Um Tae-hwa; science YouTuber Kim Jae-hyeok, known as Orbit; author Kim Jung-hyuk; and CJ ENM's AI production director Jung Chang-ik. The competition offers approximately 50 million won ($34,550) in total prizes, with the grand prize winner receiving theatrical distribution through CGV. CJ ENM is also offering a special award to support content creators. "We kicked off this AI film competition in response to the growing buzz around generative AI tech," said Kim Jae-in, CGV's content and marketing manager. "We're hoping filmmakers can connect with audiences through these AI creations and maybe spark some extra interest in the theater-going experience too." The submission deadline is April 25, and the winners will be announced on May 23. Details are available through the CGV mobile app and website. This contest adds to Korean cinema's growing wave of AI filmmaking experiments. The film "It's Me, Mun-hee," released on Christmas Eve last year, starred veteran actress Na Mun-hee without her ever appearing on set. The 17-minute short used generative AI to transform the 84-year-old actress into various characters, including Santa Claus, a CIA fugitive and an astronaut. The short film "M Hotel," which premiered on Dec. 11, was created entirely with generative AI tools. Produced by CJ ENM, the 6.5-minute film reportedly took less than a month to complete, with four AI experts using more than 10 different AI tools. The project has earned recognition at film festivals in Venice, New York and Cannes.
