What sets “Seoul Searching” apart from other teen-oriented films is it is a story not only about personal wounds, but also of a nation’s deepest, lingering scars. Directed by Benson Lee, the movie, which won the the Best Narrative Feature Film at the 2015 Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival and was also an official entry to the Sundance Film Festival, cleverly and pointedly lays down the cultural intricacies of identity, both of the self and the nation-state.
“Seoul Searching” is based on Lee’s real-life experience where young Koreans like him who grew up in other countries are made to rediscover and acquaint themselves with what it means to be Korean through a summer camp. It’s a program developed by the South Korean government after its citizens emigrated to other countries following the war between South and North Korea in the 1950s.
The movie takes us back to the...
“Seoul Searching” is based on Lee’s real-life experience where young Koreans like him who grew up in other countries are made to rediscover and acquaint themselves with what it means to be Korean through a summer camp. It’s a program developed by the South Korean government after its citizens emigrated to other countries following the war between South and North Korea in the 1950s.
The movie takes us back to the...
- 2/27/2022
- by Purple Romero
- AsianMoviePulse
To help sift through the increasing number of new releases (independent or otherwise), the Weekly Film Guide is here! Below you’ll find basic plot, personnel and cinema information for all of this week’s fresh offerings.
Starting this month, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list here, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.
See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for June 2016
Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, June 17. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.
Wide
Central Intelligence
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Aaron Paul, Amy Ryan, Danielle Nicolet, Ryan Hansen, Bobby Brown, Megan Park, Timothy John Smith
Synopsis: “After he reunites with an old pal through Facebook, a mild-mannered accountant is lured into the world of international espionage.
Starting this month, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list here, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.
See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for June 2016
Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, June 17. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.
Wide
Central Intelligence
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Aaron Paul, Amy Ryan, Danielle Nicolet, Ryan Hansen, Bobby Brown, Megan Park, Timothy John Smith
Synopsis: “After he reunites with an old pal through Facebook, a mild-mannered accountant is lured into the world of international espionage.
- 6/16/2016
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Seoul Searching
Written & Directed by Benson Lee
South Korea/China, 2015
Director Benson Lee’s film, Seoul Searching, is a semi-autobiographical story about a summer camp for the teenage children of Korea’s emigrants during the mid-eighties. Lee has a clear love for and understanding of the 80’s teen movies that inspired his film, and he packs Seoul Searching with all the debauchery, angst, and political incorrectness of its genre predecessors.
In the early 1980s, the Korean government created an outreach program meant to establish a cultural bond with gyopo (foreign born Korean teenagers). The government decided to foot the bill for summer camps (based in Korea) where gyopo would visit in order to establish cultural ties with their parent’s homeland. Seoul Searching begins with a motley crew of teenagers from around the globe stepping foot on Korean soil for the first time. Amongst the group of misfits are Sid...
Written & Directed by Benson Lee
South Korea/China, 2015
Director Benson Lee’s film, Seoul Searching, is a semi-autobiographical story about a summer camp for the teenage children of Korea’s emigrants during the mid-eighties. Lee has a clear love for and understanding of the 80’s teen movies that inspired his film, and he packs Seoul Searching with all the debauchery, angst, and political incorrectness of its genre predecessors.
In the early 1980s, the Korean government created an outreach program meant to establish a cultural bond with gyopo (foreign born Korean teenagers). The government decided to foot the bill for summer camps (based in Korea) where gyopo would visit in order to establish cultural ties with their parent’s homeland. Seoul Searching begins with a motley crew of teenagers from around the globe stepping foot on Korean soil for the first time. Amongst the group of misfits are Sid...
- 11/15/2015
- by Victor Stiff
- SoundOnSight
The Toronto-born child of Korean parents who left their homeland in the 1960s returns to Sundance after 1998 selection Miss Monday with a unique spin on the teen movie genre based on his own experiences.
Seoul Searching takes place in the South Korean capital in 1986 as a cosmopolitan gaggle of high school students born to expatriate Korean parents arrive for summer camp to reconnect with their roots.
Lee and Andrea Chung produced and Seoul Searching stars Justin Chon, Jessika Van, In-Pyo Cha, Teo Yoo, Esteban Ahn and Byul Kang.
Lee talks to Jeremy Kay about his homage to John Hughes and his own journey to self-discovery.
Wme Global and Preferred Content represent world rights. The film screens for press and industry on January 23 followed by the public world premiere in Premieres on January 30.
What was the inspiration for the story?
It’s based on a personal experience of mine that took place in 1986. My parents were from Seoul...
Seoul Searching takes place in the South Korean capital in 1986 as a cosmopolitan gaggle of high school students born to expatriate Korean parents arrive for summer camp to reconnect with their roots.
Lee and Andrea Chung produced and Seoul Searching stars Justin Chon, Jessika Van, In-Pyo Cha, Teo Yoo, Esteban Ahn and Byul Kang.
Lee talks to Jeremy Kay about his homage to John Hughes and his own journey to self-discovery.
Wme Global and Preferred Content represent world rights. The film screens for press and industry on January 23 followed by the public world premiere in Premieres on January 30.
What was the inspiration for the story?
It’s based on a personal experience of mine that took place in 1986. My parents were from Seoul...
- 1/22/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The 2015 Sundance Film Festival has been slowly unveiling the films that will screen in Park City, Ut from January 22-February 1. We’ve already listed the midnight line up as well as the list of films in competition. Now, the Premieres have been revealed and the event is looking more and more promising. The entire slate include films directed by Noah Baumbach, James Ponsoldt, Paul Weitz, Jared Hess, Joe Swanberg, Charles Stone III and others. Here is the full list.
Premieres
A showcase of world premieres of some of the most highly anticipated narrative films of the coming year.
Brooklyn / United Kingdom (Director: John Crowley, Screenwriter: Nick Hornby, based on the book by Colm Tóibín) — 1950s Ireland: Eilis must confront a terrible dilemma — a heartbreaking choice between two men and two countries, between duty and true love. Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent.
Digging for Fire / U.
Premieres
A showcase of world premieres of some of the most highly anticipated narrative films of the coming year.
Brooklyn / United Kingdom (Director: John Crowley, Screenwriter: Nick Hornby, based on the book by Colm Tóibín) — 1950s Ireland: Eilis must confront a terrible dilemma — a heartbreaking choice between two men and two countries, between duty and true love. Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent.
Digging for Fire / U.
- 12/9/2014
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Last year’s slate of seventeen Narrative Premieres (excluding secret screenings of Boyhood and Nymphomaniac: Vol. I) refreshingly included works from first time filmmakers. I hadn’t seen it coming but Little Accidents and The One I Love were included among the likes of Calvary, Frank and Love is Strange. 2015 will be a true we Swanberg family affair with Joe Swanberg joining wife Kris (Unexpected) with a feature as well in Digging for Fire. James Ponsoldt is officially four for four with Sundance — his latest End of the Tour should be a slam dunk for the Eccles. Sticking to the numbers game… we’ll have a lovely bedfellow pairings of Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s already announced The Stanford Prison Experiment which is going to be mentioned in many loglines alongside Michael Almereyda’s Experimenter - about the Milgram experiment. Among the filmmaking duos we were expecting, we find Mississippi Grind...
- 12/8/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Festival top brass have revealed a high-profile roster of out-of-competition Premieres and Documentary Premieres entries featuring many returning heroes, as well as a new Special Events section and panel participants including George Lucas.
Justin Kelly’s I Am Michael is likely to become a major talking point and stars James Franco and Zachary Quinto in the true tale of activist and Young Gay America co-founder Michael Glatze, who renounced his homosexuality and became a Christian pastor. The Exchange handles international rights.
James Ponsoldt’s David Foster Wallace film End Of The Tour (pictured, photo by Jakob Ihre) starring Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel makes the cut — Fortitude International is the international sales agent — as does the latest from the newly prolific Noah Baumbach, whose Mistress America stars his Frances Ha and Greenberg muse Greta Gerwig and arrives three months after the Toronto premiere of While We’re Young.
Sundance regulars Ryan Fleck and Anna Bowden return with Mississippi Grind...
Justin Kelly’s I Am Michael is likely to become a major talking point and stars James Franco and Zachary Quinto in the true tale of activist and Young Gay America co-founder Michael Glatze, who renounced his homosexuality and became a Christian pastor. The Exchange handles international rights.
James Ponsoldt’s David Foster Wallace film End Of The Tour (pictured, photo by Jakob Ihre) starring Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel makes the cut — Fortitude International is the international sales agent — as does the latest from the newly prolific Noah Baumbach, whose Mistress America stars his Frances Ha and Greenberg muse Greta Gerwig and arrives three months after the Toronto premiere of While We’re Young.
Sundance regulars Ryan Fleck and Anna Bowden return with Mississippi Grind...
- 12/8/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Festival top brass have revealed a high-profile roster of out-of-competition Premieres and Documentary Premieres entries featuring many returning heroes, as well as a new Special Events section and participants on two panels including George Lucas.
James Ponsoldt’s David Foster Wallace film End Of The Tour starring Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel makes the cut, as does the latest from the newly prolific Noah Baumbach, whose Mistress America stars his Frances Ha and Greenberg muse Greta Gerwig and arrives three months after the Toronto premiere of While We’re Young.
Sundance regulars Ryan Fleck and Anna Bowden return with Mississippi Grind starring Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn and Sienna Miller, while Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman introduce the New York Tompkins Square Park Riot drama Ten Thousand Saints starring the in-demand Ethan Hawke and Emily Mortimer.
Joe Swanberg brings Digging For Fire with Rosemarie Dewitt, Orlando Bloom, Brie Larson, Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick.
Peter Sarsgaard, [link...
James Ponsoldt’s David Foster Wallace film End Of The Tour starring Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel makes the cut, as does the latest from the newly prolific Noah Baumbach, whose Mistress America stars his Frances Ha and Greenberg muse Greta Gerwig and arrives three months after the Toronto premiere of While We’re Young.
Sundance regulars Ryan Fleck and Anna Bowden return with Mississippi Grind starring Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn and Sienna Miller, while Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman introduce the New York Tompkins Square Park Riot drama Ten Thousand Saints starring the in-demand Ethan Hawke and Emily Mortimer.
Joe Swanberg brings Digging For Fire with Rosemarie Dewitt, Orlando Bloom, Brie Larson, Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick.
Peter Sarsgaard, [link...
- 12/8/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The Sundance Institute effectively filled out its slate for the 2015 Sundance Film Festival with the announcement of the always star-friendly premieres category. It's also where many former Sundance filmmakers bring their second, third and even fourth films back to the fest. This year the category features 16 world premieres and almost all of them are from Sundance alumni, including Ryan Fleck ("Half Nelson"), Noah Baumbach ("The Squid and the Whale"), Joe Swanberg ("VHS"), Jared Hess ("Napoleon Dynamite"), James Ponsoldt ("The Spectacular Now"), Michael Almereyda (2000's "Hamlet"), Rodrigo Garcia ("Nine Lives"), Benson Lee ("Miss Monday"), Leslye Headland ("Bachelorette"), and Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman ("American Splendor"). Some of the intriguing titles include Paul Weitz's "Grandma" with Lily Tomlin and Laverne Cox, Ryan Fleck and Anna Bowden's "Mississippi Grind" with Ryan Reynolds and Sienna Miller, Garcia's "Last Days in the Desert" featuring Ewan McGregor as Jesus, Charles Stone III's "Lila...
- 12/8/2014
- by Gregory Ellwood
- Hitfix
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