Ko-pick: Traditional Korean Culture & Games in K-Content

One of the recent crazes has been Rosé and Bruno Mars’ song Apt. It topped the Billboard Global 200 Chart for several weeks, and also entered the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100 as well as the UK singles chart in what is yet a further sign of the globalisa...

Ko-pick: Ramyeon and Korean Cinema

Few people who have been to Korea or watched much Korean content are unfamiliar with the instant noodle known as ramyeon. It comes in different brands, and many have their own particular preferences when it comes to eating it. For some it’s adding an egg and/o...

Ko-pick: Korean Omnibus Films

The omnibus film The Killers (2023) was released in Korea in October after screening at festivals in Europe, North America and Asia. It was invited to Fantasia International Film Festival, Sitges Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival after pr...

Ko-pick: Young Female Directors Creating A New Wave in Content Industry

While the Korean film industry continues to struggle to bounce back to pre-covid levels it has seen eight commercial films break-even so far this year, which is two more than the whole of 2023. It is also telling that it’s not blockbusters– once the driving fo...

Ko-pick: Introducing Korea’s Poster Designer Studios

Film posters have dated back to the early days of cinema giving audiences a glimpse of a title. They have been crucial in enticing audiences into the multiplexes to watch films and while today’s media ecosystem means that advertising is different to what it wa...

Ko-pick: Korean Queer Cinema

Over recent years there has been an increasing number of films dealing with the LGBTQIA+ community, especially in the independent industry with titles such as Han Ji-won’s animation TheSummer (2023), Byun Gyuri’s documentary Coming to You (2021) and Han Jay’s ...

Ko-pick: Korea’s Event Cinema

The recent success of the concert film, Lim Young Woong| Im Hero The Stadium has put the spotlight again on event films. Accumulating more than 350,000 admissions, it is now the most successful event title in Korean box office history. It’s all the more impres...

Ko-pick: Korean Films Based on Literature

Much of the news cycle in Korea over the past two weeks has been dominated by Han Kang winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. She became the first South Korean writer and first female Asian writer to win the award making it historic. She is renowned for award-...

Ko-pick: The Enduring Duo: Director Hur Jin-ho & Composer Cho Sungwoo

Many of Korea’s auteurs have formed long lasting collaborations with music composers. Park Chan-wook frequently works with Cho Young-wuk having partnered together on most of his films since JSA (2000). Kim Jee-woon has teamed up with Mowg on all his projects s...

Ko-pick: Cho Jung-Seok Watchlist

One of the Korean actors to have undoubtedly made an impact this year is Jo Jung-suk. He has featured in two films so far in 2024: Pilot and Land of Happiness, both of which have been warmly received by critics and audiences. The former was the most popular fi...