Entertainment
‘Lost Daughter’ wins top prizes at Independent Spirit Awards
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter,” “Drive My Car” and “Summer of Soul” were among the big winners at the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards Sunday.
The ceremony hosted by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally was held in a tent by the beach in Santa Monica, broadcast on AMC and IFC. It is the cool, casual counterpart to some of the more traditional film awards shows.
“If you don’t win, you can just walk straight into the ocean,” Offerman said.
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Gyllenhaal won best feature, director and best screenplay for her adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novel “The Lost Daughter.”
Through tears, Gyllenhaal said that more than anything she believes in love. She was effusive in her praise for her crew.
“You were the first people to tell me I was a director,” she said. “Thank you to Netflix — I can’t even believe this — for your support. … Nobody ever makes their first movie and comes out loving their financiers.”
“I love independent film,” Gyllenhaal added. “I grew up making independent film.”
Japan’s “Drive My Car, which has also been nominated for a best picture Oscar, picked up best international feature.
Taylour Paige won best female lead for “Zola,” which was based on a Twitter thread about a wild trip to Florida.
“Wow, I am in shock. I wrote something because I’m not eloquent and I’m drunk,” Paige said.
She thanked her grandmother who passed away on the day she got word of her nomination and Zola for, “knowing that your story was worth telling.”
Simon Rex won best male lead for playing an ex-porn star in Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket.” Rex said his career was in the dumps before Baker called him for the shoestring film.
“I’m reeling from the whole experience,” Rex said. “This is basically a glorified student film…I’m grateful and humbled.”
Mullally and Offerman got the show off to a lively start, both in three piece suits and vests with no shirt underneath. Sarah Silverman made an appearance in a pre-taped segment offering her services as a backup host because Mullally and Offerman joined Twitter “before 2015.”
The married co-hosts said they’d hoped to be the biggest Hollywood couple in the room and were dismayed that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard were there to upstage them.
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“A-listers and indie stars? Pick a lane you greedy bastards,” Offerman said.
They acknowledged Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Offerman said he hopes “Putin (expletive) off and goes home” and implored the audience to send him off with a “Spirit Awards salute.” Many raised their hands with a middle finger.
The show’s honorary chair Kristen Stewart also spoke about the war.
“We’re compelled to stand with the people of Ukraine,” Stewart said. “We stand with the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing this war.”
Historically, the Spirit Awards are held on the Saturday afternoon before the Oscars, but this year moved up a few weeks.
“Summer of Soul” won best documentary. The film brings back to life the largely forgotten Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969.
“I’m not going to cry right now, I’m not, I’m not,” “Summer of Soul” director Questlove said.
Troy Kotsur got another boost before the Oscars, winning best supporting actor for “CODA.” He also won the Screen Actors Guild prize.
“I can feel the spirit of the arts and we can celebrate together,” Kotsur said.
“Squid Game’s” Lee Jung-jae also followed up his SAG win with a Spirit Award.
Marlee Matlin, who presented the first screenplay award to Michael Sarnoski for “Pig,” implored the screenwriters to think of deaf actors when crafting scripts.
Andrew Garfield made an appearance to present the Robert Altman Award to his friend Fran Kranz, who he acted with in a Mike Nichols play. Kranz’s debut “Mass” is a small ensemble about a mediation in the aftermath of a school shooting between parents of a victim and parents of the perpetrator.
Best supporting female went to Ruth Negga, for her turn in Rebecca Hall’s “Passing.” A technical glitch muted the first part of her virtual speech. The black-and-white Netflix film also won best cinematography, for Edu Grau
The show can sometimes serve as a preview of what will happen on Oscar night. Last year, Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” picked up best feature and director at the Spirit Awards before going on to win the top prizes at the Oscars. “Moonlight,” “Spotlight,” “Birdman” and “12 Years a Slave” also all won at the Spirits before taking best picture at the Oscars.
Because of their production budgets, many top awards contenders this year were not eligible, including “Belfast,” “King Richard” and “The Power of the Dog.” To be considered, films must have cost less than $22.5 million to make.
‘Spider-Man’ surpasses $1B globally in second weekend
Peter Parker’s good fortune continued over the holiday weekend as Hollywood prepares to close the books on a turbulent 2021. Even with some mighty competition from new Matrix and Sing movies, and rising concerns over the omicron variant, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” stayed in the No. 1 spot and netted a few more milestones too including crossing the $1 billion mark globally.
According to studio estimates Sunday “Spider-Man” added $81.5 million over the three-day weekend, down 69% from its first weekend. The Sony and Marvel film has now grossed $467 million from North American theaters, more than doubling the domestic grosses of 2021′s previous No. 1 film, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”
With $587.1 million from 61 overseas markets, in just 12 days of release, “Spider-Man" has grossed $1.05 billion globally. It's the first film of the pandemic to cross $1 billion and is tied with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” for being the third-fastest film ever to do so — and this without the benefit of its release in China.
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Universal’s “Sing 2” came in second place with an estimated $23.8 million, while Warner Bros.' “The Matrix Resurrections” grossed $12 million to take third place.
The animated musical “Sing 2” features high-profile celebrity talent including Matthew McConaughey, Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon and Bono, as well as a jukebox soundtrack full of well-known hits. Since its release Wednesday, it’s made $41 million ($1.6 million of that came from Thanksgiving weekend showings) from North America and $65 million worldwide.
“We’re extraordinarily pleased,” said Jim Orr, Universal's president of domestic distribution.
Orr said the stellar CinemaScore (A+) and audience scores suggest that the film will continue to perform well in the next few weeks, when many kids are still out of school for the holidays.
The fourth Matrix also opened on Wednesday and has earned an estimated $22.5 million in its first five days in North America. The film, directed by Lana Wachowski and starring Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, is currently streaming on HBO Max as well. Globally, it’s grossed $69.8 million to date.
While the studio was hoping for a stronger box office, Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros.' head of domestic distribution, said the movie achieved what they were looking for as an overall strategy including HBO Max.
“The Matrix Resurrections" is the last of the 18 Warner Bros. films released in 2021 to debut both in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously. Starting in 2022, the studio will have a 45-day exclusive theatrical window on their films.
In fourth place was Disney and 20th Century’s “The King’s Man,” a prequel to the action-comedy Kingsman series starring Ralph Fiennes. It came in slightly under expectations with $6.4 million from the weekend and $10 million from its first five days. The audience skewed heavily male (65%).
The Kurt Warner biopic “American Underdog” opened on Christmas Day and has made an estimated $6.2 million in its two days in release to round out the top five. Zachary Levi stars as Warner, the quarterback who went from undrafted free agent to Hall of Famer.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” expanded nationwide on Christmas, after playing in limited release for a month, and added $2.3 million bringing its total to $3.7 million. And right behind it was the Denzel Washington-directed drama “A Journal For Jordan,” which to $2.2 million.
With just a few days left in 2021, the North American box office is currently sitting at $4.3 billion and is likely to net out around $4.4 billion. Pre-pandemic, it was normal for a year's box office to surpass $11 billion.
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“To say was a roller-coaster year is an understatement,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore, Inc. “The marketplace is still facing challenges from the pandemic, but what an amazing capper to one of the most incredible years ever at the box office."
He added: “The future of the movie theater a year ago was a big question mark, and a year later it’s here to stay.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” $81.5 million.
2. “Sing 2,” $23.8 million.
3. “The Matrix Resurrections,” $12 million.
4. “The King’s Man,” $6.4 million.
5. “American Underdog,” $6.2 million.
6. “West Side Story,” $2.8 million.
7. “Licorice Pizza,” $2.3 million.
8. “A Journal For Jordan,” $2.2 million.
9. “Encanto,” $2 million.
10. “83,” $1.8 million.
Ferdous begins shooting for 'Dampara'
Good news for Ferdous Ahmed fans, as the popular actor is slated to begin shooting for Suddhoman Choitan's next film 'Dampara' on Thursday.
Based on a true story, 'Dampara' portrays the heroic deeds of a daring police officer, Shamsul Haque, who lost his life during the Liberation War of 1971 on active duty.
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While Ferdous will play the lead role of Shamsul and Ashna Habib Bhabna that of his wife's, Mahmuda Haque Chowdhury, Anan Zaman wrote the script.
Shamsul was the superintendent of Chattogram Police in 1971. Pakistani armed forces brutally tortured him to death during the Liberation War on April 17, 1971.
Anan Zaman said, “How Shamsul Haque fought against the Pakistani forces and how he was killed will be shown in the film.”
'Nonajoler Kabbo’ hits theatres in Bangladesh
‘Nonajoler Kabbo’ (The Salt in our Waters), one of the most anticipated films of the year, got released in the movie houses of Bangladesh on Friday.
For the first week, the film is being showcased in 10 theatres including all four branches of Star Cineplex (Bashundhara City, Shimanto Shambhar, Sony Square in Mirpur and SKS Tower, Mohakhali), Blockbuster Cinemas (Jamuna Future Park), and Shyamoli Cinema (Shyamoli), for the moviegoers in Dhaka.
Apart from these theatres, the film is also being screened in Cinemascope Narayanganj, Silverscreen and Sugandha Cinema In Chattogram and Madhuban in Bogura.
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On Thursday night, a special screening of the film was arranged for the press at the Bangladesh Film Archive, Agargaon in the capital.
Journalists and media personnel from TV, print, online and other platforms watched the show, and director Rezwan Shahriar Sumit, actor Tasnova Tamanna and other artists of the film answered questions from the media.
Disney’s 'Eternals' tops domestic box office for 2nd weekend
Disney and Marvel’s “Eternals” took a steep drop in its second weekend in theaters, but it’s still hanging on to first place ahead of newcomers like “Clifford the Big Red Dog.”
“Eternals” added $27.5 million over the weekend, bringing its domestic total to $118.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The film, directed by Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao and starring Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani and Gemma Chan, fell 61% from its debut. Though not uncommon for a big superhero tentpole, it was significantly steeper than the 52% drop seen by the last Disney and Marvel offering, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”
Both played exclusively in theaters, but the main difference is that “Shang-Chi” simply got better ratings from audiences and critics. “Shang-Chi” also became available to stream on Disney+ this weekend. “Eternals” has made $281.4 million globally to date.
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Second place went to “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” which opened in theaters during the week and was also available to stream at home for Paramount+ subscribers. It made an estimated $16.4 million from 3,700 theaters over the weekend and $22 million across its five days in release.
Though critics were not impressed (it has a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences were more forgiving, giving it a promising A CinemaScore. And “Clifford” managed to do this in the face of uncertain moviegoing conditions for families.
“There’s been a lot of talk about family audiences and whether or not they want to go to the movie theater," said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s senior media analyst. “I think this is a really solid debut. It shows there is a demand for family films on the small screen and the big screen."
Blockbusters rounded out the top five with “Dune” in third place with $5.5 million, “No Time to Die” in fourth with $4.6 million and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” in fifth with $4 million. Notably, “Venom 2” this weekend became only the second pandemic-era film to cross the $200 million mark at the domestic box office. The other was “Shang-Chi.”
More and more awards hopefuls are entering the specialty box office as well, and many are making their way into the top 10. This weekend Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical film “Belfast” made $1.8 million from 580 screens in its debut. In its second weekend, “Spencer,” featuring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, pulled in $1.5 million from 1,265 screens. And even in its fourth weekend, Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch" continues to do well, adding $1.8 million and bringing its total to $11.6 million.
Outside the top 10, the Julia Child documentary “Julia” opened on five screens to $20,796.
“These films are in fewer theaters, but there is a demand for independent film which is one of the categories that everyone thought would be really hurt by the pandemic,” said Dergarabedian. “We’re really seeing signs of a much more normalized marketplace."
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Next weekend, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” faces off against the Will Smith awards hopeful “King Richard.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Eternals,” $27.5 million.
2. “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” $16.4 million.
3. “Dune,” $5.5 million.
4. “No Time to Die,” $4.6 million.
5. “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” $4 million.
6. “Ron’s Gone Wrong,” $2.2 million.
7. “The French Dispatch,” $1.8 million.
8. “Belfast,” $1.8 million.
9. “Spencer,” $1.5 million.
10. “Antlers,” $1.2 million.
'Sesame Street' debuts Asian American muppet
What's in a name? Well, for Ji-Young, the newest muppet resident of “Sesame Street,” her name is a sign she was meant to live there.
“So, in Korean traditionally the two syllables they each mean something different and Ji means, like, smart or wise. And Young means, like, brave or courageous and strong,” Ji-Young explained during a recent interview. “But we were looking it up and guess what? Ji also means sesame.”
At only 7 years old, Ji-Young is making history as the first Asian American muppet in the “Sesame Street” canon. She is Korean American and has two passions: rocking out on her electric guitar and skateboarding. The children’s TV program, which first aired 52 years ago this month, gave The Associated Press a first look at its adorable new occupant.
Ji-Young will formally be introduced in “See Us Coming Together: A Sesame Street Special.” Simu Liu, Padma Lakshmi and Naomi Osaka are among the celebrities appearing in the special, which will drop Thanksgiving Day on HBO Max, “Sesame Street” social media platforms and on local PBS stations.
Some of Ji-Young’s personality comes from her puppeteer. Kathleen Kim, 41 and Korean American, got into puppetry in her 30s. In 2014, she was accepted into a “Sesame Street” workshop. That evolved into a mentorship and becoming part of the team the following year. Being a puppeteer on a show Kim watched growing up was a dream come true. But helping shape an original muppet is a whole other feat.
“I feel like I have a lot of weight that maybe I’m putting on myself to teach these lessons and to be this representative that I did not have as a kid,” Kim said. But fellow puppeteer Leslie Carrara-Rudolph — who performs Abby Cadabby — reminded her, “It’s not about us ... It’s about this message.”
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Ji-Young’s existence is the culmination of a lot of discussions after the events of 2020 — George Floyd’s death and anti-Asian hate incidents. Like a lot of companies, “Sesame Street” reflected on how it could “meet the moment,” said Kay Wilson Stallings, executive vice-president of Creative and Production for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind “Sesame Street.”
Sesame Workshop established two task forces — one to look at its content and another to look at its own diversity. What developed was Coming Together, a multi-year initiative addressing how to talk to children about race, ethnicity and culture.
One result was 8-year-old Tamir. While not the show's first Black muppet, he was one of the first used to talk about subjects like racism.
“When we knew we were going to be doing this work that was going to focus on the Asian and Pacific Islanders experience, we of course knew we needed to create an Asian muppet as well,” Stallings said.
These newer muppets — their personalities and their looks — were remarkably constructed in a matter of a months. The process normally takes at least a couple of years. There are outside experts and a cross-section of employees known as the “culture trust” who weigh in on every aspect of a new muppet, Stallings said.
For Kim, it was crucial that Ji-Young not be “generically pan-Asian.”
“Because that’s something that all Asian Americans have experienced. They kind of want to lump us into this monolithic ‘Asian,'" Kim said. “So it was very important that she was specifically Korean American, not just like, generically Korean, but she was born here.”
One thing Ji-Young will help teach children is how to be a good “upstander.” “Sesame Street” first used the term on its “The Power of We” TV special last year, which featured Tamir.
“Being an upstander means you point out things that are wrong or something that someone does or says that is based on their negative attitude towards the person because of the color of their skin or the language they speak or where they’re from,” Stallings said. “We want our audience to understand they can be upstanders.”
In “See Us Coming Together,” Sesame Street is preparing for Neighbor Day where everyone shares food, music or dance from their culture. Ji-Young becomes upset after a kid, off screen, tells her “to go back home,” an insult commonly flung at Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. But she feels empowered after Sesame Street's other Asian American residents, guest stars and friends like Elmo assure her that she belongs as much as anyone else.
The fact that Ji-Young was created to counter anti-Asian sentiment makes her more special to Kim in some ways.
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“I remember like the Atlanta shootings and how terrifying that was for me,” Kim said. “My one hope, obviously, is to actually help teach what racism is, help teach kids to be able to recognize it and then speak out against it. But then my other hope for Ji-Young is that she just normalizes seeing different kinds of looking kids on TV.”
Vanessa Leung, co-executive director of Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, is excited about Ji-Young. The organization was not involved in Ji-Young's creation but previously consulted on anti-racism content for Sesame Workshop. It matters when Asian American families, especially with many of them being immigrant families, can see themselves reflected in an institution like “Sesame Street," Leung said.
“It sparks curiosity and early understanding of the diversity of our community, the beauty in the diversity of our community,” Leung said.
Ji-Young will be heavily present throughout the show's 53rd season next year, Stallings reassured. She also won't just be utilized for content related to racial justice. She will pop up in various digital programs, live-action and animated.
As the new kid on the street, Ji-Young is looking forward to showing her friends and neighbors aspects of Korean culture such as the food. She loves cooking dishes like tteokbokki (chewy rice cakes) with her halmoni (grandmother). And she already has one “Sesame Street” friend who wants a sample.
“I would love to try it,” said Ernie, who joined Ji-Young's interview. “You know, I’ve tried bulgogi. I really like bulgogi. I’m gonna guess that maybe old buddy Bert has not tried Korean food.”
Having already made several famous friends on “Sesame Street,” is there anyone Ji-Young still really wants to meet?
“The Linda Lindas because they're so cool,” Ji-Young said, referring to the teenage punk rock band. “And they rock out and they’re cool girls and most of them are Asian. They’re my heroes. If we can get the Linda Lindas on ‘Sesame Street,’ I would show them around.”
Likee’s #KnowledgeMonth campaign ends; 5,470 videos uploaded by 1,904 users
Likee Bangladesh’s recent initiative #KnowledgeMonth, organized in partnership with 10 Minute School, has been ended which received wide acclaim from different regions and turned out to be a successful activity owing to its potential to create an enabling and healthy online atmosphere for knowledge sharing.
Likee launched the campaign on September 3 to encourage its users creating and sharing videos focusing on various academic and co-curricular skills, which would not only enlighten people but also help them showcase their creative side.
During the campaign, a total of 5,470 videos were uploaded by 1,904 users, and a staggering number of 35.8 million engagements were recorded. Likee users have uploaded videos on different categories such as English learning, football, art & painting, cooking with a concentrated focus on two streams - #howto and #education.
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Many famous figures from different fields such as teachers, researchers, sportspersons, artists, culinary and life-skill enthusiasts and renowned nutritionists have taken part in the campaign and come up with enlightening videos.
Abdullah Al Shihab, 10 Minute School’s PR and Communication Manager, said about managing the overall operations of the collaborative campaign of 10 Minute School and Likee, “We started this #KnowledgeMonth campaign with a goal of ensuring educational value on the short video platform as Likee which people typically use for entertainment purpose.”
The campaign segments were distributed according to the platform users’ need to reach out to each category of them easily.
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Tamanna Chowdhury, a clinical dietitian and nutritionist, said about this campaign, “Through my short videos I usually talk about diet tips and nutrition. Of late, I have come across Likee Bangladesh's #KnowledgeMonth campaign, which seems to be a quite a gem for me. I have shared many videos portraying different pertinent aspects related to nutritional needs. I hope people will see those and be aware of their health.”
On the other hand, Iffat, another participant, said, “Apart from showcasing my cooking skills, I have also got to learn about different life skills including cooking, art, math, spoken English etc. I am happy as after joining #KnowledgeMonth I was able to create a new cooking account and my cooking account got the verification as well.”
Inspired by the response this campaign has received, Likee is encouraged to arrange such campaigns in the future to provide a platform to the video creators for displaying their personal talents and help them expand their career options as well. This type of campaign is expected to create an ambiance where content creators will be able to acquire and develop knowledge together and add value to the fellow users’ experience.
Read Short video platforms are new way of building communities: Head of Likee Operations in Bangladesh
Russian filmmakers land after shoot aboard space station
A Soyuz space capsule carrying a cosmonaut and two Russian filmmakers has landed after a 3 1/2-hour trip from the International Space Station.
The capsule, descending under a red-and-white striped parachute after entering Earth’s atmosphere, landed upright in the steppes of Kazakhstan on schedule at 0435 GMT Sunday with Oleg Novitskiy, Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko aboard.
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Actress Peresild and film director Shipenko rocketed to the space station on Oct. 5 for a 12-day stint to film segments of a movie titled “Challenge,” in which a surgeon played by Peresild rushes to the space station to save a crew member who needs an urgent operation in orbit. Novitskiy, who spent more than six months aboard the space station, is to star as the ailing cosmonaut in the movie.
After the landing, which sent plumes of dust flying high in the air, ground crews extracted the three space flyers from the capsule and placed them in seats set up nearby as they adjusted to the pull of gravity. They then will be taken to a medical tent for examination.
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All appeared healthy and cheerful. Peresild smiled and held a large bouquet of white flowers as journalists clustered around her.
Seven astronauts remain aboard the space station: Russia's Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov; Americans Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur; Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency; and Japan's Aki Hoshide.
‘Squid Game’ strikes nerve in debt-ridden South Korea
“Squid Game," a brutal Netflix survival drama about desperate adults competing in deadly children’s games for a chance to escape severe debt hit a little too close to home for Lee Chang-keun.
The show has captivated global audiences since its September debut, becoming one of Netflix’s biggest hits. It has struck raw nerves at home, where there’s growing discontent over soaring personal debt, decaying job markets and stark income inequalities worsened by financial crises in the past two decades.
In the dystopian horrors of Squid Game, Lee sees a reflection of himself in the show’s protagonist Seong Gi-hun, a laid-off autoworker coping with a broken family and struggling with constant business failures and gambling problems.
Seong gets beaten by gangster creditors into signing off his organs as collateral, but then receives a mysterious offer to play in a series of six traditional Korean children’s games for a shot at winning $38 million.
The South Korea-produced show pits Seong against hundreds of other financially distressed players in a hyper-violent competition for the ultimate prize, with losers being killed at every round.
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It is raising disturbing questions about the future of one of Asia’s wealthiest economies, where people who once crowed about the “Miracle of the Han River” now moan about “Hell Joseon,” a sarcastic reference to a hierarchical kingdom that ruled Korea before the 20th century.
“Some scenes were very hard to watch,” said Lee, a worker at South Korea’s Ssangyong Motors who struggled with financial difficulties and depression after the carmaker laid him and 2,600 other employees off while filing for bankruptcy protection in 2009.
After years of protests, court battles and government intervention, Lee and hundreds of other Ssangyong workers returned to work in recent years. But not before a spate of suicides among co-workers and family members who were plunged into financial misery.
“In Squid Game, you see characters scrambling to survive after being laid off at work, struggling to operate fried chicken diners or working as ‘daeri’ drivers,” who get paid for driving drunk people home in their own cars, Lee said. “That reminded me of my co-workers who died.”
Lee said he and his colleagues struggled to find work and were backlisted by other auto companies that considered them militant labor activists.
A 2016 report by Korea University medical researchers said at least 28 laid-off Ssangyong workers or their relatives died of suicide or severe health problems, including those linked to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Squid Game is one of many South Korean shows inspired by economic woes. Its dark tale of inequality and class has drawn comparisons with Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning “Parasite,” another pandemic-era hit with stunning visuals and violence exposing the underside of South Korea’s economic success story.
South Korea’s rapid rebuilding from the devastation of the 1950-53 Korean War has been spectacular –- from Samsung’s emergence as a global technology giant to the immense popularity of K-pop and movies that’s expanding beyond Asia — millions of South Koreans now grapple with the dark side of that rise.
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“Class problems are severe everywhere in the world, but it seems South Korean directors and writers tackle the issue with more boldness,” said Im Sang-soo, a film director.
In Squid Game, Seong’s troubles trace back to his firing a decade earlier from the fictional Dragon Motors, a nod to Ssangyong, which means “double dragon.”
Hundreds of workers, including Lee, occupied a Ssangyong plant for weeks in 2009 to protest the layoffs before being dispersed by riot police who besieged them, assaulted them with batons, shields and water-cannons and dropped tear gas cannisters by helicopter.
That violent standoff injured dozens and is woven into Squid Game's narrative. Seong has flashbacks about a Dragon coworker killed by strikebreakers while organizing fellow game participants to create barricades with dormitory beds to block murderous sneak night attacks by more vicious opponents looking to eliminate the competition.
Ultimately, it's every person for themselves in Squid Game's cruel battle royale between hundreds of people willing to risk even their lives for a shot at freeing themselves from the nightmare of insurmountable debts.
The show features other crushed or marginalized characters, like Ali Abdul, an undocumented factory worker from Pakistan with severed fingers and a boss who refuses to pay him, epitomizing how the country exploits some of the poorest people in Asia while ignoring dangerous working conditions and wage theft.
And Kang Sae-byeok, a pickpocketing North Korean refugee who had known nothing but rough life on the streets and is desperate for money to rescue her brother from an orphanage and to smuggle her mother out of the North.
Many South Koreans despair of advancing in a society where good jobs are increasingly scarce and housing prices have skyrocketed, enticing many to borrow heavily to gamble on risky financial investments or cryptocurrencies.
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Household debt, at over 1,800 trillion ($1.5 trillion), now exceeds the country's annual economic output. Tough times have pushed a record-low birth rate lower as struggling couples avoid having babies.
Squid Game’s global success is hardly a cause for pride, Se-Jeoung Kim, a South Korean lawyer based in Poland, wrote in a Seoul Shinmun newspaper column.
“Foreigners will come to you, saying they too watched Squid Game with fascination, and may ask whether Ali’s situation in the drama could really happen in a country that’s as wealthy and neat as South Korea, and I would have nothing to say,” she said.
Kim Jeong-wook, another Ssangyong worker who spent months with Lee perched atop a chimney at a Ssangyong factory in 2015, demanding their jobs back, said he couldn't watch Squid Game after episode one.
“It was too traumatic for me,” he said.
When the music stops: Afghan ‘happy place’ falls silent
A few years after the Taliban were ousted in 2001, and with Afghanistan still in ruins, Ahmad Sarmast left his home in Melbourne, Australia, on a mission: to revive music in the country of his birth.
The school he founded was a unique experiment in inclusiveness for the war-ravaged nation — with orphans and street kids in the student body, it sought to bring a measure of joy back to Kabul. The Taliban had notoriously banned music.
Last week, he watched in horror from his home in Melbourne images of the Taliban taking over the Afghan capital, capping a lightning offensive that restored the religious militia to power and stunned the world.
Sarmat’s two mobile phones haven’t stopped ringing since. Many of the calls are from panicked students asking him what happens next. Will the school be closed? Would the Taliban outlaw music again? Are their treasured instruments safe?
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“I’m heartbroken,” Sarmast told The Associated Press. “It was so unexpected and so unpredictable that it was like an explosion, and everyone was caught by surprise,” he said of the Taliban takeover.
Sarmast had left Kabul on July 12 for his summer holiday, never imagining that just few weeks later the whole project and everything he’d worked for the past 20 years would be endangered. He’s terrified for his 350 students and 90 faculty, many of whom have already gone into hiding. Reports of Taliban searching for adversaries door-to-door have fanned their worries.
“We are all very, very fearful about the future of music, we are very fearful about our girls, about our faculty,” he said. Sarmast, who spoke in a Zoom interview, requested that additional details about the students and school not be published, because he did not want to endanger them.
In a sign of what the future holds, radio and TV stations stopped broadcasting music, except for Islamic songs — though it was not clear if the change in programming was a result of Taliban edicts or an effort by the stations to avoid potential problems with the insurgents.
Sarmast, 58, the son of a famous Afghan composer and conductor, had sought asylum in Australia in the 90s, a time of civil war in Afghanistan.
In 1996, the Taliban swept into power. The ultra-religious movement banned music as sinful, with the sole exception being some religious vocal pieces. Cassette tapes were ripped apart and strung from trees.
But after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Islamists, Sarmast dreamed of renewal. After obtaining a doctorate in musicology, he returned to Afghanistan and in 2010 founded the Afghanistan National Institute of Music.
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Donations from foreign governments and private sponsors soon poured in. The World Bank gave a cash grant of 2 million U.S. dollars. Almost 5 tons of musical equipment — violins, pianos, guitars and oboes — were trucked in, a gift from the German government and the German Society of Music Merchants. Students learned to play traditional Afghan string instruments like the rubab, sitar and sarod. The tabla drum was among the favorites.
“It was such an amazing school, everything was perfect,” said Elham Fanous, 24, who was the first student to graduate from the music institute in 2014, after spending seven years at the school.
“It changed my life and I really owe it to them,” he said of the school, which he describes as Afghanistan’s LaGuardia, a public high school in New York specialized in teaching music and arts. A visitor once called it “Afghanistan’s happy place.”
“I cannot believe this is happening,” Fanous added, speaking from New York, where he recently received his master’s degree in piano from the Manhattan School of Music. He was also the first student from Afghanistan to be admitted to a U.S. university music program.
The institute’s musicians traveled all over the world to represent their country, presenting a different face for a place known in the West only for war and extremism. Fanous himself performed at concerts in Poland, Italy and Germany.
In 2013, the institute’s youth orchestra embarked on its first U.S. tour, appearing at the Kennedy Center and selling out Carnegie Hall. Members of the orchestra included a girl who not long before had sold chewing gum on the streets of Kabul. An all-female orchestra called Zohra, named after a goddess of music in Persian literature, was set up in 2015.
In 2014, Sarmast was attending a concert in the auditorium of a French-run high school in Kabul when a huge bomb went off. He partially lost hearing in one ear and has had numerous operations to remove shrapnel from the back of his head since. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, accusing him in a statement of corrupting Afghanistan’s youth.
That only increased his determination, and he continued to split his time between running the school in Kabul, and Australia, where his family lives.
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Today, he aches when he thinks of the melodies once echoing down the school corridors and the lives of boys and girls now being upended.
“We’re all shattered, because my kids, they’ve been dreaming. They had huge dreams to be on the biggest stage of the world,” Sarmast said. “All my students had been dreaming of a peaceful Afghanistan. But that peaceful Afghanistan is fading away.”
Still, he hangs on to hope, believing young Afghans will resist. He is also counting on the international artistic community to put up a fight for the Afghans’ right to music.
“I’m still hopeful that my kids will be allowed to go back to the school and continue and to enjoy from learning and playing music,” he said.