New York Dreamer

New York Korean Film Festival, starting from August 22 till 31, 2008.

The festival’s opening film was “Hwang Jin-Yi,” starring Song Hye-kyo and Yu Ji-tae, and directed by Chang Youn-hyun. The movie was screened at the New York Times Building on 41st street and the director and the actor Yu Ji-tae were at the theater for Q&A.

The story is based on a North Korean novel written by Hong Seok-joong, who fled South Korea with his grand father as a northbound asylum seeker in 1948. According to the director, this is the first licensing deal between North Korea and South Korea and the movie was partially shot and screened in the Keum Kang mountain of North Korea. The main character is based on a real historical figure, Hwang Jin-yi, who was a beautiful high class entertainer/service woman called ‘Ki-saeng’ and she is remembered as a great artist and writer of the age. She was once an aristocrat, but her destiny and social class stigma led her into the world of professional prostitution. Hwang Jin-yi is considered a very interesting woman in history, ironically a feminist figure because of her unusual life and extraordinary talent, and because of her journey and courage to challenge the social constraint and hypocrisy.

The director Chang confessed that most of the scenes were shot in a specially built movie set because not many traditional wooden structures are left in Korea now. But this film was beautifully shot and the whole shooting was done in 70 days, with additional 6-8 months of preparation and 4 months in post production.

If you want to check out other Korean films during this period, check out the official website for this Korean Film Festival.

http://www.koreanfilmfestival.org/