아빠가 여자를 좋아해 Lady Daddy
Released Date: 01/14/2010

  Ji-hyeon is a beautiful photographer with a secret. She used to be a man. Only a handful of people know her former identity, including her best friend, who’s a car salesman. She’s in love with her co-worker, make-up artist Joon-seo. She secretly takes photos of him and watches him through the lens of her camera when she thinks he isn’t looking. He definitely doesn’t know her secret, and she’d like to keep it that way. Joon-seo likes her in return and is constantly yet unsuccessfully trying to take their friendship to the next level. However, Ji-hyeon fears that if he were to discover the truth, she would lose even his friendship. So she keeps him at arm’s length.

  Yoo-bin is an adorable, precocious nine year old whose only birthday wish is to meet his biological father. His mother and step-father are a little hesitant, so Yoo-bin takes matters into his own hands. While his parents are on vacation, he ditches English camp to track his father down. But when he rings the doorbell, Ji-hyeon is the one who answers. That’s when Ji-hyeon finds out that she has a son, and she’s actually a father! We flash back to nine years earlier, before Ji-hyeon’s sex change. One night, a lonely and drunk Ji-hyeon sleeps with his good friend and fellow medical student Bo-yeong. Could Yoo-bin really be the result of that one night?

  Ji-yeon has absolutely no idea what to do with the little boy. She tells him that she’s his aunt and lets him stay since his parents are unreachable. In the meantime, she gets a DNA test done hoping that all this is just a mistake. Eventually, despite her unwillingness, she begins to soften towards the boy. Using a bogus story, she asks her make-up artist boyfriend to help her look like a man, so that Yoo-bin can finally meet his real father. She wears a small beard and mustache with a short wig to pull off the look.

  But masquerading as a man is harder than it seems, and nine-year-olds are very observant. When Yoo-bin wonders why his father has breast, Ji-yeon assures him that they’re not breast, just well-developed pectoral muscles because Daddy loves to work out. Ji-yeon ends up having a lot to explain. Why does Daddy talk like a girl, have girl’s clothes and not have any manly things around the house? Unfortunately she can’t keep up the act for very long.

I really like this movie. It makes me feel good because all of the characters learn and change through the lessons they learn. Ji-yeon learns to love the son she never knew. Yoo-bin learns that he can love his step-father without betraying his real father. Joon-seo learns that the heart is more important than the appearance. Though the transgender theme is somewhat unusual for Korea, the story is humorous, without making fun, and touching.

My rating: ★★★★☆
Erin Heath

 

Classical music enthusiasts of Gwangju, rejoice, for pianist Dong-Hyek Lim is coming to Gwangju! Lim is an internationally-renowned classical pianist who was born in Seoul in 1984 and is currently studying at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. He has been the recipient of many awards, competing for some of them with his brother Dong-Min, who is also a celebrated musician. In 1996, aged just twelve years old, Lim came second in the Chopin Competition for Young Pianists in Moscow amid a flurry of media attention, as he was the youngest participant in the competition.

In 2001, Lim became the youngest pianist ever to sign a recording contract with EMI Classics and has since released three albums containing music by Chopin, Bach, Ravel and Schubert. BBC Music Magazine describes his playing (in the October 2002 issue) as having “a quality of radiance that betokens real music-making. Poetry and virtuosity seem in balance; each performance manifests flow and sweep...I soon stopped making comparisons with past 'greats' and succumbed to the beauty, ease and naturalness of the playing."

Lim has played with the St Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, among others. He is currently on a tour of South Korea and will play in the Grand Hall of the Gwangju Art and Culture Center on Sunday, February 19^th. The program includes pieces by Chopin and Rachmaninov and the show starts at 6pm.

Tickets are priced at 50,000 won, 70,000 won and 80,000 won and more information can be found on the Gwangju Art and Culture Center’s website www.gjart.net.

By Emma Dooley

If your looking to feed your soccer appetite here in Gwangju and don’t know where to go – look no further than Gwangju Inter FC, our very own foreigner friendly soccer team.

GFN 98.7 FM, Gwangju and Jeollanamdo's only all English radio station, is holding a DJ contest to discover talented individuals and recruit one of them as a freelance DJ for a locally produced music program.

Please submit the application form with a demo file by January 27th. The application is available for download here. The required running time of the demo is a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 5 minutes. The demo should be produced in a radio show format.

There will be a public audition on February 4th at 1PM for those lucky individuals who pass the preliminary round.

The top five applicants will win a prize and the opportunity to become DJs or Guests at GFN. The top applicant will be hired as a freelance DJ for GFN.

What to Submit:

Preliminary Round – Send an application form (available for download here) and a demo file (in English) to gfn@gfn.or.kr. Please be sure to include your name in the files names.

Final Round – Send a resume and a personal statement to gfn@gfn@or.kr.

Evaluation:

The Preliminary Round will be based on your performance in your demo file.

The Final Round at the GFN Hall on February 4^th will be based on an interview and audition.

Schedule:

Application Period: Jan. 1^st ~ Jan. 27^th Friday

The results of the preliminary round will be announced on February 1^st.

The Final Round: Saturday, Feb. 4^th, 1PM at the GFN Hall 1F

The results of the final round will be announced on Friday, Feb. 7^th.

Prizes:

First: 1,000,000 Won, selection as a freelance DJ at GFN

Second: 500,000 Won

Third: 300,000 Won

Fourth: 200,000 Won

Fifth: 100,000 Won

※ Runner-ups will also get future chances to become DJs or Guests for GFN programming.

For more information: www.gfn.or.kr / 062)460-0991 / gfn@gfn.or.kr