Earlier this evening my father-son video game bonding time was interrupted with a call from our friend Jiangtou, who is currently at Cannes. The boy took my brief moment on the phone as an opportunity to promptly run our character off the very high place I had worked hard to acheive, sending us falling to our death, but Jiangtou's news was interesting enough to make it worthwhile.
Apparently Choi Min-Sik and Bong Joon-Ho have been leading nightly vigils in from of the Palais Lumiere every night at eight, just on time for the big nightly galas. The duo are there protesting, once again, the reduction of the Korean screen quota system. Bong's presence makes good sense as he's there with The Host this year, but as near as I can tell Choi has nothing at the festival whatsoever, not even in the market, which means he's made the trip solely for this purpose.
We've been promised photos, video and a detailed report from Jiangtou - who joined in for a time - just as soon as he has the time to get everything sorted.
Y'might wanna change "Quote" to "Quota"
You might be correct.
Loved the 'Globalize Hope' picket. Apparently he's been filmed by quite a few TV Stations (Deutsche Welle, Arte and many others) so we'll probably see him somewhere.
Hah, that's pretty awesome.
Tons of props to Choi Min-Sik for taking his time to do this. I don't know that Korea NEEDS a quota system anymore - Korean audiences have made their preference for local films pretty clear - but it's good to see someone, somewhere standing up to the bullying pigs at the MPAA. Classic example of a principled stand, as is Korean theatre owners saying that they'll continue to enforce a quota regardless. Of course, CJ Entertainment is not exactly a neutral party here. And when I see crap like you will also see if you follow the link below, it becomes even harder to emphasize with Hollywood. If that were possible.
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2006/04/film_festivals_.html
Those cowboys! Looking forward to more news on this ^_^
I guess the Cannes festival has given its official approval to the cause, making this the first time in it's 50+ years history to do such a thing.... What a radical idea -- to support filmmaking around the world !!! (Too bad about the relative absence of Asia at the fest this year)