CULTURAL INSIGHT

[Anchor Lead]

On today's TADA Korea, we talk about Bongjunho's film "Parasite", and the opening of the The DMZ International Documentary Film Festival. It has been officially announced that Bong Joon-ho's film "Parasite" will open in North America, to the anticipation of International audiences. This and more on today's cultural news.

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It's now official that director Bong Joon-ho's film "Parasite" will open in North America. The movie's local distributor has set the opening date for October 11. The October-November period in North America is when films vying for next-year's Academy Awards usually open. The timing of "Parasite's" opening was apparently chosen strategically to raise the film's chances of winning an award. Many overseas cinema-related media sources zeroed in on "Parasite" months ago as a viable contender for next year's Academy Award. "Parasite" is likely to win an award in the foreign language film category. No other Korean movie has been nominated in this category so far. All eyes are on whether Bong Joon-ho's acclaimed film will be nominated for the Academy Awards next year. The DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, which is marking its 11th anniversary this year, will be held in the cities of Goyang and Paju in Gyeonggi-do Province from September 20 to 27. This year's festival will screen some 150 documentaries from 46 countries under the theme "Peace, Life, Communication." Sixty-four Korean documentaries have been invited to the festival this year, about twice as many as last year, reflecting their rapid growth. The event will also include a special section introducing ten films selected by experts to mark the centennial of Korean cinema. The organizers say they are looking for ways to elevate the status of the festival as an international event and come up with realistic ways to distribute documentaries after improving their quality.