From Ronald Cruz:

The 9th Cinemanila International Film Festival Celebrates Korean Cinema and Culture

The 9th Cinemanila International Film Festival (CIFF) celebrates Korean cinema and culture in its Opening Night festivities. On 8 August 2007, the CIFF will officially open with the screening of the festival hit I’m a Cyborg But That’s OK. The film is directed by Korean auteur Park Chan-wook (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) and stars Lim Su-jeong and Jung Ji-hoon, better known to international audiences as Rain. The film has made its run in the Berlin Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear and won the Alfred Bauer Award. Park will be attending the opening ceremonies.
This event will be part of CIFF’s Korean Cinema Focus, which seeks to honor the iconic stature of Korean films in world cinema. In 2001, the CIFF was the first film festival to showcase such an event in the Philippines, with Im Kwon-taek’s Chunhyang serving as the opening film. Other films in the 2001 Korean Cinema Focus were Kim Jee-woon’s The Foul King and Kim Ki-duk’s The Isle. This year, other Park Chan-wook films aside from Cyborg will also be screened, as will Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine, whose lead Jeon Do-yeon won the Best Actress award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The screening of the Opening Film I’m a Cyborg But That’s OK will be held on 8 August 2007 at 8:00 PM at the Centerstage of SM Mall of Asia in Roxas Boulevard, Manila, Philippines. Cocktails for esteemed guests will precede the event at 6:30 PM. The Korean Cinema Focus will have its screenings in selected SM theatres in Metro Manila during the Festival run from 8 to 19 August. The CIFF is organized jointly by the Independent Cinema Association of the Philippines (ICAP), the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), SM Cinemas, and a specially commissioned inter-agency committee.

For more information, you may refer to the official CIFF website (http://www.cinemanila.com.ph) or contact the Cinemanila Secretariat through its email address: cinemanila@gmail.com.