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Squid Game To Business Proposal: Best K-Dramas On Netflix That You Should Not Miss
Squid Game To Business Proposal: Best K-Dramas On Netflix That You Should Not Miss

News18

time28-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • News18

Squid Game To Business Proposal: Best K-Dramas On Netflix That You Should Not Miss

Last Updated: Squid Game is a dystopian survival thriller created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, which revolves around a mysterious game containing 456 players. South Korean culture has firmly secured its place on the global stage. From Parasite's historic Oscar win in 2019 and BTS dominating international charts to Squid Game becoming a worldwide phenomenon – Korean content is not just making waves, but it is leading the tide. Here's a list of the best Korean shows on Netflix that you cannot afford to miss: Squid Game This dystopian survival thriller created by Hwang Dong-hyuk revolves around a mysterious game where 456 players, dealing with financial hardships, risk their lives to play a series of deadly games to win around $40 million. The series features an ensemble cast including Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon, Park Hae-soo, Jung Ho-yeon and Jo Yu-ri, among others. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Netflix Korea | 넷플릭스 코리아 (@netflixkr) Alchemy of Souls This fantasy period K-drama follows the story of two mages who have the ability to move their souls across bodies using a forbidden magic spell. The series cast a versatile lineup of actors, including Lee Jae-wook, Jung So-min, Hwang Min-hyun and Go Youn-jung. Business Proposal This feel-good office romance stars Ahn Hyo-seop as a rich CEO and Kim Se-jeong as a researcher working at the company. Although a fake date brings them closer, they slowly grow to have genuine feelings for each other. All Of Us Are Dead This webtoon adaptation is set in the fictional city of Hyosan and follows a group of teenagers stranded in school as they fight for survival after a zombie outbreak. With a hint of high school romance and unlimited suspense, this series will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the 12 episodes. Lost in Starlight Netflix Korea's original animated series Lost in Starlight transcends space and time. Set in a futuristic Seoul in 2050, the story follows the love story of astronaut Nan-young and musician Jay as they navigate their relationship through the painful reality of long-distance across the universe – one that bridges Earth and Mars. When Life Gives You Tangerines This series stars K-drama fans' favourites IU and Park Bo-gum as Ae-sun and Gwan-sik, long-time friends and inhabitants of Jeju Island, where their love story blossoms. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Netflix India (@netflix_in) This slice-of-life drama begins in the 60s as Korea's urbanisation sees an increased popularity where Jeju serves as the main backdrop for both the show's character arcs as well as the larger social commentary.

Joe Manganiello, Who Starred in ‘Pee-wee's Big Holiday,' Chokes Up Remembering Late Friend Paul Reubens: 'I Was His Biggest Fan'
Joe Manganiello, Who Starred in ‘Pee-wee's Big Holiday,' Chokes Up Remembering Late Friend Paul Reubens: 'I Was His Biggest Fan'

Yahoo

time09-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Yahoo

Joe Manganiello, Who Starred in ‘Pee-wee's Big Holiday,' Chokes Up Remembering Late Friend Paul Reubens: 'I Was His Biggest Fan'

There's renewed interest in the life and career of Paul Reubens thanks to the critically acclaimed two-part documentary Pee-Wee as Himself from HBO Max. The film, from filmmaker Matt Wolf, recently hit the streamer after a world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Wolf worked closely with Reubens in pulling together the project, culled from more than 40 hours of on-camera interviews and 1,000 hours of archival footage and shaped over what turned out to be an emotional rollercoaster lasting four years. More from The Hollywood Reporter Matt Wolf Says Filmmaker Buddies Convinced Him to Re-Cut 'Pee-wee as Himself' to Include ... Himself Netflix EMEA Content Boss Touts 'Adolescence,' Debunks a "Myth," Talks Ted Sarandos' Acting Debut 'Lost in Starlight' Director Han Ji-won on Blending Romance and Sci-Fi for Netflix's Breakthrough Korean Animated Feature On the heels of Sundance revealing the 2025 lineup last December, The Hollywood Reporter happened to be on Zoom with Joe Manganiello to discuss the latest season of his buzzy new reality competition series Deal or No Deal Island. As the interview was winding down, THR asked Manganiello about the documentary and Reubens, someone he got to know quite well when he filmed a starring role in Netflix's 2016 film Pee-Wee's Big Holiday. As it turned out, Manganiello had been thinking a lot about his friend, who died on July 30, 2023, following a private battle with cancer. 'I love Paul and I miss Paul a lot,' Manganiello said, adding that he had recently woken up after having a dream about Reubens. 'Paul showed up and pranked me with a practical joke in my dream. It was one of those dreams when you wake up and it feels really real. It was so vivid. I just thought, gosh, if there was anyone on the planet who would use the afterlife to figure out how to play a practical joke on his friends and prank them in their sleep, it would be Paul. He was so generous.' As has been well-documented, Reubens loved birthdays and would never let one slip by without making it special. 'When he found out when your birthday was, he would bombard you with birthday cards, birthday messages, birthday texts, birthday videos the entire day,' Manganiello recalled. 'Friends of mine who just met him in passing through me, he would get their numbers and do it to 'em, too.' In the film, Manganiello plays himself and the actor recalled that Reubens wrote the part specifically for him, calling the gesture 'a validation that one of the great comedic geniuses would call me up' to be his partner on the film. 'He was such a genius, but he didn't demand that you treated him that way. I remember when we went to set the first day, I said, 'Paul, when we get there, am I calling you Paul or am I calling you Pee-wee? Are you in character?' He said, 'No, I'm Paul.' When I got there, he was there in a full-on suit and bow-tie [like Pee-Wee] but he was still Paul. He really wanted to set you up to win.' Starring Reubens as the iconic Pee-wee Herman, the John Lee-directed Pee-wee's Big Holiday follows the adventures of the title character after a fateful meeting with a mysterious stranger inspires him to take his first-ever holiday in this epic story of friendship and destiny. The cast also includes Jessica Pohly, Alia Shawkat and Stephanie Beatriz. Reubens co-wrote the film with Paul Rust and produced it alongside Judd Apatow. As for the doc, at the time of THR's interview, Manganiello hadn't yet seen Pee-Wee as Himself, but he was excited by the fact that it exists. 'It's a good time for it and I think it's going to be really effective since it comes from his perspective,' said the veteran star. 'I think there's a lot of confusion with people about out what he was in trouble for and what he wasn't in trouble for, and that narrative has gotten really muddy. I think that he really did get a raw deal, and it really hurt him deeply. He was someone that felt things really deeply, and it's sad for me because I look back and I think about what the world would've been like had he not had to go into this self-imposed exile or this kind of society-imposed exile. It was dumb.' Manganiello, like so many of Reubens' close friends and collaborators, did not know about his years-long battle with cancer. And speaking about him in the interview caused him to get choked up and fight back tears, an emotional moment that he later discussed with People Magazine. 'I think about him all the time. I miss him a lot. He was like a family member. He would come over for Thanksgiving, he would come over to the house all the time, or I'd go to his [house],' recalled Manganiello, getting teary. 'He sent me a video before he passed away. It was just him talking about how much he loved me and how great I was in the movie and how funny he thought I was, how great of an actor he thought I was. It was just this glowing, unbelievable video. I didn't realize that he was sending that because he knew that his time was going to be short. I still have it in my phone and it's hard knowing that it's in there, but that's just the kind of person that he was. He let everybody that he loved know that he loved him all the time. I just feel so privileged to have had the chance to work with him on that intimate of a level and to get to know him as a person. I was his biggest fan. I loved him. I'll always miss him.' 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Steve Gerben Talks ‘Tires' Impact on Dad's Shop, John McKeever Explains That Whole 'McKeever' Thing
Steve Gerben Talks ‘Tires' Impact on Dad's Shop, John McKeever Explains That Whole 'McKeever' Thing

Yahoo

time09-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Yahoo

Steve Gerben Talks ‘Tires' Impact on Dad's Shop, John McKeever Explains That Whole 'McKeever' Thing

Tires season two rolled out on Netflix today, Thursday, June 5. Riding shotgun in the Shane Gillis-vehicle are his friends and creative partners for a decade, co-star/writer Steve Gerben and writer/director John McKeever. (For the sake of the analogy, picture a 1970s Chevy Bel Air front bench seat.) Well, really, it is McKeever (who professionally goes by just 'McKeever') steering the car with Gerben navigating — or vice versa. The 6'3' Gillis is stretched out in the backseat — that's where the celebrity goes — but he's not merely along for the ride. We'll stop forcing the metaphor immediately. More from The Hollywood Reporter Netflix EMEA Content Boss Touts 'Adolescence,' Debunks a "Myth," Talks Ted Sarandos' Acting Debut 'Lost in Starlight' Director Han Ji-won on Blending Romance and Sci-Fi for Netflix's Breakthrough Korean Animated Feature Joe Manganiello, Who Starred in 'Pee-wee's Big Holiday,' Chokes Up Remembering Late Friend Paul Reubens: "I Was His Biggest Fan" Gillis is a co-creator of the series and number one on its call sheet. He's also the guy who paid out of pocket to build the Tires set. Tires was originally shot as a 10-minute pilot for YouTube and sold as a series to Quibi. Unfortunately, Quibi lasted about as long as Gillis did at SNL. (OK, so Quibi made it six months; Gillis' Saturday Night Live stint lasted five whole days, though he's since hosted twice.) Early on in the conception phase, the guys chose a body shop setting for the most pragmatic reason possible: because Steve's dad owns one. Gillis, a successful standup comic and the co-host of Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast, put an addition onto the Gerben family business, a tire shop in Westchester, Pennsylvania. It's where they still film today. (It's also where they pull storylines: Gerben's dad had some trouble with his suppliers over a plan to sell their tires at his cost, which comes to a head in Tires season two.) So Netflix picked up Tires for the price of an oil change, basically. OK, now we're done. I liked the first season, but I loved the second. Would you agree that season two is even better than season one? JM: I think the nature of the first season was— I would almost argue it was a long cold open, and really, our whole goal with that first season was to nail down the tone and the style of the show. We really just honed in on one storyline, and mostly because we didn't have a ton of production, money, time, resources — stuff like that. So we really treated season two like a season one. Season one was famously inexpensive to make… JM: Outside of a found-footage documentary, I feel like this is about as cheap as it gets. SG: As cheap as season one was to make, we'd be remiss not to say that Shane did spend all his own money to make it. This time around, it's Netflix's money. At the time, did you guys view Shane's a bummer or a blessing? JM: When he was auditioning for SNL, I talked to him after he auditioned, and I said, 'You're gonna get it, because they don't have anyone like you.' [Shane's] an archetype that hasn't been around for a really long time. If I'm Lorne Michaels, I would see [Shane] and say, 'God, I can do so much with him' — outside of just the fact that he's mega-talented. I think of him as like Adam Sandler. And I've always thought of Steve as like Jason Bateman. These two guys are very, very good in their lanes. And if we can find a way to mash them together, that's incredible. But yeah, when, when Shane got SNL, I thought of it as like in Good Will Hunting, where Ben Affleck is like, 'I hope I knock on your door one day and you're not there.' It was that feeling where it's like, I don't want to see you go, but I'm happy you're moving on. And then when he got fired, we definitely were like, sweet, we get to do our stuff again. SG: One of the first things Shane did when he got SNL was ask Lorne Michaels if he could still do Tires, which is an insane thing to ask. OK, so what's up with the McKeever one name thing in the credits? JM: I'm so glad you asked that, because I feel like people give me shit about it. As they should. JM: Yeah. It's not the, it's not really the Madonna angle of, like, 'Ooh, mysterious.' It's more that's just what people call me. And because, you know, John is such a common name. My really close friends call me John, but most people refer to me as McKeever. And the other thing that I kind of realized when we started making Tires and when I started doing more behind-the-camera stuff and just writing, I just thought, you know, I have like, a three-second window in every episode for people to remember who I am. And I just feel like I should probably get rid of half of the stuff they have to remember. So if I can get them to get rid of 'John,' which is probably the most forgettable name out there…and I think a lot of times when people read 'John,' they almost don't even read the second part. My fear was like, it would be viewed as, like, 'Who the fuck does this guy think?' That's definitely how I viewed it. JM: I totally get it. But it was more like I have three seconds for people to remember who I am… Steve, you just did … SG: Shane wanted me to do Late Night and wouldn't do it without me. Hats off to Seth for taking that risk. But anyway, I was telling Shane, like, 'I'm very nervous.' And the way that this whole thing goes down, you know, it's very like, bing, bang, boom. You're in the green room, then hair and makeup, Seth's doing the monologue, they bring you out, 'They're like, stand here, Steve you're gonna sit there. Get together, take a picture.' And they go, '20 seconds.' And so then I'm just standing there…and I look at Shane and I go, 'I'm having some pretty bad fight-or-flight right now, man.' And he just looks back and he goes, 'fight.' I don't think I've ever heard something that cool, that badass. JM: It was so cool to see Steve be Steve, and now the world gets to see that. It is a true one-of-one. I think the nice thing about Tires is it's a true Trojan Horse. Shane gets everybody in the door, and Steve falls out. Shane plays 'Shane' and Kilah Fox plays 'Kilah' — most of the cast uses their real names — but Steve plays Will and Chris O'Connor plays Cal. When do you use real first names and when don't you? SG: Very early on I told Shane, 'Do a different name, like Sean or something.' He's like, 'Just call me Shane.' I don't know why we kept 'Kilah'… but Shane was just like — he didn't want to be bothered. JM: It was honestly a nightmare when we wrote the first season, because I would write some scripts, and I put 'Steve' because I couldn't get used to the 'Will' thing. Now it's very easy. SG: Shane does not like that I'm Will because he does not like that I'm acting. I wanted to act. I wanted, as small as it is, to separate from me the person. How's your dad's shop doing? Has the show been good for business? SG: No, he's not doing, like, better. He's not doing any worse. The [Tires shop and real shop] have different names, and— shops are just, they're tough to run. It's just really hard to hire right now, he's just, like, chronically understaffed. You would think, next to this set [it would get a boost], but it hasn't changed for much. But he's fine. Did you work at the shop? SG: I was trying to work for him, I would work the counter, and I was awful. And so, for the past 16 years, I've been working for my brother. But yeah, I just wasn't cut out for for [the shop] business, honestly. What does your brother do? SG: He is a trademark attorney. Are you a attorney? A paralegal? SG: Paralegal. (Laughs) But now, Tony, I'm an actor! The show, especially season two, covers a lot of topics that can be dicey to approach comedically. This season, Shane brings a gun to work — and that's just the first episode. Is it a purposeful choice to go hit on all of the subjects you're not supposed to joke about in polite company? SG: I'm going to take that one because John would be too modest to answer this. It's John. He knows how to walk that line, and he will also— sometimes it's very hard in the moment when everybody's pitching, like, funny ideas or whatever, to be the bad guy and be like, 'That's too far.' And yet he makes those decisions. And it is John. That is a very specific thing where it's like, he— Shane can walk a line too, we've all seen that. But insofar as the writing process, John is just so good at that. JM: Steve and I, we spend a lot of time on that. There's a few rules that we we follow and that we generally believe in. And one of them is like, 'Is this funny or is this mean?' If it feels mean, it's got to go. If it's to make a point, you know, if it's to make some lame political point — one way or the other — where you're trying to get people watching, not to laugh, but to go, 'Hmm, I agree with that.' Then that fucking sucks. We've spent a lot of time talking about, like, what we can and can't say. And I think we can say anything. I think anything's on the table, but it's that whole thing of, 'Are we making sure that the right person is the butt of the joke here?' And we are ingratiating our characters to the audience enough for them to grant us forgiveness. When we do those jokes, if you have a bunch of characters that are jerk offs and they're sitting around like, 'I can't stand trans people,' it's like well, your show's gonna suck. If you set it up the right way, I think you can do anything. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise

‘Lost in Starlight' Director Han Ji-won on Blending Romance and Sci-Fi for Netflix's Breakthrough Korean Animated Feature
‘Lost in Starlight' Director Han Ji-won on Blending Romance and Sci-Fi for Netflix's Breakthrough Korean Animated Feature

Yahoo

time05-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Yahoo

‘Lost in Starlight' Director Han Ji-won on Blending Romance and Sci-Fi for Netflix's Breakthrough Korean Animated Feature

Lost in Starlight marks a defining moment for 36-year-old filmmaker Han Ji-won — and a rare breakthrough for Korean animation on the world stage. A vividly realized sci-fi romance set in Seoul in the year 2050, the film is Netflix's first original animation produced in South Korea, and it has won praise from none less than the country's most decorated director. In statements accompanying the film's global release on May 30, multi-Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho hailed the feature as 'a visual masterpiece that takes you around the universe,' highlighting Han as a new talent to watch while signaling a long-awaited coming-of-age moment for the country's animation sector. More from The Hollywood Reporter Netflix Hires Ollie Madden, Director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama, to Oversee U.K. Film Ben McKenzie on His Crypto Doc 'Everyone Is Lying to You for Money': A "Human Story About Trust" "NATO for News": Is a Joint Effort by Media Companies the Way to Go in the Age of AI? South Korea has long been known as an animation powerhouse, but mostly for behind-the-scenes work. For decades, local studios quietly toiled as production subcontractors on Japanese anime and Hollywood features — cranking out clean-up, in-betweening, and digital compositing for global franchises — while Korean-made animation rarely reached an international audience under its own banner. Lost in Starlight's success hints at the outlines of a coming animated chapter in the ever-breaking Korean cultural wave. A genre-fluid imagining of Seoul in the not-so-distant future, Lost in Starlight follows two young dreamers separated by 140 million miles. Nan-young (voiced in Korean by actress Kim Tae-ri), a space-bound astro-botanist, departs on a mission to terraform Mars, leaving her quiet, music-obsessed boyfriend Jay (voiced by Hong Kyung) behind on Earth. The film unfolds as a lyrical meditation on long-distance love, personal ambition, and the delicate emotional gravity that holds people together. Visually, it is suffused by luminous, hologram-filled cityscapes, soft water colors and interstellar dreamscapes — a highly accomplished style that blends some of the grounded warmth of Studio Ghibli's hand-drawn character design work with the cosmopolitan shimmer of a Makoto Shinkai sunset. Shortly after Lost in Starlight's debut, The Hollywood Reporter connected with Han to discuss her journey of bringing Lost in Starlight to screen, her animation influences, what Bong's praise has meant to her and the unbridled potential of Korean animation. How did begin? What was the original inspiration behind the project? Some years ago, I worked on a branded film — Beautiful Moments, for the Korean jewelry company StoneHenge — and for that project I was given a lot of creative freedom. I was able to explore ideas I'd had been interested in for a long time — things like the female dream, astronauts, family stories, childhood, space, and music. That film incorporated all of those elements, and it ended up getting a lot of attention. Based on that, Climax Studio contacted me, and I had the chance to expand on those themes. At the time, I was dating, so I was very interested in love, and I wanted to incorporate that into my storytelling. Luckily, the production company was interested in letting me explore all of these things, and that's how the story began to take shape. is set in a futuristic version of Seoul, and there are so many imaginative visual details throughout the film's world. How did you approach depicting Seoul in 2050? It felt to me like a clean, fresh version of That's actually a quite accurate way to describe it — a clean version of Blade Runner. I set it against a realistic backdrop as well. In Korea, there's an area of Seoul called Eulji-ro, which is popular right now with both tourists and artists. It has this very cyberpunk, retro-industrial vibe. It used to be full of manufacturing workshops, metal shops, garages — very gritty — but now a lot of indie artists do performances and collaborative projects there. Jay, in the animation, works around there. And there's also Sewoon Arcade, where his record shop is based — that's a real location in Seoul too. So I started with those realistic backdrops and added imagination to create this future landscape. You mentioned the 'cleanliness'— that really resonates with what I wanted to express. I didn't want to depict a dark or apocalyptic future. I imagined a future where we've done our best to protect the environment and things turned out okay. I wanted the setting to feel like a place that's good to live in. So blending that retro charm with futuristic optimism, rooted in real locations, was very intentional. I also appreciated the way female empowerment is expressed in the film. The two lead characters each go on parallel journeys of self-overcoming, but there's such a striking contrast: Nan-young goes all the way to Mars to uncover the mystery of her mother's disappearance, braving storms and mortal danger. Jay, meanwhile, is mostly just shy, trying to work up the courage to sing in public. That's a fair point, but I don't necessarily think Nan-young's achievement is bigger than Jay's. Visually, of course, Nan-young's journey seems more dramatic—going to Mars and confronting her inner trauma—but I believe that revealing your voice in front of a large audience is also an act that requires great bravery. As a female creator, I did want to show how women overcome barriers and achieve things, but I think the contrast you noticed might just have more to do with their professions — astronaut versus musician — rather than a hierarchy of bravery. What I really wanted to show is that growth can come from epic journeys, but also from the small, intimate challenges. Korea has a long history of doing skilled contract work for international studios, but relatively few original Korean animated features have broken through globally. Could you describe the Korean animation scene right now? Should viewers expect more exciting original work to come? As you said, Korean studios have long taken on outsourced work from the U.S. and Japan, mostly in the production stage, rather than pre-production. But in recent years, more companies are building dedicated teams to work on design and story development. There's a real push now to create original IP. Some companies are even forming in-house story and webtoon teams. Globally, most animated works are based on existing webtoons, comics, or games, rather than original IP. So a film like ours — based on an original story — is still relatively rare. But there are some recent examples, like The Exorcism Chronicles (2024) and King of Kings (2025). These are good signs for both studios and creators. My own background is in independent animation, and I believe Korea is quite strong in that area. So the potential for synergy in this moment between indie animators and Korean studios is really exciting. But animation takes time, and long-term support is essential — so that's something we still need more of before the scene can really take off. Do you think Korean animation has any specific qualities — visual or thematic — that noticeably set it apart from Japanese anime and the U.S. studio animation that viewers around the world know so well? It's hard to generalize, because it's been a long time since Korean feature animation was active in a big way, and even the works that exist are quite diverse in style. My film is 2D, whereas most commercial work recently has leaned toward 3D. So even within Korea, there's a visual gap depending on the technique. But I didn't want Lost in Starlight to look like Japanese anime. I wanted it to reflect how young Korean people today look, dress, and do makeup. That Korean-ness was important to me. At the same time, I incorporated some Western-style drawing elements. It's a blend. Rather than speaking for all of Korean animation, I just hope this work can offer a new kind of reference point for global audiences to understand what Korean animation can be. During the long, five-year process of making this film, what were some of the biggest moments of doubt for you? This film is quite unique. It blends sci-fi with grounded emotion, and it's not confined to a single genre. That meant we had to maintain a very delicate balance — across story, music, visuals, production, everything. We worked with both in-house and external teams, and the outside partner had their own production pipeline, which we had to adjust to fit our vision. That required extensive communication. Sometimes we'd ask ourselves, 'Do we really have to go this far?' But in the end, we're proud we did, because that attention to detail is what made the final product satisfying. Acheiving that delicate genre balance was the hardest part — but also what made it special. There was something subtly fresh in the character design for me — perhaps that came from seeing Korean fashion and contemporary culture in this medium for the first time, as you mentioned. The color palette and the handling of light and landscapes also reminded me a lot of Makoto Shinkai. Where do you identify your influences? Like most animators, I've been influenced by the works I loved growing up—and Makoto Shinkai is definitely in there. But when it comes to character expression and storytelling, I've also drawn from others — like Hayao Miyazaki, who really inspired me to pursue animation in the first place. I was also deeply influenced by Isao Takahata's Only Yesterday, which focuses on very realistic, fully dimensional characters. Satoshi Kon also had a strong impact on me, especially with his realistic visual style. For Lost in Starlight, I worked with a character designer. I shared my artistic preferences and early drafts, and his style aligned closely with mine. That collaboration really helped create the unique, realistic look we achieved. Netflix has shared a quote from Bong Joon Ho calling your film 'a visual masterpiece that takes you around the universe.' How did that come about? Our production company showed him the film and asked for his thoughts. Of course, director Bong is someone I respect enormously, so it was a huge honor to receive that praise from him. I heard that he also remarked on how well the film captured the feeling of contemporary life in a futuristic setting, and he appreciated the drawing style. I was very humbled and honored to hear that. It's been that Bong is actually at work on a feature animation himself — an adult animation titled , which will be his next film. Given how the Korean Wave has impacted so many areas of global culture — pop music, fashion, cinema, TV drama — do you think animation could be the next frontier? Someone of Bong's statures jumping into the arena could give the Korean animation industry a big boost, no? Absolutely. It's been a long-standing dream for many of us in animation for Korean works to go global. For years we said the industry was struggling and that our breakthrough would probably be a long ways off — but then webtoons became globally successful, proving our creative capacity. If someone like Bong Joon Ho gets involved in animation, of course that would give us a huge boost. That said, 2D and 3D animations operate under different business models — the investment and marketing strategies totally differ — so we can't treat them exactly the same. But I believe we're ready to show the world that Korean animation has a rich tradition, high standards, and strong creative voices. If we're given time and support, I truly believe we can build another K-wave — this time in animation. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now

Paolo Sorrentino to Receive Sarajevo Film Festival Honor and Retrospective
Paolo Sorrentino to Receive Sarajevo Film Festival Honor and Retrospective

Yahoo

time05-06-2025

  • Entertainment
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Paolo Sorrentino to Receive Sarajevo Film Festival Honor and Retrospective

Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino is this year's recipient of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award to be bestowed upon him during the 31st edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival, which will also feature a retrospective of his films that will be screened as part of the fest's 'tribute to' program. The honor and tribute will be 'in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the art of cinema,' Sarajevo fest organizers said on Tuesday. Sorrentino will also hold a masterclass and 'share his thoughts on contemporary art in a conversation with the audience,' they noted. More from The Hollywood Reporter Disney+ Europe Exec on Why Free-to-Air Partners Are "Incredibly Important for Our Business" 'Lost in Starlight' Director Han Ji-won on Blending Romance and Sci-Fi for Netflix's Breakthrough Korean Animated Feature BBC Boss Says "We Need to Protect Our National IP" and Need "Muscular Partnerships With Big U.S. Tech" 'I am deeply honored to receive this prestigious recognition and grateful for the attention given to my filmography,' said Sorrentino. 'I look forward to being with you in Sarajevo. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.' The fest highlighted the effect the Italian director and screenwriter's oeuvre has had on audiences. 'Paolo Sorrentino [has] managed to do what every filmmaker dreams of – he left a global impact through local, personal stories,' said Jovan Marjanović, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival. 'With visually luxurious, emotionally filled, and intellectually insightful style, he won the hearts of audiences around the world who saw his characters, no matter how eccentric or withdrawn, as a mirror of our world, often absurd, sometimes cruel, but always deeply human. The Honorary Heart of Sarajevo is a recognition of the great beauty that he gave us with his films.' Born in Naples in 1970, Sorrentino's first full-length feature film, One Man Up, came out in 2001 and was selected for the Venice Film Festival. His next two films, The Consequences of Love (2004) and The Family Friend (2006) were in competition for the Palme d'Or in Cannes, as was Il Divo, which won the jury prize in 2008. Sorrentino also returned to the Cannes competition in 2011 with This Must Be the Place and in 2013 with The Great Beauty, which won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, and the BAFTA Award for the best foreign-language Film. After another Cannes competition appearance in 2016 with Youth, he created and directed the TV series The Young Pope in 2016, followed by the movie Loro in 2018 and the series The New Pope in 2019. In 2021, Sorrentino wrote and directed The Hand of God, which won the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice International Film Festival and five David di Donatello awards, followed by Parthenope in 2024. Previous recipients of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo include Meg Ryan (2024), Alexander Payne (2024), John Turturro (2024), Mark Cousins (2023), Lynne Ramsay (2023), Charlie Kaufman (2023), Jesse Eisenberg (2022), Ruben Östlund (2022), Sergei Loznitsa (2022), Paul Joseph Schrader (2022), Wim Wenders (2021), Michel Franco (2020), Mads Mikkelsen (2020), Tim Roth (2019), Isabelle Huppert (2019), Alejandro González Iñárritu (2019), Paweł Pawlikowski (2019), Oliver Stone (2017), John Cleese (2017), Stephen Frears (2016), Robert De Niro (2016), Benicio Del Toro (2015), Danis Tanović (2014), Gael García Bernal (2014), Béla Tarr (2013), Branko Lustig (2012), Jafar Panahi (2011), Angelina Jolie (2011), Steve Buscemi (2007), Mike Leigh (2006), and Gavrilo Grahovac (2006). Previous filmmakers in the spotlight in a Sarajevo Film Festival 'tribute to' program includeElia Suleiman (2024), Jessica Hausner (2023), Sergei Loznitsa (2022), Wim Wenders (2021), Michel Franco (2020), Paweł Pawlikowski (2019), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (2018), Joshua Oppenheimer and Oliver Stone (2017), Michael Winterbottom (2014), Cristi Puiu (2013), Todd Solondz (2012), Jia Zhang-ke (2009), Todd Haynes (2008), Tsai Ming-Liang and Ulrich Seidl (2007), Abel Ferrara and Béla Tarr (2006), Alexander Payne (2005), Stephen Frears (2002), Mike Leigh (2001), and Steve Buscemi (2000). Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now

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