[Korean Film News] KOFIC Publishes New English-Language Book on Lee Chang-dong

When it comes to promoting the local film industry worldwide, you'd be hard-pressed to come up with an organization as busy as the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). KOFIC has just announced the latest addition to its ongoing "Korean Film Directors Series", a book about Lee Chang-dong, written by film critic Kim Young-jin. Content includes interviews, a biography, a filmography and synopses and examines the cinematic world of Lee Chang-dong. While researching an article on Korean historical films, I happened to re-watch Peppermint Candy (2000), and was astounded both by Lee's assured mastery and by the intensity of Seol Gyeong-Gu's performance. Lee's fourth film, Secret Sunshine (Milyang) is in competition at the Cannes film festival, with a premiere to coincide with its local release on May 24th. The first booklets in the "Korean Film Directors Series" were devoted to Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho and Ryoo Seung-wan, and are available for free download at the film council's English-language website. Last March, two new monographs on Im Kwon-taek and Kim Ki-young were made available through Seoul Selection, a publishing company dedicated to the spread of Korean culture. Books on Hong Sang-soo, Park Chan-wook, Jang Sun-woo, and Kim Dong-won are planned for mid-2007, while those on Yoo Hyun-mok, Im Sang-soo, Lee Myung-se, and Im Sun-rye are scheduled for publication at year's end. A collection gathering together directors Jung Ji-woo, Kim Tae-yong, Jang Joon-hwan and Zhang Lu in a single volume is also in the works.

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