ACF 1264: THE DAY HE ARRIVES @ The Museum of the Moving Images

The Day He Arrives / Book chon bang hyang

Directed by HONG Sang-soo

South Korea, 2011, 79 minutes

Where: The Museum of the Moving Image
35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria, NYC
From midtown, taxi or N/Q Trainoutbound to 36th Avenue

When: Sunday, December 11 @ 4:00PM

Admission: $10 at The Museum of the Moving Image (www.movingimage.us)
and includes museum admissionfor exhibition viewing before 7:00 PM that day.
 

The Korea Society and Museum of the Moving Image present The Day HeArrives, part of their Korean Cinema Now series. In The Day HeArrives, director Hong Sang-soo tells the tale of former filmmakerSungjoon, who journeys to Seoul to meet a friend in Bukchon. After waiting, hewanders and crosses paths with an old friend. In Insadong to drink, he meetsfilm students who recognize him and ask him to join in their fun. He spends thenight at an ex-girlfriend’s, then wanders about Bukchon the following day,crossing paths with the same old friend. 

The Day He Arrives is filledwith nostalgic moments and coincidental run-ins; Hong explores human relationsin all their layered complexities. 

More information is available at www.koreasociety.org. 

ACF 1235: THE YELLOW SEA at The Museum of the Moving Image

The Yellow Sea

Directed by Na Hong-jin

When: Sunday, November 20, 2011 @ 4:00 PM

Where: The Museum of the Moving Image 

35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria
From midtown, taxi or N/Q Train outbound to 36th Avenue 

Film free with museum admission at The Museum of the Moving Image.

Next Sunday, November 20th, The Korea Society and the Museum of the Moving Image will present The Yellow Sea as part of Korean Cinema Now at MoMI. The Museum of the Moving Image and The Korea Society have impressed growing audiences in 2011 with an exciting run of new work. In The Yellow Sea, director Na Hong-jin tells a tale where, to bring his wife to Yanbian (on the border of North Korea and China) and pay off his gambling debts, protagonist Kim Gu-nam takes on an assassination job.

After a disastrous mistake, he becomes the target. A part of the 64th Cannes Un Certain Regard line-up, The Yellow Sea follows in the steps of Na’s first action-filled crime thriller, The Chaser, which received high praises in Korea as an upgraded Korean action thriller and was screened in the non-competition category of the 61th Cannes festival.

 

ACF 1221: P’ungnyu Strings concert at The Korea Society on November 17th

Park Min-ji on komungo

Contemplative Traditional MusicSeries
P’ungnyu Strings (Komungo)
 When: Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 6:00 PM
Where: The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor, NY, NY
Entrance on 57th Street, southwest corner of the intersection

Admission: $10Members/$20 Guests/Free for Explorer-level Members

This month'sepisode in The Korea Society's Contemplative Traditional Music Series will feature Park Min-ji playing the komungo, a traditional Korean stringed musical instrument of the zither family of instruments that has both bridges and frets. 

Enjoy a meditativehour of stringed Komungo set to p’ungnyu,the classical ensemble music of Korean nobility and central theme of this autumn's performance series. The KoreaSociety here presents p’ungnyu in its chul-p’ungnyu(stringed-instrument) form. P’ungnyu also refers to a state of leisurewhen one is elevated from the mundane to better appreciate poetry, music andcompanionship.

Accompanying the opening of Highlights,this meditative short performance of six-stringed komungo celebrates p’ungnyu,the classical ensemble music of Korean nobility. As a philosophy, p’ungnyurefers to a state of leisure where one celebrates arts and companionship.

Theevening’s performer, Park Min-ji, graces the audience with her komungoskills. Park graduated from Hanyang University in Korea, washonored at the Dong-A Korean Traditional Music Concours in 2009, and took firstin the National Traditional Performing Arts Competition in 2006. She also tookfirst at the 2010 World Korean Traditional Performing Arts Competition in New York and was amember and soloist with the Seoul Metropolitan Youth Traditional MusicOrchestra. She toured Atlanta,San Francisco,and Hawaiiwith the Korean Traditional Music Orchestra of Hanyang University in 2010.

Thisseries is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council onthe Arts.

More information at www.koreasociety.org or contact Yuni Cho (yuni.ny@koreasociety.org)

ACF 1174: DOOMAN RIVER coming to the Korean Economic Institute, Washington, D.C. on October 13th

Dooman River

When: Thursday, October 13th, 2011at 6:00 PM

Where: Korea Economic Institute Conference Room

1800 K Street NW, 10th Floor

Washington, DC 20006

By Metro: Farragut West Orange/Blue Line (18th Street exit); Farragut North Red Line

Admission is free and open to the public but RSVP required.

 

The Korea Society visits Washington, DC, for a special screening of the remarkable Dooman River at the Korea Economic Institute of America. The film won rave reviews among The Korea Society audiences in New York City and Chicago. In this Busan International Film Festival winner, director Zhang Lu examines a friendship between two boys in Northeast China, one a North-Korean refugee, and the challenges they face when more refugees arrive. Light fare is on offer prior to the screening.

ACF 1171: THE UNJUST coming to The Museum of the Moving Image

The Unjust

Directed by Ryoo Seung-wan
When: Sunday, October 9th, 2011 at 4:00 PM

Where: The Museum of the Moving Image

35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria, Queens
From midtown, taxi or N/Q Train outbound to 36th Avenue 

Film is free with admission to the Museum

The Korea Society and the newly renovated Museum of the Moving Image present The Unjust, part of Korean Cinema Now, on New York City’s hottest state-of-the-art screen. Earlier this year, the Museum of the Moving Image and The Korea Society embarked on an exciting run of new work, with highlights from the Busan International Film Festival, that has been warmly received by audiences and the film media.

The Unjust is director Ryoo Seung-wan’s dramatic take on police corruption and features an investigator on the hot seat and a vindictive prosecutor. It is his most successful project yet, earning its place in the top-ten box office list. Director Ryoo is considered one of the best action-film directors in Korea. He debuted in 1996 with the short film Transmutated Head, and went on to make features including Die Bad in 1998, No Blood No Tears in 2002, Arahan in 2004, and City of Violence in 2006.

ACF 1168: Rolling Home with a Bull

Lee Hyun-soo (left) and Choi Sun-ho

Rolling Home with a Bull / So-wa Ham-kke Yeo-haeng-ha-neun Beop

Directed by Yim Soon-rye

With Kim Young-pil, Kong Hyo-jin, Mek- bo

South Korea, 2010, 108 minutes

Rolling Home with a Bull, also known as “Travel with a Cow,” is a most unusual Road Movie in that it's about a man and his bull.

Choi Sun-ho (Kim Young-pil) is an unmarried man in his late thrities who works on his parents' farm. Educated and a writer of poetry, he's fed up with having to care for and clean up after the family's bull, which is used for plowing the family's hillside fields. He urges that they sell the bull and buy a tractor to modernize their farming, but his father adamantly refuses.

So Sun-ho makes off with the bull in the family truck early one morning, just as his father wakes up, sees what is happening, and gives ineffectual chase on foot. While on the road, Sun-ho hears from Lee Hyun-soo (Kong Hyo-jin), a woman he knew in his youth but last saw seven or eight years earlier. She tells him that her husband Peter has just died in an accident. He joins her at the wake where it's just the two of them. Hyun-soo at times calls Sun-ho "Paul." Seems that at one time all three were good friends and they took on the names of the American folk group Peter, Paul, and Mary. Sun-ho/Paul had loved Hyun-soo/Mary and never really got over the her marrying Peter.

Sun-ho continues his journey, trying to get the best price for the bull, which gets "car sick" and weak from standing in the back of the truck for hours. The grand-daughter of the veterinarian who diagnosed the creatures infirmity asks Sun-ho his family name, then names the bull Choi Han-soo.

Leading Han-soo through the streets of a city

Sun-ho and Choi Han-soo are forced to interrupt their travels so Han-soo can rest periodically, as well as for vehicular repairs and other setbacks. Hyun-soo, dressed in mourning black keeps re-entering their lives, as does a religious personage from the "Oh My God Temple." There are also calls from Sun-ho's father, who calls him a cattle thief and demands that he immediately return home with the bull.

With dream sequences and fantasies, Sun-ho's quest becomes more and more bewildering, and he finds it increasingly difficult to actually sell dear old Choi Han-soo.

Rolling Home With a Bull is an off-beat comedy, to be sure. It's also delightful and touching.

ACF Rating: 3 out of 4 stars, a good, solid film that's well worth a viewing. 

Rolling Home With a Bull was a co-presentation of The Korea Society and MoMA as part of the film series Yeonghwa: Korean Film Today, 2011, which runs through this Sunday, Ocotober 2nd. For the schedule, individual film descriptions, and to order tickets, visit either The Korea Society or MoMA.

ACF 1105: Free screening of "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" July 27th

The Good, the Bad, the Weird
Directed by Kim Jee woon
South Korea, 2008, 139 minutes
Where: The Museum of the Moving Image
Outdoor Cinema 2011
Socrates Sculpture Park,
Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City
(N or Q train to Broadway,
eight blocks west at Vernon Boulevard and the East River,
or 8-10 minutes by taxi from The Korea Society)
When: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 7 PM
Film Begins at Sunset
Free Admission through The Museum of the Moving Image.

Join The Korea Society and the Museum of The Moving Image for a cinematic wild ride from director Kim Jee-woon’s The Good, the Bad, the Weird. Set in the 1930s Manchurian desert, where lawlessness rules and ethnic groups clash, three Korean men fatefully meet on a train: a bounty hunter, the leader of a gang of bandits, and a train robber with nine lives. The three strangers chase across Manchuria to take possession of a valuable map. In Korean with subtitles.

ACF 1100: P'ungnyu Woodwind - Traditional Korean Music at The Korea Society on Thursday

Contemplative Traditional Music Series:
P’ungnyu Woodwind (Taegǔm)
When: Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:30PM
Where: The Korea Society, 950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
Entrance on 57th Street, the southwest corner of the intersection
Admission: $10 Members/$20 Guests/Free for Explorer-level Members

Enjoy a meditative hour of stringed kayagum set to p’ungnyu, the classical ensemble music of Korean nobility and central theme of our spring/summer performance series. The Korea Society here presents p’ungnyu in its chul-p’ungnyu (stringed-instrument) form. P’ungnyu also refers to a state of leisure when one is elevated from the mundane to better appreciate poetry, music and companionship.

Enjoy a meditative hour of the taegǔm, or large transverse bamboo flute, set to p’ungnyu, the classical ensemble music of Korean nobility and central theme of this season’s performance series. The Korea Society presents p’ungnyu in its taep’ungnyu (wind instrument) form. Woodwind artist Choi Seung-hee opens with the Taegûm sanjo and Jajinhanib, invoking a bountiful harvest. Choi has performed over 50 live performances in Korea and majored in Korean Traditional Music at Dankook University in Korea under Yoo Ki-joon and Oh Kyoung-soo.

More information at www.koreasociety.org or contact Yuni Cho (yuni.ny@koreasociety.org)

This performance is presented with the generous support of the New York State Council on the Arts.

ACF 1077: Contemplative Traditional Music Series: P’ungnyu Strings

Contemplative Traditional Music Series:
P’ungnyu Strings (Kayagum)
When: Thursday, June 30th at 6:30 PM
Where: The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
Entrance on 57th Street, southwest corner of the intersection

This Thursday, enjoy a meditative hour of stringed kayagum set to p’ungnyu, the classical ensemble music of Korean nobility and central theme of our spring/summer perfromance series. The Korea Society here presents p’ungnyu in its chul-p’ungnyu (stringed-instrument) form. P’ungnyu also refers to a state of leisure when one is elevated from the mundane to better appreciate poetry, music and companionship.

Park Yoon-sook, founder and president of the twenty-year-old Korean Traditional Music and Dance Institute of New York, opens with a Kayagum sanjo. Before her arrival in the United States, Park spent more than two and a half decades studying kayagum, p’ansori, and dance with many of Korea’s leading artists. Ms. Park won numerous awards and performed over 1,800 concerts across Asia and the United States, including a solo recital at Carnegie Hall. This performance is presented with the generous support of the New York State Council on the Arts.

For more information and to buy tickets online, click here.

ACF 1072: The Korea Society will be presenting an exhibition of Lee UFan's writings

The Writings of Lee UFan
An Exhibition
Where: The Korea Society, 950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street
(Entrance on 57th Street, the south-west corner of the intersection)
When: June 28—August 15, 2011

Gallery Opening/Reception
Tuesday, June 28, 6-8 PM
RSVP

The Korea Society will be presenting an exhibition of the writings of celebrated artist, poet, and philosopher Lee UFan. This will be in conjunction with the Guggenheim Museum's retrospective exhibition, Lee UFan: Marking Infinity, which runs June 24-September 28, 2011.

Born in Korea in 1936, Lee has been an artistic and intellectual force in Korea, Japan, and Europe for more than four decades, articulating a unique aesthetic and philosophical stance grounded in modernity critique and Post-Minimalist practice. Lee, the author of seventeen books, has written seminal essays on contemporary art, Asian culture, and democracy that offer a powerful voice to our current cultural discourse.

The Korea Society’s summer exhibition will present photographs and work with Lee’s poetry, criticism, and essays.

ACF 1045: "Dooman River" to screen June 26th at The Museum of the Moving Image

Photo courtesy of Hamptons International Film Festival

Dooman River
Directed by Zhang Lu
South Korea, 2010, 90 minutes
When: Sunday, June 26 at 6:30 PM
Where: The Museum of the Moving Image
35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria
From midtown, taxi or N/Q Train outbound to 36th Avenue
Price: $10.00 film only; free with museum admission

Winner of the 2010 Pusan International Film Festival NETPAC Award, Director Zhang Lu’s film explores the friendship between two boys, one a DPRK defector who has crossed the Dooman River and the other an ethnic Korean living in China. When more refugees arrive, their tranquil existence is shattered. Zhang Lu’s careful minimalism infuses emotion and touches the hearts of film-goers. Zhang Lu’s first short film, Eleven, appeared at several international films festivals, including the Venice International Film Festival, Busan Asian Short Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival.

His first feature film, Tang Poetry,’ won the Locarno International Film Festival in 2004. His next film, Grain in Ear,’ won the Grand Prix-New Currents Award at the Pusan International Film Festival in 2005. He also directed Hyazgar (2007), Chongging (2008), and Iri (2008). This screening is part of the Korean Cinema Now showcase, co-presented by the Museum of the Moving Image and The Korea Society.

A co-presentation of The Korea Society and
The Museum of the Moving Image
Part of Korean Cinema Now
Supported by Global Film Initiative

ACF 1002: Making "The Kimchee Chronicles" at The Korea Society tonight

Stills from The Kimchee Chronicles courtesy Eric Rhee

This evening, The Korea Society is presenting a "tasty" event. Producer Eric Rhee and host Jarja Vongerichten, wife of world-famous chef Jean-Georges, will offer an evening of conversation and a behind-the-scenes look at The Kimchee Chronicles. Through visits to markets and homes around the Korean Peninsula, the 13-episode PBS series explores traditional cuisine, markets, and popular tourist destinations.

The evenings proceedings will be moderated by David Kim, film director, co-founder and director, KAFFNY (Korean American Film Festival New York).

Green teas will be served courtesy of AMOREPACIFIC.



When: Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 @ 6:30 PM
Where: The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
Entrance on 57th, the south-west corner of the intersection

Admission: $10 Members/Members Guest; $20 Guests; $5 Student

BUY TICKETS

Explore Korea card holders attend this program for free with REGISTRATION.

ACF 982: Springtime Court Music concert at The Korea Society on Thursday, April 21st

Contemplative Traditions Music Series: Springtime Court Music
When: Thursday, April 21st, 2011 at 6:30 PM
Where: The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue at 57th Street, 8th Floor, NYC
Entrance on 57th Street, south-west corner of the intersection

Artist Han Heejung performs the two-stringed haegûm in the p’ungnyu style, and her subdued and unhurried melodies are designed to prompt contemplation. Han opens with the Yuch'osin chi kok version of Yôngsan hoesang, accompanied by two wind instruments, the taegûm and the hyangp'iri. She also performs the Haegûm sanjo in the style of Chi Yônghûi, a delicate tune reminiscent of Kyunggi folk music with Chinyang, Chungmori, Chungjungmori, and Chajinmori rhythms. Han concludes with Chôk Nyôm, a seven-movement solo piece for haegûm composed by master Kim Yôngjae, and a composition by Yang Sônghwan that derives from the folk music of Kyôngsang province.

P’ungnyu, the classical ensemble music of Korean nobility, is the central theme of The Korea Society’s 2011 traditional music series. As a music of the upper class, P’ungnyu includes the most sophisticated Korean lyric song genre, or kagok, and the indigenous Korean popular song, or sijo. P’ungnyu appears in three varieties: chul-p’ungnyu, with stringed instruments; taep’ungnyu, with wind instruments; and a combination of the two. P’ungnyu also refers to a leisurely state where one becomes appreciative of poetry, music and companionship. Enjoy traditional teas and sweets throughout this special hour of contemplative music, commentary, and Q&A.

About the Performer and Commentator: Han Heejung was a principal member of two traditional orchestras in Korea, the Youth Korean Traditional Music Orchestra and Seoul Korean Traditional Music Orchestra, prior to immigrating to the United States. She graduated from Chu-Gye University for the Arts, where she received traditional academic training and studied under celebrated haegum performers Jung Lim Kim and Kyonng Sook Yang. She joined the Korean Traditional Performing Arts Association’s Chamber Ensemble in 2005, developing new approaches to Korean traditional compositions.

Admission:
$10 Members/Student Guest; $20 Guests; $5 Student Members
Explore Korea card holders attend this program for free with REGISTRATION.

BUY TICKETS

Presented with the generous support of the New York State Council on the Arts.

ACF 969: Selling Happiness - an exhibition of 1960s-80s Consumer Design in Korea

Selling Happiness
1960s-80s Consumer Design in Korea
When: April 7 - June 3, 2011
Where: The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor, NYC
Entrance on 57th, the south-west corner of the intersection

During Korea’s drive for economic modernization, commercial artists created goods and advertisements that were visually appealing and richly detailed. After the war, Korea transformed itself economically, yet rapid growth was accompanied by dramatic social changes and political concerns surrounding authoritarianism. By the late 1980s, Korea had embraced democracy and a newly prosperous society clamored for fresh goods manufactured for domestic consumption. With the 1988 Olympic games, Korean products and adverts grew more global in orientation.

This exhibition is the first in the United States to focus on items associated with Korea’s export-led growth era. It features products and designs from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, including Korea’s first domestically manufactured radio (the Goldstar A-501), Korea’s first black-and-white television (the VD-19), rice dispensers, cookers, and other kitchen items—even the popular “Italy towel,” employed in homes and bathhouses for a rigorous scrub.

Koreans look upon these items with some nostalgia, as they stand in sharp and, at times, amusing contrast with today’s products, which range from remarkable paper-thin flatscreens to Motortrend’s Car of the Year. Presented with the support of the Korea Craft and Design Foundation, this exhibition features early consumer products, advertisements, and social commentary from a transitional and controversial era when the seeds of Korean design saw fertile ground.

Gallery Opening Reception on Thursday, April 7, 2011 from 6-8 PM
RSVP

The exhibition is free and open to the public M-F, 10 AM - 5 PM.

For complete information about this exhibition, click here.

ACF 967: Author Dong Jin Kim to speak about at The Korea Society

Homer Hulbert: Crusader for Korea
A talk by author Song Jin Kim
When: Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 6:30 PM
Where: The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor, NYC
Entrance on 57th Street, the south-west corner of the intersection

The Korea Society presents Dong Jin Kim, author of Crusader for Korea, a biography of Dr. Homer B. Hulbert (1863-1949), a “hidden hero” of Korean independence. The publication is the culmination of years of effort by the author to secure a proper place in Korean history for the accomplishments of foreigners, such as Dr. Hulbert, who lived their lives in the service of Korea. Dr Hulbert (1863-1949) was an education reformer, Emperor Kojong's Royal envoy, and a tireless crusader for Korean Independence.

Admission: $10 Members/Student Guests; $20 Guests; $5 Student Members

Explore Korea card holders may attend this program for FREE with REGISTRATION.

For more information and to buy tickets online, click here.

ACF 965: Juilliard @ The Korea Society season finale on Tuesday at 6:30 PM

Juilliard @ The Korea Society: Season Finale
When: Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 6:30 PM
Where: The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor, NYC
Entrance on 57th Street, the south-west corner of the intersection
Admission: FREE, but registration required
Register here

Celebrate Korea as a center of excellence in classical music at the Juillard @ The Korea Society season finale. Award-winning violinists Clara Ha-Neul Yoon and Siwoo Kim perform a short program of solos and duets. Siwoo Kim opens with Bach’s Sonata for Solo Violin No. 2 in A Minor, followed by Clara Yoon’s performance of Ysaye’s Sonata for Solo Violin No. 4 in E Minor. The two conclude with Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins in C Major. The hour includes Q&A and a meet-and-greet with these rising stars.

About the Performers:

At 21, violinist Clara Ha-Neul Yoon has emerged as an exciting and charismatic artist. Winner of the Nanpa International Music Competition, Ms. Yoon captured top prizes at the Hyupsung National Competition, Greater Lansing Symphony Young Artists Competition, Cynthia Woods Young Artists Competition, and elsewhere. Hailed by the Daejeon Arts & Culture Times for "truly virtuosic and innovative playing,"

Ms. Yoon appeared as part of the Rising Star series at the Daejeon Arts Center and performed across Europe, Asia, and United States. Ms. Yoon participated in the Meadowmount Music Festival, Green Mountain Music Festival, Great Mountain Music Festival, and Texas Music Festival, as well as the master classes of Lawrence Dutton of the Emerson String Quartet, James Buswell, Joel Smirnoff, and Kyung-Sun Lee.

Siwoo Kim is a multifaceted violinist active as a soloist and in chamber and orchestral settings. Kim began playing violin at two and a half and over the ensuing two decades has won many competitions and awards. Kim took first prize at the Sejong Music Competition and the Columbus Symphony Young Musician Competition, was awarded the Elaine Louise Lagerstorm Violin Award at the WAMSO Young Artist Competition, and placed second at the Corpus Christi International Competition for Piano and Strings in 2010. There, he was awarded the Best Performance of Bach Prize and the Best Violin Performance Prize.

Siwoo won last year’s Gold Medal at the Crescendo Music Awards and placed third at the California International Young Artist Competition. Siwoo also received significant scholarships from the National Federation of Music Clubs, the Korean-American Scholarship Foundation, the Rachel Barton-Pine Foundation, and the NFAA YoungARTS Awards. Siwoo has played with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and the Westerville Symphony Orchestra, and was featured in the Young Steinway Concert Series and elsewhere. Kim appeared on the popular National Public Radio program From The Top. Siwoo Kim performs on a G. B. Guadagnini (Turin), on generous loan from The Juilliard Collection.

ACF 933: The Korea Society to present p'ansori master BAE Il-dong

Bae Il-dong

Contemplative Traditions Music Series: P’ungnyu in P’ansori
When: Friday, March 25th, 2010 at 6:30PM
Where: The Korea Society, 950 3rd Avenue at 57th Street
Entrance on 57th, the South-West corner of the intersection

On March 25, The Korea Society of New York will proudly host p’ansori master Bae Il-dong. He presents a program of p’ungnyu, enthralling listeners with his stunning control of drama, narrative, melody, and rhythm. Bae performs Korea's beloved tale of Chunhyang ga, one of the five most popular epic narratives that form the p’ansori canon.

The Chunhyang ga tells the story of love between Chunhyang, the daughter of a kiseng, and Yi Mongryong, the son of a magistrate. After the two are illegally married, Mongryong goes to Hanyang (Seoul) to pass the state examination to become a court official. Mr. Bae Il-dong will sing of Yi Mongryong’s return to Namwon as well as his re-encounter with his mother-in-law, Wolmae.

Kim Dong-won

Noted professor Kim Dong-won, who has been part of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, speaks on p’ungnyu and Bae Il-dong’s performance during and at the conclusion of the event. Traditional teas and sweets are offered throughout this special hour of contemplative music, commentary and Q&A.

Register here

ACF 894: Works of quilt master KIM Haeja will be on exhibit at The Korea Society

10,000 Threads
The collected works of KIM Haeja
The Korea Society

950 Third Avenue at 57th Street, NYC

(Entrance on 57th Street, south-west corner of the intersection)

February 22 - March 31, 2011

Traditional Korean quilting, with its unique “nubi” line-stitching, is elevated to a high art under the masterful hands of award-winning artisan Haeja Kim. A designated holder of an Important Intangible Cultural Property award by the Korean government for her efforts at preserving Korea’s artistic heritage, Kim meticulously line-stitches layers of batting and fabric into fine garments and coverings. The tiny stitches are employed over each article in a deceptively simple pattern, with smaller stitching highly valued and the mark of a true expert.

Gallery Reception
Tuesday, February 22, 2011, 6-8 PM

RSVP here.

Nubi textiles are thought to have originated among Buddhist monks, who valued its strength, simplicity, and insulation against Korea’s frigid winters. Lay people employed it for traditional dress and soldiers for defense against the cold and added physical protection. However, the hand-craft of nubi largely disappeared in modern times with the introduction of the sewing machine.

Master Kim has been breathing new life into the art ever since she surprised visitors to the Korea Annual Traditional Art Exhibition two decades ago with 3mm-5mm nubi stitchwork—a feat, not seen for a century, that won the Prime Minister’s Award. Today, she is much sought after as a teacher and master of the form. In her humble and elegant rural studio, surrounded by attentive student apprentices, she displays a unique dedication to craft, hand-processing her fabrics with natural dyes like indigo, safflower, and charcoal. Her work has been exhibited in Korea, Japan, China, and France. This exhibition at The Korea Society represents Kim’s first major U.S. showing.

The items selected for this special showing will be grouped in three parts:
Feb 22 - March 4 Children's Clothing
March 7-18 Adult Clothing
March 21-31 Children's Ceremonial Clothing

ACF 889: HONG Sang-soo's "Hahaha" to screen at the Museum of the Moving Image

Hahaha
Written and directed by HONG Sang-soo
South Korea, 2010, 115 minutes
When: Sunday, February 20th, 2010 at 6:00 PM
Where: The Museum of the Moving Image
35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria, NY
(From midtown, taxi or N/Q Train outbound to 36th Avenue)

The Korea Society joins the newly renovated Museum of the Moving Image in presenting Hong Sang-soo’s entertaining Hahaha, a deceptively light romantic comedy, which won the Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2010.

A filmmaker on the skids plans to move to Canada to meet a film-critic friend. During a drinking session, they decide to share memories of trips they took to the same seaside town.

This special screening will take place in the new 267-seat theater at the Museum of the Moving Image at 35th Avenue & 37th Street in Astoria.

For more information, please visit www.koreasociety.org or www.movingimage.us.

About the Director:
Since winning Best New Director at the Asian Pacific Film Festival, Hong Sang-soo has emerged as a leading contemporary Korean director. Greatly influenced by French New Wave cinema, Hong’s work is unique among Korean filmmakers. He skillfully captures simple moments in life and crafts unforgettable scenes of human relationships and interaction. He won international recognition for The Power of Kangwon Province, Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Woman is the Future of Man, The Turning Gate, and Woman on the Beach.

ACF 880: Cellist Se-Doo PARK performing at The Korea Society tomorrow night

The Korea Society welcomes award-winning cellist Ms. Se-Doo Park, a 2010 Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Standard Life Competition laureate. Ms. Park, a masters candidate at the famed Juilliard School, will perform the prelude and sarabande from Bach’s Suite No.6 in D major, the 3rd movement from Cassadó’s Suite, Chan Ka Nin’s Soulmate, and Piatigorsky’s Variations on a Paganini Theme. Ms. Park’s violoncello performance is part of a series at The Korea Society celebrating Korea as a center of excellence for classical music. The performance concludes with a Q&A session and meet-and-greet with this rising star.

When: Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 at 6:30 PM

Where: The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY
(Entrance on 57th Streeet, Sout-West corner)

$10 (Members/Students); $20 (Guests)
(Walk-in registration will incur an additional charge of $5)
BUY TICKETS

About the Performer
Ms. Se-Doo Park has taken grand prizes at the National Music Competition of Korea, the Korean TV-Radio Competition, Kiwanis Music Competition, Academy Symphony Orchestra Competition, and Indiana University Cello Competition. Her performances have been broadcast nationally in Canada. Since her orchestral debut with the In-Eum Symphony Orchestra at 15, Park has appeared as a soloist with the Indiana University Concert Orchestra, Academy Symphony Orchestra, and Oakwood Symphony Orchestra. Park has appeared at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Banff Music Festival, Meadowmount School of Music, Centre d'arts Orford, and Le Domaine Forget. An avid chamber musician, Park is a founding member of Ensemble Sine Qua Non and has performed in England, Germany, and Scotland, where the ensemble will again perform in 2011.

Born in California, Park grew up in both Korea and Canada, and started playing the cello at age 8. She has studied at Indiana University, the Royal Conservatory of Music of Canada, and Seoul Arts High School. Park is pursuing her master's at Juilliard School under the tutelage of cellist Timothy Eddy. Her mentors include Bryan Epperson, Miriam Fried, Rafael Figueroa of The Metropolitan Opera, Menahem Pressler, and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. Park is an artist in Music & Arts at Trinity Wall Street for the 2010-2011 season, and returns the summer to the prestigious Ravinia Music Festival.