IMPHAL, India (AFP) ― When separatist rebels in the remote Indian state of Manipur banned Hindi movies a decade ago, they had little idea it would trigger a cultural invasion from a country more than 2,000 miles away. But when Bollywood was forced out, the Koreans moved in. In the markets of the state capital Imphal, shops are packed with DVDs of South Korean films and television soap operas, a...

Lena Park, also known as Park Jung-hyun, almost always shines more on the stage than on TV entertainment shows, as her strength in vocal and theatrical expressions is more obvious at concert venues. Plus, born and raised in Los Angeles, her mother tongue was English, which has made it quite challenging for her to appeal to a broad spectrum of the Korean audience in her early music career in Kore...

Exhibitions “Paulo Robersi: Photographs”: A retrospective exhibition on Italian photographer Paulo Robersi is under way at 10 CORSO COMO. Robersi is referred to as currently one of the three best fashion photographers in the world along with Steven Meisel and Peter Lindbergh. The exhibition runs through May 8 at 10 CORSO COMO SEOUL in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul. Admission is free. Minors are...

Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue (U.K.) Opened May 5 Animation, Adventure, Family. Directed by Greg Tiernan. On the Island of Sodor where Thomas lives, a new Search and Rescue Center is being built. Greedy Diesel, thinking he is better than the “steamies”, decides to take the Jobi logs to the rescue center himself and races down the tracks with the Jobi logs. Thomas sees that Diesel is goi...

LOS ANGELES ― As she has crisscrossed the country tirelessly promoting her latest directorial effort, “The Beaver,” Jodie Foster has been keeping in touch via text with Mel Gibson. When the star of your film is also your close friend and Hollywood’s leading persona non grata, the messages can get a tad awkward. “Mel said, ‘I will be dragged through gravel for you,’” Foster said in Beverly Hills....

KANSAS CITY ― Turning your body into that of a god is a weird process. Chris Hemsworth knows. Once he was tapped to play the title character in “Thor,” the Australian actor threw himself into a body-building regimen that would transform his solid but unspectacular physique into one worthy of a Marvel superhero. “I don’t naturally have the kind of weight Thor has,” Hemsworth said. “I ate tons of...

Two prints by artist Choi Young-wook will be sold through “social shopping” for the first time in Korea, a mobile art application provider said Thursday. Culture media company artday, which runs the mobile application “artday” on both Android and Apple smartphones, said two versions of his internationally-popular print work “Karma” will be sold both on the application and the company’s website a...

HONG KONG (AP) ― May is the month of Aaron Kwok in Chinese movies. The dancer-turned-singer-turned-actor stars in two of the month’s major releases ― Gu Changwei’s romance “Love for Life,” and Oxide Pang’s crime thriller “The Detective 2” ― and has earned rave reviews from both directors. The 45-year-old Hong Kong entertainer’s versatile performances in two closely timed releases are testimony ...

Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc, or the Little Singers of Saint Marc, is set to start a tour hoping to give Korean audiences a flavor of the 2004 French hit film “The Chorus”. Founded in 1986, the choir recorded the entire soundtrack of “The Chorus,” nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category in 2005, with the song “Look to Your Path” earning a nomination for Be...

The world famous opera tenor Paul Potts revealed his secret to outstanding auditions. The iconic singer, who touched fans with his beautiful voice and stories of challenge, made his official debut via “Britain’s Got Talent.” The program, where participants compete each other until the final, gave inspiration to several Korean programs such as “Superstar K.” Due to the frenzy of survival auditio...

Maestro Chung Myung-whun will conduct a grand scale chorus assisted by the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra as a part of efforts to promote PyeongChang’s bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, the event organizer announced on Tuesday. World Harmony Chorus, non-profit organization supporting PyeongChang’s bid campaign, announced that a chorus of unprecedented size, conducted by Chung, will perform at 7 p....

The luxurious treasures enjoyed by the ruling class in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries have been gathered at the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan-dong, central Seoul. Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the exhibition “Princely Treasures: European Masterpieces 1600-1800 from the Victoria and Albert Museum” showcases a wide range of 101 objects including painting, ...