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Korean Film Directors Series : Park Chan-wook's edition

An English book on director Park Chan-wook has been published following books on director Im Kwon-taek, Kim Ki-young, Lee Chang-dong, Kim Dong-won and Hong Sang-soo.

This book is an introductory guide to Park Chan-wook, the 2004 Cannes Grand prix winner and one of the most acclaimed and popular Korean film directors. The book, written by Kim Young-jin, one of the most distinguished film critics in Korea, looks within with an insider's eyes and gropes roughly for the root and stems of the cinematic world of Park, who has achieved both critical and commercial success, performing stunts verging on the acrobatic between genre convention and auteur individuality.

Park Chan-wook, a late bloomer who made only two films in the 1990s while simultaneously working as a critic, has constructed his very own world, combining the uncompromising directorial character of a B movie with an elliptical and poetic style that can appeal to the sensibilities of the post-MTV generation, while unafraid to draw upon genre conventions and star image. The dizzying critical and commercial success he achieved in the 2000s indicates an important characteristic of modern Korean film: while putting forward a plot and style that is goal-oriented to all outward appearance, Park includes conclusions in his films that ultimately carry both character and audience to a point where the goals have disintegrated and represent an expression of his artistic intent to present the face of a complex society, which does no permit the route of a dualistic and straightforward plot. - From the preface

The publication is part of the 'Korean Film Directors Series', a project initiated by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) to internationally promote Korean film directors. The book will be distributed throughout the world through Seoul Selection, a publishing house specializing in English publications on Korean culture.

Contact: International Promotion Dept. JUNG Hyun-chang

(Tel. 82 2 958 7596, sant0804@kofic.or.kr)
For purchase: Seoul Selection (Tel. 82 2 734 9567, http://www.seoulselection.com

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