Korean TV series screening November 19, 2009

Korean Ghost Stories

Classic Korean TV Series Comes to the U.S.

Screenings at The Korea Society — November through December 2009

Airing a new supernatural tale each week since 1977, KBS’ Korean Ghost Stories series has become a genuine cultural phenomenon in Korea, where it’s known by the title Hometown of Legend. The Korea Society is bringing the phenomenon to American audiences, screening eerie, hour-long episodes of the on the third Thursday of November and December, beginning on Thursday, November 19 and continuing on Thursday, December 17.

Drawn from ancient folklore, Korean Ghost Stories’ tales tell of tortured ghosts and supernatural curses in a uniquely Korean context. Women are forefront. Forced by Confucian culture to be subservient in life, in Korea’s ghost stories they return from the dead to take their revenge on the men who caused them misery. The tales also touch on Korean attitudes towards justice, suggesting that the duty of the powerful to protect the powerless transcends even the grave.

Screening Schedule

Series Introduction by Heinz Insu Fenkl – Screening of Nine-Tailed Fox
Thursday, November 19, 2009 – 6:30 PM

Author, mythology scholar and director of the Interstitial Studies Institute at SUNY New Paltz, Heinz Insu Fenkl will introduce Korean Ghost Stories with a talk on the show’s important connections to Korean folklore and culture.

The series will then begin with an episode titled Nine-Tailed Fox, which tells the story of how the Lee family made a deal with a nine-tailed fox, a malevolent spirit of Korean mythology, to ensure its prosperity for generations. But family’s peace begins to fall apart when their youngest daughter uncovers the dark secret.

Screening of Haunted House and The Reincarnated Princess
Thursday, December 17, 2009 – 6:30 PM

The second installment of Korean Ghost Stories features two spine tingling episodes. In Haunted House, the ghost of a young woman haunts the family members who sold her into a life of corruption before she died. In The Reincarnated Princess, the supernatural intrigue continues as two sisters return from the grave to seduce and punish the men who killed them.

All screenings will be presented in Korean with English subtitles.

For more information contact Yuni Cho at (212) 759-7525, ext. 323 or yuni.ny@koreasociety.org.