END OF THE CENTURY

Incredible concert footage, behind-the-scenes home videos, and revealing interviews push this documentary way beyond the typical "Behind the Music" episode. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the Ramones are one of the most influential, potent bands ever, with a compelling rags to not-riches story that is packed with busted romance, drug abuse, power struggles, unflinching idealism, and genius songwriting and performance. Even the hardest core Ramones fan will be surprised by the anecdotes and interviews in this timely documentary. For those who are only familiar with the band through "Blitzkrieg Bop" being played on commercials an during sporting events, this is mandatory viewing. Joey, Johnny, and Dee Dee are gone, but their musical legacy lives on.

Check out End of the Century for cities and screens.

PRESS RELEASE 9/8/04

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cate Park
E-mail: filmmatters@giantrobot.com

Giant Robot Sponsors the
1st Annual Los Angeles Korean International Film Festival
September 24-25 and October 1-2, 2004

LINK to lakiff.com

PRESS RELEASE 9/08/04


LOS ANGELES September 8, 2004 — Giant Robot magazine is proud to sponsor the Los Angeles Korean International Film Festival (LAKIFF), an annual celebration of films made by and about Korean people. LAKIFF will consist of four feature films at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and fifteen short and feature-length films at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles on September 24-25 and October 1-2, 2004. The festival is co-organized by Jinhee Kim at USC, the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles (KCCLA), and American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater.

The festival will open with Park Chan-Wook’s SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE. Recently winning the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes for OLD BOY, Park is one of the principal directors in the Korean New Wave, as renowned for his harsh themes as his innovative filmmaking. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the Park. The festival will also show Kim Ji-Won’s A TALE OF TWO SISTERS, Hong Sang-Soo’s WOMAN IS THE FUTURE OF MAN, and Kim Ki-Duk’s SAMARITAN GIRL. SAMARITAN GIRL earned for Kim the Best Director award at the Berlin Film Festival and his latest film, 3-IRON, recently won the Golden Lion award at Venice. “Combining the surreal imagery of fellow painter/director David Lynch, violent themes of Takashi Miike, and elegant style of Wong Kar-Wai, Kim makes the grotesque look gorgeous,” says Giant Robot editor Martin Wong.

In addition, LAKIFF will highlight features, documentaries, and short films made by emerging young artists of Korean descent in order to offer audiences a glimpse of the promising next generation of filmmakers. The most outstanding filmmakers will be recognized with awards in various categories.

On September 23, LAKIFF will also host a one-day conference featuring key artists and scholars to discuss the current state of Korean and Korean American cinema. A detailed schedule of the conference and films featured in the festival are available on the LAKIFF web site.

LAKIFF, one of the largest events dedicated to Korean and Korean American cinema in North America, promises to bring about a greater knowledge and appreciation of the cultural richness and artistic diversity of the Korean and Korean American experience to a worldwide audience. LAKIFF strives to present films, videos, and new media, which educate and entertain media arts lovers—connoisseur or amateur—on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. This festival comes at a time when Korean cinema is achieving record-high domestic box office figures, garnering increasingly high recognition in the international arena, and finding success at prestigious film festivals.

LAKIFF will hold a press conference at the (thesunsetroom.com) in Los Angeles on Friday, September 17th, at 6 PM. For additional information, contact Cate Park at filmmatters@giantrobot.com or visit filmmatters.com.

Hero #1 for two weeks! It helps that there weren't any super hot films coming out, but it's great that Hero is still up there.

House of Flying Daggers is quite cool. Is it perfect, no, but Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, and Wang Zhi Zhi are great. It's one to see when it comes out. Here's a link to some trailers


LINK to trailers.