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Actress Jeon Do-yeon is walking tall as the ¡°Queen of Cannes.¡± Instead of taking the path of becoming just another pretty actress with a passable level of acting ability, Jeon took one step at a time polishing her acting skills by immersing herself in her roles, eventually capturing the Best Actress award at the 60th Cannes Film Festival.
For her role in Lee Chang-dong¡¯s ¡°Secret Sunshine¡±, Jeon delved completely into the painful world of the movie¡¯s main character, Shin-ae, who struggles to find salvation despite her tragic and merciless fate. This passion is what captivated the judges at Cannes.
Ten years ago, Jeon gained the nickname ¡°Queen of Tears¡± for her roles in the melodramatic films ¡°The Contact¡± and ¡°A Promise.¡± But she boldly rejected the pressure and fixation many of her peers feel to choose roles that make them look good. Rather, she volunteered to take on different roles that challenged her to assume new personalities, adding depth, variety and resonance to her acting skill. And by choosing that path, she rose to the top of the world in her mid-30s, an age which typically signifies the end of a career for most Korean actresses. That¡¯s why she shines even brighter today.
For three years since 2003, Korean movies left their names on the world stage with directors Im Kwon-taek, Lee Chang-dong, Kim Ki-duk and Park Chan-wook capturing awards at Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals. Just like Japanese movies hit the big stage during the 1950s with Akira Kurosawa and Chinese films during the 1980s with Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, the critical acclaims won by Korean films made them seem like the next Asian wave.
But in the span of just a few years, the growth in the Korean movie industry has paused. With production costs swelling to more than W5 billion (US$1=W929) per film, 90 out of 110 new releases last year lost money. The popularity of Korean culture in Japan used to drive explosive demand for Korean movies, accounting for over 70 percent of overseas sales. But with the popularity of Korean culture waning in Japan, demand fell 68 percent last year. The total value of movie sales contracts signed during this year¡¯s Cannes Film Festival is only half of last year¡¯s.
Jeon and ¡°Secret Sunshine¡± have once again given us confidence that Korean films, which seem to have reached a major obstacle, still have what it takes. The task left for Korean films is to use the confidence boost given by the Cannes award and realize what more needs to be done in order to find the magic key that will open the doors to the international stage.
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