6 stories

K-Movie

Korean cinema, from Cannes to the multiplex

In English She Is the Director of 'Kim Ji-young, Born 1982.' In Korean She Is a Remake Specialist.

Kim Do-young's Korean 'The Intern' opens 16 September with Choi Min-sik and Han So-hee. Every English write-up introduces her by the film that started a national argument about feminism. Korean film writers introduce her as someone on a two-for-two run at adapting other people's material, going for three. Same director, same three films, two completely different careers — and which one you get depends on which language you read.

12 min read

K-Movie

Three Korean Films Open the Day Before Chuseok. One of Them Isn't Competing — It's Meeting a Deadline.

On 23 September, a card-gambling franchise finale, a true-crime thriller about a 1974 assassination attempt, and Lee Chang-dong's Oscar entry all open in Korean cinemas. Two of them are fighting over the biggest holiday audience of the year. The third is there because the Academy requires a seven-day theatrical run by the 30th — the film no Korean investor would fund is using Chuseok as a compliance window.

12 min read

K-Movie

Forty Thousand People Queued for 624 Seats. On 28 August a New Law Bans Ticket Scalping — But Not This Kind.

Nolan shot The Odyssey entirely on IMAX cameras, for a 70mm format that exists in 41 cinemas worldwide and none of them in Korea. What Korea has is one digital screen in Yongsan that shows the full frame uncropped. Seats resell at five times face value, the resale ban taking effect this week specifically does not cover cinema tickets, and the thing that will actually end the run is a law written to protect Korean film.

12 min read

K-Movie

Busan Spent Thirty Years Becoming a Gatekeeper. This Year the Key Doesn't Fit.

In 1997 the Busan film festival's programmers were arguing with police on an outdoor stage about whether protesting censorship counted as a festival event. In May 2026 the Academy made Busan's top prize a direct route to an Oscar submission — the only Asian festival on that list. The prize is announced on 15 October. The submission deadline is 30 September.

12 min read

K-Movie

The Biggest Korean Film of 2026 Is the One Koreans Can't Agree On: 호프, Explained

Na Hong-jin's 'Hope' has topped the Korean box office for thirteen straight days while the market collapsed around it — and set off the loudest argument Korean film has had in years. A critic who gave it four stars had to publicly deny owning the director's phone number.

12 min read

K-Movie

Korea's Greatest Living Director Couldn't Get Funded at Home: Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love'

가능한 사랑 is Korea's Oscar entry, opens in Korean cinemas on September 23 and reaches Netflix worldwide on November 6 — Lee Chang-dong's first film in eight years. The staggered release is an Oscar clock. The reason it's a Netflix film at all is that no Korean investor would back it.

11 min read

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