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Berlin Report
Park Kwang-Su | South Korea | 1991 | 100 min.

Although it plays out in Europe after the unification of Germany, this stylish road movie/mystery thriller is yet another view of Korean society: a Korean boy, an artist and a socialist, raised in France by adoptive parents, has disappeared somewhere in East Germany. His sister has retreated into reclusive silence since her adoptive father's death; her journalist lover aims to wake her up by finding her brother. Park explains: "The ultimate theme... is love. And this love is our emotional alternative for the unification of Korea. For unification without love ... signifies mutual death."

New York Premiere, 1996 Human Rights Watch Festival. Distributed by Motion Picture Promotion Corp., Hyun-Chan Ho, 206-46 Chongnyangni-dong, Tongdaemun-gu, Seoul, Korea, Tel: 011-82-2 958-7530 Fax: 011-82-2 958-7550.

Park Kwang-Su


Park Kwang-Su was born in Sokcho, Kanhwon-do in 1955. He grew up in Pusan in the southern part of Korea. While studying sculpture in Seoul at the National University, he began making short films on Super-8. After graduating, he founded the Seoul Film Group, which was instrumental in the development of the Korean independent film movement. Films coming out of this movement voiced significant opposition to the military government. He went on to study film at the ESEC Film School in Paris and on his return to Korea, worked as an assistant to Lee Chang-Ho on The Man with Three Coffins. His directorial debut, Chilsu and Mansu, is widely regarded as the cornerstone of Korea's "New Cinema." This and his subsequent features have been screened in many countries and have won numerous prizes at home and abroad. To the Starry Island set an important precedent for Korean independent production by attracting co-production financing from Britain's Channel 4 TV. Park's films all feature stunning and realistic cinematography and give a strong narrative voice to many of Korea's current social and political issues.

Filmography:

1988
CHILSU AND MANSU
International Forum of New Cinema, Berlin Film Festival; Third Prize of Young Critics Jury, Locarno Film Festival; Best New Director Prize at all three major festivals in Korea

1990
BLACK REPUBLIC
Best Director, Festival des 3 Continents (Nantes, France); Best Asian Feature, Singapore Film Festival; Grand Prix at all three major festivals in Korea

1991
BERLIN REPORT
In competition, Karlovy Vary Film Festival

1994
TO THE STARRY ISLAND
Audience Prize, Festival des 3 Continents (Nantes, France)

1995
A SINGLE SPARK
In competition, Berlin Film Festival; Grand Prix at all three major festivals in Korea

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