SCREENING Crying Fist (Jumeogi unda) Korean Cultural Service Thursday, September 15th, 6:30pm Korean Cultural Service New York 460 Park Avenue, 6th Floor New York City Free www.fist2005.com | www.koreanculture.org Crying Fist (Jumeogi unda) (2005) South Korea, Korean with English subtitles, color, 134 min Directed by Ryoo Seung-wan Starring Choi Min-Shik and Ryu Seung-Beom Fresh out of Cannes, it's Crying Fist, the long-awaited boxing movie from Ryu Seung-Wan, the director of Arahan. Director Ryu brings together powerhouse actor, Choi Min-Shik (Old Boy), and Ryu Seung-Beom (Arahan) to make a movie as invigorating and painful as a punch in the face. Choi plays a boxer at the end of his run. Middle age hasn't been kind, and he's been reduced to renting himself out as a human punching bag on the streets. For $10, frustrated men can pound him for one minute, frustrated women get to whale on him for two. On the other side of town, rage-junkie Ryu gets introduced to boxing while in juvenile lock-up. He discovers that instead of beating people up on the streets and getting arrested, he can beat people up in the ring and get paid. Both men are losers, on a downward trajectory: one is middle-aged, the other is young, but neither are going to make it very far. They are the kind of guys who don't need any enemies besides themselves. And they both sign up for a super lightweight fight as their one big break. Which means that they're going to have to fight each other. Neither character knows the other, and they don't meet during the movie, but the director turns the standard boxing movie dynamic neatly on its head. Usually we root for the underdog and cheer when Rocky beats Apollo Creed. But in Crying Fist both men are the underdog, and we're pulling for both of them. With Crying Fist, Director Ryu has created a minor masterpiece where everyone's a loser.

FILM FESTIVAL 2005 Boston Asian American Film Festival The Asian American Resource Workshop and The Institute of Contemporary Art Thursday - Sunday, September 15th - 18th The Institute of Contemporary Art 955 Boylston Street Boston, Massachusetts www.aarw.org/film_website | www.icaboston.org | www.aarw.org In 1981, the Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW) held its inaugural film event, screening a single film, Hito Hata: Raise the Banner. Capturing the unrecorded urban history of Japanese immigrants, the film was the first feature-length film about Asian Americans created by Asian Americans, playing a historic role in advancing the Asian American voice and identity in the arts. Today, AARW continues to explore culture and identity through the lens of film and is proud to be presenting the 2005 Asian American Film Festival from Thursday, September 15 to Sunday, September 18, 2005 in partnership with the Institute of Contemporary Art. This unique festival celebrates innovative film and video production by showcasing independent features, documentaries, and shorts from established and emerging Asian American directors.

FESTIVAL The 23rd Korean Harvest and Folklore (Chusok) Festival Free Korean Produce Association: 718) 842-2424 Location Date(s) New Jersey Chusok Overpeck Park Leonia, New Jersey Saturday, September 17th Sunday, September 18th 11:00am - 5:00pm Queens Chusok Flushing Meadow-Corona Park Flushing, Queens | Directions Talent Show: Saturday, September 24th Main Festival: Sunday, September 25th 10:00am - 6:00pm New York City Chusok Annual Korean Day Parade and Festival 32nd Street between Broadway & 5th (Ktown!) Saturday, October 1st 11:00am - 5:00pm Since 1982, this event has not only become the premier cultural event for the Korean American community, but has drawn New Yorkers of different ethnic backgrounds from throughout the city. Chusok, the Korean Harvest Festival (Korean Thanksgiving), is celebrated every year in Flushing Meadows Park. Expect street vendors, folk games, singing contests, and Korean arts will entertain the more than 50,000 people who attend this festival every year.. The Festival is a major celebration for the Korean community in New York. The first day of the celebration is the warm-up for performers, and the crowds will come out on Sunday, September 25th, for the main event.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY Annual Anna Erika Nursing Home Visit young Korean American Network (yKAN) Saturday, September 17th, 11:00am - 3:00pm Anna Erika Assistance Living Home 110 Henderson Avenue Staten Island www.ykan.org | julie@ykan.org It's time for yKAN's annual "Chusok" luncheon with the Korean Senior Citizens residents at the Anna Erika Adult Home in Staten Island. Anna Erika is an elderly nursing home for those who are no longer able to care for themselves with out assistance. Most of the residents are senior citizens and there are about 20 Korean residents. For over 9 years, yKAN has held annual visits to the retirement home and provided free Korean style lunches to the Korean-American residents. Since these elderly seniors often do not get a chance to eat their native foods as Anna Erika is a state subsidized retirement home, yKAN will bring catered Korean food and serve the residents. Isn't it wonderful that yKAN is able to provide these people with such a good feeling and company? Not only are we bringing Korean cuisine to their facilities, we are also going to provide gifts and entertainment! As we continue our annual event with Anna Erika, we need your help and participation! yKAN is committed to serve the 1st generation seniors, as well as, the community that we love. Please RSVP by e-mail at community@ykan.org. Also, please let us know if you need a ride from Manhattan.

THEATER No Foreigners Beyond This Point Ma-Yi Theater Company Saturday, September 17th - October 16th Tuesdays - Saturdays, 8:00pm; Saturdays / Sundays, 3:00pm Culture Project 45 Bleecker Street New York City www.ma-yitheatre.org "No Foreigners Beyond This Point" is inspired by the playwright's experiences teaching English in Guangdong (Canton), China in 1980, just after the horrors of the Cultural Revolution. The play follows two young, idealistic Americans who become the first foreign instructors at a small, isolated trade school. Their students crave access to everything Western, but the school's bureaucrats are desperate to control that access. The Americans soon find themselves living under virtual house arrest. In a world where betrayal is necessary for survival, students and teachers struggle to overcome cultural, political, and personal barriers to identity and intimacy. "No Foreigners Beyond This Point" by Warren Leight -- whose play "Side Man" won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Play, and was also a finalist that year for the Pulitzer Prize -- will debut this fall Off-Broadway in a production presented by Ma-Yi Theater Company and begins the 17th season for Ma-Yi Theater, one of the leading companies in the U.S. devoted to presenting work about the Asian experience.

CONFERENCE Korea : Heart and Seoul Austin Asian American Chamber of Commerce (AAACC) Saturday and Sunday, September 17th - 18th Texas Culinary Academy at The Domain Renaissance Austin Hotel Teravista Resident¡¯s Club Austin, Texas www.austinaacc.org Asians, by and large, derive from very independent cultures, so it is no surprise that this year the Austin Asian American Chamber of Commerce (AAACC), will host an annual fundraising program to support the Chamber's mission and programs of service. In September 2005, the AAACC will host Korea: Heart and Seoul, its 2005 Annual Fundraising Program of Events. This year's program will be held in Austin, Texas over the weekend of September 17th and 18th. Korea: Heart and Seoul will cater to families, Asian and non-Asian, from areas across the great state of Texas, for a fun-filled weekend of family - wholesome and spiritually-meaningful events.

FESTIVAL BK Party 2005 Korean Cultural Outreach Network (KCON) Sunday, September 18th, 12:00 - 6:00pm Marcus Garvey Park Madison Avenue at East 120th Street New York City Free www.kcon.org Now in its fourth year, the BK party is a daylong festival of traditional Korean drumming and food. Korean and non-Koreans alike can enjoy this fun afternoon of Korea's rich cultural heritage. About 100 Korean pungmul players (Korean drummers and dancers) participate in the BK party every year. KCON (Korean Cultural Outreach Network) is a non-profit organization, promoting Korean Culture as a medium of access by which to reach Korean-American and Non-Koreans alike. KCON exists in partnership with other College and Post-college Poongmul Groups within the New York, New Jersey area, with its core members belonging to such groups. KCON Seeks to provide an opportunity for young Korean Americans to come together to share and exchange their thoughts, insights and experiences in order to establish a network of support and communications, define our identity and to be an active voice of awareness within Korean American and Non-Korean Communities alike.

FILM SCREENING Empress Chung (2005) The Korea Society Wednesday, September 21st, 6:30pm The Lighthouse Theater 111 East 59th Street, between Park and Lexington New York City www.empresschung.com | www.koreasociety.org Empress Chung (2005) South Korea, Korean with English subtitles, animation, color, 88min Directed by Nelson Shin Empress Chung brings a well-known Korean folktale to American viewers. The movie tells the story of Shim Hakku, a civil servant in ancient Korea left destitute and blind by a court conspiracy. His daughter, Shim Chung, decides to sacrifice herself to the Dragon King in order to restore her father's sight. After an adventure that takes her through a magical world beneath the waves, she not only succeeds in restoring her father's vision, but also finds success far beyond her wildest dreams. Immediately following the screening, Heinz Insu Fenkl, director of the Interstitial Studies Institute at SUNY New Paltz, will give a lecture, "Empress Chung: Korea's Beauty and the Beast," which will discuss the folktale behind the film. Empress Chung is a triumph of geopolitics as well as animation. The director, Nelson Shin, is a Korean American animation master and head of the South Korean Akom Production Company, which provides animation for The Simpsons. Empress Chung is the first feature-length animation employing artists from both North and South Korea, and, as a consequence, the film is being welcomed throughout East Asia both as asymbol of cooperation between the two Koreas and for the story it tells. Empress Chung's mid-August release on both sides of the DMZ coincides with the 60th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese occupation in 1945, a holiday in both North and South Korea. The near-simultaneous release of a film in both North and South Korea is a first and another example of cooperation between the South and the North. Empress Chung is being presented in conjunction with The Korea Society's exhibition on Korean comic art, "Korean Comics: A Society Through Small Frames".

SCREENINGS Korean Films at the New York Film Festival Friday, September 23rd - October 9th Lincoln Center Alice Tully Hall 1941 Broadway at 65th Street New York City www.filmlinc.com/nyff/nyff.htm | www.lincolncenter.org Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (Chinjeolhan Geumjassi) (2005) South Korea, Korean with English subtitles, color, 112 min Directed by Park Chan-wook Starring Lee Yeong-ae and Choi Min-sik Friday, September 30th, 6:00pm Sunday, October 2nd, 8:30pm * Director present With this thrilling final installment of his revenge-cycle (including Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Old Boy), cult director Park Chan-wook has made his finest movie to date. Geum-ja, or "Lady Vengeance" (Lee Yeong-ae), is a pale beauty who was wrongly imprisoned at 19 for the murder of a small boy. Fourteen years later, she is released and wants to begin living a good life-which means, naturally, making the real killer pay. As always, Park displays his talent for capturing subjective experience and flaunts the storytelling panache that has often gotten him compared to Quentin Tarantino. But in its second half, the movie pushes beyond its initial Kill Bill-style exuberance and takes on enormous emotional force. Rather than exulting in spectacular violence, this dazzling film becomes an exploration of the spiritual price of vengeance, however justified it might seem. Park makes us ask: Is it possible to atone for one sin by committing another? The President's Last Bang (Geuddae Geusaramdeul) (2005) South Korea, Korean with English subtitles, color, 104 min Directed by Im Sang-soo Starring Song Jae-ho, Han Suk-kyu, Baek Yun-shik, and Jeong Won-jung Monday, October 3rd, 6:00pm Tuesday, October 4th, 6:00pm * Director present Bursting with the subversive glee of Dr. Strangelove or The Manchurian Candidate, Im Sang-soo's scabrous black comedy turns a raucous eye on recent South Korean history: the 1979 assassination of dictatorial president General Park Chung-hee by the head of his secret service (wonderfully played by Baek Yun-shik). Im is a natural-born troublemaker who's not shy about being irreverent toward this defining event in the creation of a democratic South Korea. He gives it a wild spin, conjuring a world populated by self-loathing functionaries, good-time girls (and their difficult mothers), cynical KCIA agents, and politicians who womanize as if every bang is their last. The film provoked enormous controversy in its home country-Park's family even sued to keep archival footage out of the film. But in treating the assassination as a grandiose farce, Im captures a profound truth often left out of academic textbooks: History isn't neat. Tale of Cinema (Keuk jang jeon) (2005) South Korea / France, Korean with English subtitles, color, 90 min Directed by Hong Sang-soo Starring Song Jae-ho, Han Suk-kyu, Baek Yun-shik, and Jeong Won-jung Saturday, October 1st, 6:15pm Sunday October 2nd, 3:15pm * Director present Hong Sang-soo, one of cinema's most exciting and original talents (Turning Gate, NYFF '02, Woman is the Future of Man, NYFF '04) continues his distinctly personal brand of filmmaking with this wry story about sex, lies, and cinematic one-upmanship. The less successful of two film-school graduates is hung up on the notion that the other, more flourishing classmate had stolen elements of his life to make his first movie. As art and life keep twisting in a Moebius strip, the male psyche, South Korean version, is bared with detached amusement in all its doggedness, uncertainty, and will to power. The film has a fresh, New Wave physical charm, with Seoul standing in for Paris; a daring structural playfulness; and an audacious fidelity to the perverse, self-defeating impulses of human character. 90 min. South Korea/France, 2005.

PERFORMANCE New York Soloist Ensemble Concert Korean Cultural Service Friday, September 23rd, 7:00pm Korean Cultural Service New York 460 Park Avenue, 6th Floor New York City Free www.koreanculture.org The New York Soloist Ensemble will present an evening of opera, classic pop, and gospel songs at the Korean Cultural Service New York. Directed by Joonbum Park, the group of young professional Korean musicians regularly performs in the New York area. Singers include: sopranos Ensil Choi, Ensun Kuk, Haeyoung Kang, Laura Min, and Bokyung Kim; tenors Sungyoung Moon, Youngkyun Jo, and Sunhun Choi; baritones Yohan Park and Donghyun Park; and bass Taehoon Kim.

BENEFIT DINNER KALCA Annual Benefit Dinner: "Uniting Voices, Developing Leaders" The Korean American League of Civic Action (KALCA) Thursday, September 29th, 6:30pm Astoria World Manor 2522 Astoria Boulevard Astoria, New York www.kalca.org | veronica@kalca.org The Korean American League of Civic Action (KALCA) cordially invites you to attend KALCA's Annual Beneift Dinner. Our keynote speaker this year is K.W. Lee, noted journalist and lecturer from California. This year's honorees are Y.S. Chi, Vice Chairman of Elsevier and the Citizens Union Foundation of the City of New York. Please RSVP by September 22nd at veronica@kalca.org.

EXHIBITION Archivist of the Yellow Peril The Museum of Chinese in the Americas Now thru December 31st Tuesday - Sunday, Noon - 6:00pm (open Friday until 7:00pm) The Museum of Chinese in the Americas 70 Mulberry Street, 2nd Floor at Bayard Street New York City Museum of Chinese in the Americas A seminal collection of Americana that both demonizes and humanizes the Asian American community is highlighted in Archivist of the "Yellow Peril": Yoshio Kishi Collecting for a New America, drawing from the collection of former film editor and lifelong New Yorker, Yoshio Kishi and actress Irene Yah Ling Sun. Yellow peril is a phrase originating in the 19th century referring to the supposed economic, political, and social threat that peoples of Asian ancestry posed to the United State's Anglo American community. This threat was often personified in popular media as negative, menacing caricatures, such as the notorious Fu Manchu. A rare glimpse into the Kishi/Sun collection, Archivist examines the real versus imagined realities of Asian and Asian Americans. It counters a provocative selection of books, movie posters, political cartoons and paper ephemera that document stereotypic representations of Asian peoples with art and literature by Asian American writers and intellectuals who fought to erase these perversions. Among the rarer works on view are trading card advertisements from the 1870s, sheet music to songs like "Ching, Ching, Chinaman" (1923) and first-edition books including "The Story of Wretched Flea, A Chinese Boy" (1901). The harsh, degrading images are humanized by moving looks from the Asian-American side, like "Fighting Americans, Too" (1943), a newsletter by Japanese-American soldiers at the Topaz internment camp in Utah. The exhibit is curated by New York University's John Kuo Wei Tchen, who will be on hand with Kishi and Sun at an opening reception September 6th from 6:00 - 8:00pm.

EXHIBITION Korean Comics: A Society Through Small Frames The Korea Society Now Thru October 28th The Korea Society 950 Third Avenue, Eighth Floor New York City Free www.koreasociety.org Korean Comics: A Society Through Small Frames examines the changing social realities of Korean society from the 1950s through the 1990s by reading its comic books. Featuring the works of seventeen of the best-known artists, the exhibition provides a running commentary that reflects the lives of ordinary people-at once joyful, satirical and penetrating. What shines most prominently through these works is an engaged and vigorous civil society in Korea, continuously challenging and energizing the status quo in whimsical and provocative ways. By so doing, they play an important role in characterizing and distinguishing the culture, sensibility and sentiment of Modern Korea. There will be a lecture by Heinz Fenkl, "Life and Comix: 1960s Korea" during the opening reception.

REQUEST FOR SUBMISSIONS Manuscripts for Developmental Consideration Second Generation November 1st, 2005 www.2g.org | info@2g.org Second Generation is currently accepting unsolicited manuscripts through November 1, 2005, for development consideration, especially for our In The Works reading series. Second Generation is a non-profit theater company, dedicated since 1997 to bringing Asian American stories to the world's stage. In The Works represents the developmental, literary wing of Second Generation's productions. Since its inception in 1999, the series has presented more than a dozen new plays by emerging Asian American playwrights. The In The Works process begins with a workshop and rehearsal period designed to provide each writer with a safe and productive developmental environment, including an experienced director and cast, culminating in a public staged reading. Past events have been hosted by some of New York City's most venerable artistic and theatrical institutions, including the NYSF/Joseph Papp Public Theater, the Asian-American Writers' Workshop, the Culture Project/45 Bleecker, HERE Arts Center, Abingdon Theatre Company and the Asia Society. Submission Guidelines: Manuscripts should be bound, on letter-size 8.5" x 11" paper in a readable font, with a title page containing all relevant contact information for the author and/or author's representative. Please include a resume and cover letter with your submission, including all previous development, readings and/or productions, if applicable, of the submitted work. If there are any options, rights or other contractual obligations related to the submission, please provide all pertinent details in your cover letter.