News

Asian science fiction has been dominated for many years by Japanese animation, which has provided countless masterpieces to the genre. But in the past 25 years or so, a new batch of live-action films have given the genre new momentum by providing more diversity in terms of format, national origins and thematic scope. While Japan is still making great science fiction that feels fresh and innovative, other countries, most notably South Korea and China, have begun taking the genre more seriously than in the past. Leading filmmakers now use sci-fi to tell great extrapolative stories about science and technology, the future(s) of human society, or more allegorically to deal with mental illness or the precariousness of the adult world.

Science fiction is a notoriously difficult genre to define, but the list below takes a look at films that try to break free of the traditional Japanese formats and subgenres – beyond...

The best movies like Girl, Interrupted explore the complex worlds of mental health services, both the good and the bad, and on a more meaningful level, try to understand the emotional journeys people with mental health conditions go on. Girl, Interrupted premiered on December 21, 1999, capping off an incredible year in film which included The Matrix, The Mummy, American Beauty, and some of the decade's best horror movies. Girl, Interrupted is in a genre all its own. It's a tense psychological drama that also serves as a sweet coming-of-age story.

The film follows Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder), a nervous, troubled young woman who overdoses on aspirin and alcohol and is forcibly committed to Claymoore, a psychiatric hospital. There, she meets a group of young women her age who are also dealing with a variety of mental health conditions. Together, the girls deal with the boredom, and sometimes pain, of their stay...

Acclaimed South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook has set up his first project with Netflix. The director of Old Boy and last year’s stunning romantic noir Decision to Leave will co-write and produce the period thriller War and Revolt, set during Korea’s Joseon dynasty.

The film will be directed by Kim Sang-man, known for his well-received 2010 action thriller Midnight FM. Kim also is an accomplished art director, having done production work on Park’s landmark action drama Joint Security Area (2000) and I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Ok (2006).

War and Revolt is described as being set against the chaos of war, taking viewers on a gripping journey through the lives of two childhood friends turned adversaries.

A-list Korean actor Gang Dong-won (Broker, Peninsula) co-stars as the enigmatic Cheon-young, a character whose remarkable martial prowess defies his humble origins as a slave. Opposite Gang, Park Jeong-min (Deliver Us from Evil,...

To show off the video capture capabilities on their new flagship phone, Apple commissioned a few directors from different parts of the world to each make a short film, shot entirely using their new iPhone 13 Pro phone. One such director was Korean maestro Park Chan-wook, who went ahead a made “Life is But a Dream”, a short entirely out of his comfort zone.

In the dark of the night, a villager digs up an old grave and robs it of the high-quality lacquer coffin, an action which awakens the spirit of the person buried with it, an umbrella-wielding swordsman. The swordsman follows the villager home, adamant on killing him and taking his coffin back but hesitates when the villagers pleads for his life and tells him that he stole the coffin to lay to rest a benevolent person, a woman known as the White Marten, who saved the villagers from the clutches of a loanshark.

The Hong Kong Arts Centre (Hkac) presents Masterclass on Screen Adaptation: A Conversation Between Chung Seo-kyung and Fruit Chan as part of New Waves, New Shores: Busan International Film Festival, a moving image programme financially supported by the Film Development Fund, Create Hong Kong, in festival partnership with the Busan International Film Festival (Biff), at 5:15pm on 16 January 2022, at Louis Koo Cinema, Hkac.

Chung Seo-kyung, Korean screenwriter known for her frequent collaboration with Park Chan-wook, and Fruit Chan, award-winning Hong Kong writer-director, will be in conversation about their experience on cinematic adaptation of literature. The masterclass will be preceded by screenings of the guests’ acclaimed literary film adaptations – Dumplings directed by Fruit Chan, and Thirst penned by Chung Seo-kyung and Park Chan-wook. Tickets are going fast. Don’t miss the rare opportunity!

About New Waves, New Shores: Busan International Film Festival

Through an integrated series of screenings, talks, workshops...

Park Chan-wook is set to return to moviemaking later this month as production kicks off on “Decision to Leave,” the South Korean auteur’s long-awaited first film since the 2016 release of “The Handmaiden.” Park followed his beloved erotic lesbian drama with a trip to television courtesy of AMC and BBC’s six-episode limited series “The Little Drummer Girl,” an adaptation of John Le Carré’s 1983 novel that starred Michael Shannon, Alexander Skarsgård, and Florence Pugh. Now the director is returning to the movies with a project that recalls “Basic Instinct.”

“Decision to Leave” is a romantic murder mystery that follows a detective (Park Hye-il of Bong Joon Ho’s “The Host” and “Memories of Murder”) who falls for a mysterious widow after she becomes the number one suspect in his latest murder investigation. The supporting cast includes Go Kyung-pyo, Park Yong-woo, and Lee Jung-hyun, the latter of whom starred in...

Celebrated Korean director Park Chan-wook will start production later this month on Korean-language drama film “Decision to Leave.” The cast is headed by China’s Tang Wei and Korean actor Park Hye-il.

The picture is produced by Moho Film and counts Cj Entertainment as its principal financial backer. Cj is also set as the distributor in its Korean home market. A decision on international sales representative has not yet been settled.

The story involves a diligent and serious detective (Park Hye-il) who is investigating a possible murder case in the mountainous countryside. He begins to suspect the man’s widow (Tang), whom he also develops romantic feelings for.

The script was co-written by Park and frequent collaborators Jeong Seo-kyeong. The pair have previously co-scripted Park’s 2006 effort “I’m a Cyborg, but That’s Ok,” 2009 horror adaptation “Thirst” and erotic thriller “The Handmaiden,” which appeared in competition in Cannes in 2016.

Park’s...

Ryan Lambie Apr 14, 2017

Eminent director Park Chan-wook talks to us about the themes in his new film, The Handmaiden, and lots and more...

One day, science will finally deliver us the electronic equivalent of a Babel fish: a little device you can put in your ear that will interpret and translate your words as they're spoken. That way, people from opposing planet will be able to hold fluid conversations despite speaking completely different languages.

See related  Celebrating Deadwood Timothy Olyphant interview: Justified, Deadwood & more...

This sprang to mind as we sat down with Park Chan-wook, the Korean director of films as Oldboy, Stoker and I'm A Cyborg, But That's Ok. Despite the stunning mental agility of a translator, who renders my mumblings in to Korean and Director Park's responses into English, the back-and-forth is painfully slow. All of this explains why the interview below, despite lasting 20 minutes, only contains a...

After a six-year absence, director Chan-wook Park comes back to Korean cinematic storytelling. The Oldboy filmaker began production on his latest, the lesbian drama Fingersmith, last week near Nagoya, Japan. This serves as the filmmaker's follow-up to his English-language debut Stoker, which earned fairly mixed reviews and didn't particularly wow me as much as I would have wanted it to either, and his first native-language feature since 2009's Thirst. A re-interpretation of Sarah Waters Victorian-era novel of the same name, Park's latest relocates the action to Korea and Japan within the 1930s, which looks at a time when Korea was under the strict gaze of Japan's occupation. Fingersmith returns the director with his long-time screenwriter Seo-Gyeong Jeong, whom previously penned Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok and the aforementioned Thirst with the filmmaker. Though it seems this adaptation is the writer's first solo writing credit. That's...

There will be few times when the names Park Chan-wook and Nicolas Winding Refn will appear together, and we'd wager that unless they ever co-direct a movie, few announcements will be as exciting as this. The soundtrack to Park's 2003 classic "Oldboy" is getting freshly minted on vinyl, and Refn is stepping in, adding his name as an executive producer on the release. If you only know Spike Lee's remake from last year, now's the best time to track down the superior original. Not only is it a much better film, but it boasts the work of composer Cho Young-wok, who has been a longtime collaborator with Park, providing scores for "Joint Security Area," "Thirst" and "I'm A Cyborg, And That's Ok," along with producing and working in the Music Department of "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance." This re-release provides a great opportunity revisit his unique work for "Oldboy" if you don't already know it.

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 23 Jan 2014 - 05:44

Our series of lists devoted to underappreciated films brings us to the year 2006, and a further 25 overlooked gems...

With all the major films that elbow their way into their cinemas every year, there's bound to be some casualties among the big hits. And just like any other year, 2006 was dominated by the likes of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Da Vinci Code and Ice Age: The Meltdown. But in tandem, there were dozens of lesser-seen films which shuffled in and out of cinemas (or occasionally, didn't get a release in cinemas at all) without very many people noticing.

As we're sure you're aware by now, these lists aim to redress the balance a little, and hopefully introduce a few films from any given year that you may have missed. There are also one or two films that, although...

Dark and brooding, Stoker (2013) is the debut English language debut from South Korean director Park Chan-wook, whose latest oddity offers up an intense mix of emotional violence and Gothic fairytale. Written by Wentworth Miller, it features mesmerising performances from a leading cast that includes Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode. To celebrate the 1 July DVD and Blu-ray release of Stoker, we have Three Blu-ray copies of the film to give away to our readers, courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.

After India Stoker's (Wasikowska) father dies in a car accident, her home life is suddenly upended by the arrival of her Uncle Charlie (Goode) - who she never knew existed. When Charlie moves in with her...

Remember a couple of months ago when the internet momentarily freaked after what people thought was first look at Tilda Swinton in "Snowpiercer" accidentally got out? Well, it turned out be an unconnected photo from an old fashion shoot, but the ethereal queen of unconventional beauty can finally be seen in the new character posters for "Snowpiercer" and after all the premature excitement, it's still pretty awesome. The film is a bit of a wet dream really, bringing together a powerhouse tag-team of South Korean talent in Bong Joon-Ho ("The Host," "Mother") and producer Park Chan-Wook (director of "Oldboy", "Lady Vengeance," "I'm a Cyborg.") for an adaptation of the cult French graphic novel "Le Transperceneige." It's a dystopian sci-fi, with an almost completely frozen earth having reduced the human population to a single society living entirely on a perpetual-motion powered train, the eponymous Snowpiercer. An international cast includes Chris Evans,...

The director of Oldboy has featured vendettas, incest and even amateur dentistry in his movies. So what horrors does his first Hollywood film, the 'gothic fairytale' Stoker, have in store?

Park Chan-wook is clearly in a very dark place. His head is bowed, his mood blue. What terrible circumstances could be troubling the South Korean director who masterminded the queasy excesses of Oldboy and the rest of his Vengeance trilogy? Recent incarceration by an unknown malefactor? Is he being hounded by a secret black-market organ-smuggling operation?

In fact, his cat has died, and he's still struggling to cope. "I'd had him for more than 10 years."

Mooka, Park's Russian Blue puss, was just one of the victims of a kitty reaper that stalked the set of his new film, Stoker. Composer Clint Mansell's mog died at the same time. "The only consolation is that it didn't happen during shooting, but during postproduction,...

Stoker is what you've come to expect from Park Chan-wook: A twisted tale of familial obsession, sexual repression, buried histories, and, in the loosest and grimmest sense, self-liberation. Park's uber-violent Vengeance trilogy, and political thriller Jsa: Joint Security Area, are undisputed classics, though some would say (including me) the director later had a couple of minor missteps with I'm A Cyborg, But That's Ok, and his vampire film, Thirst. So while Stoker was indeed at the tip-top of my "must see" list this year, I didn't allow myself to turn cartwheels before I had a chance to lay my eyes on the film in its entirety. Now? I'm doing cartwheels. A modern Gothic, Stoker begins with the aftermath of the death of Richard Stoker (played...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Ever since Oldboy, I will watch anything from director Chan-wook Park. I sat through the bizarre I'm A Cyborg, But That's Ok because I knew there would be something special there. Lady Vengeance and Thirst are two favorites as well and I am hoping his first foray into English-language film-making will yield great results. Stoker has looked unlike any other movie since the first teasers hit last year. And now it is finally getting close to a release date. This new featurette introduces us...

Around these parts, a new Park Chan-wook film is an event to be highly anticipated. So I was quite excited to have the chance to see the maestro's latest film, Stoker, his first in English to boot, at Sundance last weekend. His uber-violent Vengeance trilogy, and political thriller Jsa: Joint Security Area, are undisputed classics, though some would say (including me) the director later had a couple of minor missteps with I'm A Cyborg, But That's Ok, and his vampire film, Thirst.So while Stoker was indeed at the tip-top of my "must see" list for Sundance, I didn't allow myself to turn cartwheels before I had a chance to lay my eyes on the film in its entirety.Now? I'm doing cartwheels.Stoker is what you've come to expect from Park's...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

News flash: Anna Kendrick can sing! The "Up in the Air" actress shows off a stunning set of pipes in her new comedy "Pitch Perfect," as college freshman Beca, who reluctantly gets drafted into an a capella singing competition. The busy Kendrick recently spoke with Moviefone ahead of the film's release. Here, she discusses the film's most inappropriate moment and her love of “Fraggle Rock” and "30 Rock.' However, she was tightlipped about whether she's going to be in "Captain America 2." You're in six movies this year! Yeah. I'm tired. I don't sleep. I'm a cyborg. Are you going to take some time off? Yeah. I mean, maybe not. It's hard to say when. Something you really want to do always comes along at the worst times. I would really like to to take some time off right now but who can say. You're a hot property! [Laughs] I'm my own worst enemy.

Reviewer: Jeffrey M. Anderson

Rating (out of five): *** 

It was quite a surprise to learn that, between Park Chan-wook's extraordinarily lithe, punchy Lady Vengeance (2005) -- the final entry in his equally extraordinary "vengeance" trilogy -- and the bizarre, acid vampire movie Thirst (2009), Park made this very broad, very odd comedy.

It looks as if I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok never saw an American theatrical release, or if it did, it was so small and localized that no critics knew of its existence. It apparently did middling box office in its native Korea as well. It's somewhat similar to Sion Sono's Love Exposure, from Japan, which was released in San Francisco this past summer. It features singularly love-struck characters with peculiar fates. It focuses on three or four specific, off-kilter jokes and runs with these jokes over and over until they connect and make some kind of sense.

Overall, it's a pretty solid week for DVD and Blu-ray releases and I'm sure you'll agree, whether you're a Disney animation buff, Quentin Tarantino fan, or, uh... sports cars enthusiast. The big new releases in stores today are Fast Five, Scream 4 and Disney's African Cats, while some of the smaller flicks of interest include Richard Ayoade's Submarine, Chan-wook Park's I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok, and acclaimed documentary Buck. There's also a special edition re-release of the first season of The Walking Dead and on Blu-ray we've got new Diamond Editions of The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, plus, for the first time in high-def, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Peter Jackson's Dead Alive. What will you be buying or renting this week? Check out the full list of new releases after the jump. Amazon.com Widgets

For More Daily Movie Goodness,...

Chan-Wook Park solidified himself as one of the best directors of the last decade with the Vengeance trilogy, along with the pretty great Thirst and I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok. With Mia Wasikowska and Nicole Kidman set to star and brothers Ridley and Tony Scott producing, his English language debut, Stoker, is beginning to look like a star-studded event. Last we heard, Colin Firth was being courted for the lead male role in the film, which follows a teenage girl who must deal with the unexpected appearance of a mysterious uncle while mourning the death of her father. Variety just got word that Matthew Goode is in talks for the part. I got to admit, I haven't seen a lot of Goode's work, but he was spot on as Ozymandias in Watchmen. The Fox Searchlight production is set to debut sometime in 2012.

Community (B+. The send-up of clip shows was not hilarious, but it was brilliantly executed and, at times, super sweet.)

(Ravishing "Glee" in 30 seconds) "Sing sing sing-a-ling ding-dong."

Feast your ear-tongues on these memory pops."

"Harrison Ford is irradiating our testicles with microwave satellite transmissions."

The Office (A-; The return of the Dundies was occasionally funny, very cheesy, but fuck it: Kind of great.")

"Why is it the people who say something is 'like crack' have never done crack?"

"Yes! I love banter. But I hate 'witty' banter."

"The diabetes award goes to Stanley Hudson! Come on up here, you sick bastard!"

"I was hoping it would be more like Godfather III, that wrapped up the whole franchise in an extremely satisfying way. Instead it's more like Godfather I, which was very confusing and had, like, three big laughs."

"Yeah. Ok. Well, this is going to hurt like a motherf*cker.

In this week’s column, James meditates on the philosophical connection between water fowl, René Descartes, Bruce Lee and Blade Runner…

Please note: there's a spoiler for something revealed early on in Never Let Me Go in this article.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, maybe it's a clone of a duck.

Ergo, if it looks like a human and quacks like a human and has the volatile emotions of a human, maybe it's a clone of a human.

(And if it says "ergo", which no regular person says, perhaps it's the Architect from The Matrix Reloaded, though he could also, of course, be a clone. Maybe he's just a standard duplicate of an old man who accidently got locked in a room full of TV screens and in bored desperation decided he'd put on this pseudo-intellectual act and waffle nonsense to confuse Keanu Reeves.

So the ball continues to roll on the marketing for the latest offering from Korean master Park Chan-wook. Last week brought word of his latest work--a 30 minute short film shot entirely on Apple's iPhone 4, accompanied by both the first official image and the project's poster. This week brings the brief yet effective teaser trailer along with a 5-minute behind-the-scenes featurette. Were you disappointed by the wacky madcap “I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok” or frustrated by the underwhelming “Thirst”? Fear not, everyone's favorite vengeful director is back with the intriguingly experimental “Paranmanjang” (or "Night Fishing" in English). As…...

The latest film from Park Chan-wook, Korea's great chronicler of revenge and its accoutrements, is a short shot entirely on the iPhone 4. According to Mobiledia:

The South Korean movie director screened his latest work, a short called "Paranmanjang," which means "ups and downs" in Korean. The 30-minute fantasy-horror short, shot in collaboration with Park's director brother Park Chan-kyong, was shot entirely on the iPhone and concerns a man transcending his current and former lives.

South Korean wireless provider KT Corp fronted a chunk of the $130,000 budget for the film, which will open in theaters there January 27th. The Guardian has a few more plot details:

Paranmanjang... is about a man transcending his current and former lives. He catches a woman while fishing in a river in the middle of the night. They both end up entangled in the line and he thinks she is dead.

Suddenly, though, she wakes up,...

South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook is best known for his "Oldboy" movie, but he is also the man behind "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance," "Lady Vengeance," "I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok" and "Thirst." La Times is now reporting that Park is in talks to direct "Stoker," a drama about a young woman whose eccentric uncle comes back into her life after the death of her father. The new film is written by "Prison Break" star Wentworth Miller and is being produced by Ridley and Tony Scott's company. Carey Mulligan has signed on to play the young woman and Jodie Foster is co-starring. "Stoker" will be Park's first English-language movie.

Ninja Assassin is ready to lunge into theaters across the U.S. this Wednesday. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) and starring Korean actor and pop star Rain, the movie brings ninjas into the new millennium as ex-ninja Raizo (Rain) protects a Europol agent (Naomie Harris) from his former clan.Doing press for the movie this month in NYC, Rain and McTeigue participated in round-table interviews with area journalists. Below you'll find Rain's interview in which he discusses everything from what it was like to train for such a demanding role to who his martial arts heroes are.So we've heard you've been up early already starting with TV interviews. Yes, 9 Am. Fox TV. Are you a little accustomed to this, because as a singer I'm sure you get a lot of this already? [Laughs] Different style. Is the press different; the journalists who do music as opposed versus movie journalists?...

More Afm news

The Korean action fantasy flick "Woochi" is casting a spell across Asia in a deal struck by United Pictures and M-Line Distribution with Viscom Suraya for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Choi Dong-hoon's tale of a rascal wizard who travels 500 years to come to contemporary Seoul to fight against goblins also sold to Splendid for Germany and Benelux in one of the Afm's higher-profile presale deals so far.

Produced by Zip Cinema, the $12 million-budgeted pic stars Gang Dong-won ("Duelist"), Kim Yoon-suk ("The Chaser") and Lim Soo-jung ("I'm a Cyborg but That's Ok") and is scheduled to roll out in Korea by holiday season this year.

M-Line G handles European territory sales while United Pictures hawks it for Asia and America.

Chaning Tatum, Robert Patterson and Shia Lebouf better look out because The Ninja Assassin is coming and its bringing the Rain!

From Twitch Film:

From the creators of the Matrix and the Director of V for Vendatta comes the new action film: Ninja Assasin To be released November 2009.

The film stars Rain(bi) a Korean Popstar who has international hits in music, film, and Televison but remains virtually unknown here in the U.S.

As an Actor he's starred in a number of sit coms and soaps in Korea he garnered international Critical praise with his role in I'm A Cyborg But It's Ok by Park Chan Wook (Oldboy) He made his american acting debut as Taejo Togokhan in Speed Racer as is now poised to burst into the action scene with Ninja Assasin.

Click through below for a clip showing Rain training for a fight choreography with the 87 Eleven...

SEOUL -- South Korean entertainer Jung Ji-hoon, better known to fans in Asia as Rain, said Wednesday that he will star in the Warner Bros. movie Ninja Assassin.

Ninja Assassin will be directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) and produced by the Wachowskis (The Matrix), who recently directed Jung in Speed Racer, Jung said at a news conference.

The movie is scheduled to begin filming in March in Berlin.

Jung is one of Asia's biggest pop stars, selling more than 2 million albums and starring in such television dramas as Full House and the latest Park Chan-wook film, I'm a Cyborg, but That's Okay.

Jung and his independent management company J-Tunes also said that Jung recently signed with WMA to be represented worldwide outside of Asia.

MADRID -- Juan Antonio Bayona's grim ghost story The Orphanage will open this year's International Film Festival of Catalonia at Sitges, organizers said Thursday as they unveiled the initial details of the festival's 40th anniversary program.

Sitges, which has become a must for fantasy filmmakers, runs Oct. 4-14 in the Mediterranean coastal town just south of Barcelona and is the main festival for Spain's northeastern Catalan region.

The image of this year's festival is dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Blade Runner. Visiting Sitges will be two of the people responsible for the visual genius of Ridley Scott's film: production designer Syd Mead and head of visual and photographic effects Douglas Trumbull.

Sitges will be an important showcase for Spanish productions this year, with the territory represented by such films as Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza's Rec, Nacho Viglondo's Timecrimes, Gonzal Lopez-Gallero's King of the Mountain, Manuel Carballo's Los Justos and Adria Garcia and Victor Maldonado's animated Nocturna.

In addition, the Official Fantastic Section will include some of the season's most-awaited motion pictures, including I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK, directed by Park Chan-wook; The Fall, directed by Tarsem Singh; and Sundance hit Teeth, directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein.

The South by Southwest Film Festival has selected Park Chan-wook's surreal romance I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK as its closing-night film. The South Korean feature, from the cult director of Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, will be making its North American premiere March 17 at the Austin fest, which kicks off March 9. Other films added to the SXSW slate Thursday include D.J. Caruso's thriller Disturbia and three new documentaries: Eric Chaikin's A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar ..., Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Cancer and Shannon O'Rourke's Maybe Baby.

COLOGNE, Germany -- French and Asian cinema are back with a vengeance at this year's Berlin International Film Festival, with four French and four Asian films selected for the festival's official competition lineup.

Francois Ozon's Angel, about the rise and fall of a young author in early 20th century England, will close the 57th Berlinale, providing a suitable bookend to an event that kicks off Feb. 8 with the world premiere of La vie en Rose, from another French director, Olivier Dahan.

The other French films in competition -- Andre Techine's The Witness and Jacques Rivette's Don't Touch The Axe -- also will have their world premieres in Berlin.

Asian cinema, which was largely absent from last year's lineup, returns in force with two Chinese productions -- Wang Quan'an drama Tuya's Marriage and Li Yu's urban portrait Lost In Beijing -- and two from Korea -- Zhang Lu's Desert Dream, about a refugee from North Korea who flees to a barren village on the Chinese/Mongolian border, and I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK, the highly-anticipated new drama from Park Chan-wook (Oldboy).

This year's Berlinale lineup ranges from such independent productions as Ryan Eslinger's When a Man Falls in the Forest to Zack Snyder's epic 300, an adaptation of the Frank Miller comic book about the battle of Thermopylae between 300 Spartans and a Persian army numbering in the millions. Both films will have their world premieres in Berlin, with "300" unspooling out of competition.

COLOGNE, Germany -- Germany will revisit its post-war past at the 57th annual Berlin International Film Festival, with Steven Soderbergh's The Good German, a murder mystery set in 1940s Berlin, and Robert De Niro's cold war CIA drama The Good Shepherd both picked for this year's competition.

The two films also will provide some much-needed star wattage. In addition to the high-profile directors, Good German star George Clooney, a Berlinale regular, is expected to attend, as are, barring scheduling conflicts, Good Shepherd co-stars Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie.

Going up against Hollywood will be Chan-wook Park's I'm A Cyborg But That's OK, which will have its international premiere in competition at Berlin.

The celebrated South Korean director, who rocketed to international acclaim with revenge dramas Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, first competed in Berlin with his 2001 political thriller Joint Security Area. I'm A Cyborg tells the story of a woman who checks into a psychiatric hospital, believing herself to be a combat cyborg. There, she falls in love with a man who believes he can steal people's souls.