At Seoul film fest, a nod of respect to late former president

By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) -- Top filmmakers and celebrities from around the world
will be walking on a green carpet when they enter the opening ceremony of Seoul's
Chungmuro International Film Festival (CHIFFS) Monday, in tribute to late former
President Kim Dae-jung, who died last week.

Organizers chose the color to represent peace, feeling that black was too
mournful a color in honoring the life of Korea's only Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Running through Sept. 1 at major theaters and art houses around the city, the
third Chungmuro festival -- named after the Seoul district that is the mecca of
Korea's movie industry -- will screen 214 classic and contemporary films from 40
different countries. It will open with "New York, I Love You," a collective work
of 11 short romance films that premiered at the Toronto International Film
Festival last fall.
From the producers of "Paris, je t'aime," the U.S. film stars an ensemble cast
including Shia LaBeouf, Natalie Portman, Blake Lively, Orlando Bloom, Andy
Garcia, Christina Ricci, Robin Wright Penn and Ethan Hawke. Portman directed one
of the episodes.
Whereas last year's event was focused on classic movies, organizers decided this
year to pick up a number of contemporary films popular in Europe and Asia they
thought had little chance of being released here, the CHIFFS program director
said in a press conference.
The fete will close with South Korean film "The Disappearance of Jeong
Seung-pil," (tentative title) a comedy about a hotshot assets manager who goes
missing right before his wedding.
CHIFFS will award five films selected by a nine-member jury -- including director
Lee Myung-se, actress Moon So-ri and French film critic Daniel Serceau -- in its
competition section, Chungmuro Offers.
Audiences will also be invited to retrospectives of South Korean actor Shin
Sung-il and the late U.S. actress Marilyn Monroe. Asian action films will be
screened in the Cine Asia section, while Cine Forum and All That Cinema sections
will be screening rare art films from South America and the Czech Republic.
"The Godfather" series will be screened overnight from Friday evening through
Saturday morning for fans of the classic film starring Marlon Brando, Robert De
Niro and Al Pacino.
hayney@yna.co.kr
(END)