First Korean Judge for Berlin Film Festival

The appointment of Samuel Alioto is still being debated, but the Korean Actress Lee Young-ae has been appointed as a judge on the committee of International Competitive Section of the 56th Berlin Film Festival.

According to Lee Ju-Yoel, representative for Door Entertainment that works for Ms. Lee, the actress will select the heroes and heroines for the Gold Bear Award from among the 20 films with the judge committee as a judge for the competitive section of the Berlin Film Festival.

It is the first time that a Korean has been appointed to the judge committee of the competitive section in the most authoritative film festival. Berlin Film Festival is one of the world's most prestigious film festivals along with Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film festival.

Berlin Film Festival has previously appointed Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi (1997), Michelle Yeoh (1999) and Gong Li (2000) to the judge committee.

In addition, the Korean director Park Chan-wook of 'Sympathy for Lady Vengeance' and 'JSA - Joint Security Area' was invited to the Berlin Film Festival with Lee Young-ae.

Moho Film, the Korean production company of "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance", explained on January 10 that the director Park Chan-wook will be the mentor of Berlinale Talent Campus, a workshop program of the Festival by request of Berlin Film Festival.

Berlinale Talent Campus will be held two days after the opening ceremony of the festival. It is a sort of the education program which is similar to Asia Film Academy (AFA) of Busan Film festival for breeding up the people for the movie of the future. Last year, 180 people of 41 countries took part in this program.

Moho Film also added that even though the director Park Chan-wook was called upon to be a judge of Berlin Film Festival last year, he had to refuse the suggest because of making 'Sympathy Lady Vengeance'. However, this year the director Park Chan-wook accepted the offer of a mentor of the workshop program in Berlin Film Festival, and he will have 4 times to lecture during the festival.

By Youn-soo Kim