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King and the Clown aims for the Oscar

On September 21, the Korean Film Council announced the movie "King and the Clown" for their bid on the Academy Award.

Three films were considered for the opportunity: "The King and the Clown" by Lee Joon-ik, The Host by Bong Joon-ho, and Kim Ki-duk's Time. The first two titles hold the box office record in Korea for their popularity. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will select the final nominations next year from an international pool of Oscar candidates.

Although Korean films have never won a nomination for the Foreign Language Films Category, the experts are optimistic due to recent upsurge of outstanding Korean native films.

The experts agree that even a nomination would result in exponential increase in the US film market share for the film. It would also help Korean film industry to gain further foothold in the United States.

The Korean nomination committee stated that they are confident this year since they have considered the Academy's standards in selecting the final product.

"Instead of judging for the film's aesthetic or market potentials, the core criteria were the movies' mass appeal, communicative competence, director's popularity in the US, and the marketing ability of its distributor", the official reported.

Among the committee, director Park Ki-yong, Shin Chul of Shinsine, editor of film 2.0 Kim Young jin, Junju international film festival program director Yoo Oonsung, Professor Joo Jin-suk of Joongang University, movie director Kim Byeong-il, and Lee Dong jin from Chosun Ilbo have participated in the selection process.

The movie, "The King and the Clown" is a period drama revoloving around two down-on-their-luck clowns and the real-life merciless King Yeonsan in the late 15th century. This brilliant depiction of Korea's traditional tight-rope walking and spellbinding plot let to a record breaking number of 12.3 million viewers who have seen the movie on the silver screen.

The current bid is for the 79th Academy Awards in the foreign language film category.

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