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Honoring Director Kang Je Gyu

2008 USC Korean Film Festival

Saturday, January 19, 2008
3:30 PM - 9:30 PM
USC Norris Theater

Schedule

3:30-5:30 PM	First Screening: Shiri
5:30-6:30 PM	Q&A
6:30-7:30 PM	Reception
7:30-9:30 PM	Second Screening: Tae Guk Gi

At a time when Hollywood pressed for unlimited access to the Korean film market and the local film industry feared its imminent collapse, Director Kang released Shiri (Swiri), South Korea's first blockbuster film. The epic Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War attracted over 11 million viewers and was chosen as South Korea's entry to the 2004 Academy Awards for best foreign film.

Join us as we view these two cinematic works and honor Director Kang.

Panel Discussion

Panelist: Kang Je Gyu and David James
Moderator: Kyung Moon Hwang

Shiri (1999), 120 min, 35mm
Cast: Choi Min-sik, Han Suk-kyu, Song Kang-ho, Kim Yun-jin
The film's prologue begins in 1992, at a training camp for assassins in the North Korean countryside. Using live ammunition and live targets, one soldier proves herself to be a superior killing machine, a young woman named Lee Bang-hee, who is promptly shipped off by her superior, Park (Choi) to take out political and military targets in South Korea.
Fast forward a few years later and Bang-hee is still on the loose in South Korea, and the South Korean agents on her tail are Ryu (Han) and his partner Lee (Song). Unfortunately, Bang-hee's identity remains a mystery, since she has undergone plastic surgery to change her appearance.

Tae Guk Gi (2004), 140 min, 35mm
Cast: Jang Dong-kun, Won Bin, Lee Eun-ju
In 1950, in South Korea, the shoe-shiner Jin-tae Lee (Jang) and his eighteen years old student brother Jin-seok Lee (Won) form a poor but happy family with their mother, Jin-tae's fiancé Young-shin Kim (Lee) and her young sisters. Jin-tae and his mother are tough workers, who sacrifice themselves to send Jin-seok to the university. When North Korea invades the South, the family escapes to a relative's house in the country, but along their journey, Jin-seok is forced to join the army to fight in the front, and Jin-tae enlists too to protect his younger brother. The commander promises Jin-tae that if he gets a medal he would release his brother, and Jin-tae becomes the braver soldier in the company. Along the bloody war between brothers, the relationship of Jin-seok with his older brother deteriorates leading to a dramatic and tragic end.

Presented by the USC Korean Studies Institute, School of Cinematic Arts, East Asian Studies Center, East Asian Languages & Cultures Department, Korean Heritage Library, Center for International Studies, Visual Studies Graduate Certificate Program, Asian Pacific American Student Services, Korean Cultural Center, and the Korean Film Council.

Cost: Free