A League of Its Own: Hit Korean baseball movies at home
Co-presented by New York Asian Film Festival
Free and unlimited run of the films for 10 days!
July 16, 7PM (EST) - July 26, 2020
2020 is proving a banner year for Korea: Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite made Oscar history; the nation’s widely praised response to the Coronavirus epidemic made headlines, and now Korean Baseball goes live on ESPN... finally!
This is the perfect time for an event that pairs two blockbuster sectors of the entertainment business at which the country excels: Baseball and Cinema.
Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY) and the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) team up to present a free streaming series that highlights Korea’s glorious sports history, pitching legends, and the peninsula’s favorite baseball teams through a selection of three major films of the genre from July 16 to 26.
Whether you’re a KBO League fan or a Korean cinema lover, this exclusive online event offers the thrills that you’ve been craving after months of quarantine.
[Movie List]
* All films are in Korean with English subtitles
* These ratings are by the Korea Media Rating Board
Mr. Go
(Mi-seu-teo Go, 미스터 고)
Director: Kim Yong-hwa (김용화)
Cast: Sung Dong-il, Jiao Xu, Kim Hee-won, Kim Kang-woo
Running Time: 132m
Release Year: 2013
Rating: Film intended for audiences 12 and over (12세 관람가)
(Underage audiences accompanied with a parent or guardian is allowed.)
From the director of Along with the Gods and 200 Pounds Beauty, massive baseball blockbuster movie Mr. Go follows this insane premise: what if… a Chinese circus-trained gorilla joined a major Korean baseball league? In other words, it's the perfect film for a world gone bananas. At turns unexpectedly realistic and laugh-out-loud hilarious, this warm tale of a debt-ridden Chinese kid and her bat-swinging, show-stealing primate friend, brings jaw-dropping action and plenty of emotion to the screen. Facing tragic circumstances and a rather nasty loan shark, the unlikely pair is forced to relocate to Seoul, where they end up leading the Doosan Bears to a prodigious winning streak. That is, until a second ape shows up in the game! And it’s not just about the grand spectacle of CGI-crafted gorillas going apesh*t on each other, the film also prominently features the teams and fields of the KBO, including the brief cameos of MLB superstars Ryu Hyun-jin and Choo Shin-soo.
Perfect Game
(Peo-pek-teu Ge-im, 퍼펙트 게임)
Director: Park Hee-gon (박희곤)
Cast: Cho Seung-woo, Yang Dong-geun, Don Lee (Ma Dong-seok)
Running Time: 127min
Release Year: 2011
Rating: Film intended for audiences 12 and over (12세 관람가)
(Underage audiences accompanied with a parent or guardian is allowed.)
This stirring drama is based on a legendary real life game that rocked Korea in the 1980s. As the country struggled towards democracy in a time of unrest, baseball mania took the public by storm. Fans across the nation were enthralled by the rise of two titan pitchers: Choi Dong-won (Cho Seung-woo), the ace of the Lotte Giants, and Sun Dong-yeol (Yang Dong-geun), the rising star of the Haitai Tigers (now the Kia Tigers). Regional allegiances put their once friendly rivalry to the ultimate test as tensions mount and the stakes are raised to feverish heights.
YMCA Baseball Team
(YMCA Yagudan, YMCA 야구단)
Director: Kim Hyun-seok (김현석)
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Kim Hye-soo, Kim Joo-hyuk, Hwang Jung-min
Running Time: 104min
Release Year: 2002
Rating: Film suitable for all ages (전체 관람가)
Like many of the best Korean films, YMCA Baseball Team blends and bends genre, defying easy categorization and labeling: a landmark of the sport movie genre and a comedy that effortlessly blends the slapstick, the social critique and the cleverly quirky, it also revisits early colonial history and turns the spotlight on the true story of the first Korean baseball team. In this tale of rivalry and resistance to colonial oppression, a scholar-gentleman’s son refuses to follow the path his father has set for him and devotes himself to the foreign sport. Awkward team-building (in class-ridden early 20th century Korea), friendships and maybe a touch of romance await as the rookie Korean sluggers and pitchers prepare for the ultimate game against the Japanese military team. Oh, and it’s also the occasion to appreciate the finest of the finest Korean actors and see what they were like 18 years ago... Song Kang-ho, Hwang Jung-min, Kim Hye-soo and the late Kim Joo-hyuk lead the team: A different league indeed.
ABOUT NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (NYAFF)
Now in its 19th year, the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) is North America’s leading festival of popular Asian cinema, which The Village Voice has called “the best film festival in New York,” and The New York Times has called “one of the city’s most valuable events.” Launched in 2002, the festival selects only the best, strangest, and most entertaining movies to screen for New York audiences, ranging from mainstream blockbusters and art-house eccentricities to genre and cult classics. It was the first North American film festival to champion the works of Johnnie To, Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook, Takashi Miike, and other auteurs of contemporary Asian cinema. Since 2010, it has been produced in collaboration with Film at Lincoln Center.
ABOUT THE NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FOUNDATION
The New York Asian Film Foundation Inc. is America’s premier 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the exhibition and appreciation of Asian film culture in all its forms, with year-round festivals and programs, and a view to building bridges between Asia and America. The New York Asian Film Foundation’s flagship event is the annual New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), which has been presented in collaboration with the Film at Lincoln Center since 2010. Now entering its 19th year, NYAFF is North America’s leading festival of Asian cinema.