My Father

My Father (Hangul: 마이 파더; RR: Mai Padeo) is a 2007 South Korean film. The film, which is based on a true story, is about an adopted son who is searching for his biological parents in South Korea. During his search he meets his real father, a condemned murderer on death row. Daniel Henney plays the lead role of James, who works as a volunteer in the United States armed forces in Korea. He asks questions of why his father is on death row and finds out things that he always wanted to know. Then he finds more and more truths unravel about his father and his life.

The release of the film inspired controversy because the family of the father's victims did not support its production. In its first week on release it topped the South Korean box office sales charts.

The adopted son on whom the story is based is Aaron Bates, a licensed insurance broker for his family's insurance brokerage, Insurance Services of America. He lives and works in Arizona and is raising two boys of his own with his wife.

In My Father's Den

In My Father's Den is a 1972 novel by New Zealand author Maurice Gee.

The novel was adapted to film in 2004, written and directed by Brad McGann.

First edition

The novel follows Paul Prior, an English Teacher in Henderson (called Wadesville in the novel), a suburb of Auckland, after the brutal murder of his student and protégé, Celia Inverarity. In coming to terms with Celia's death Paul must first address his past and the demons that lie within it.

The film adaptation follows a very similar storyline. It follows Paul Prior, a world-weary photographer who returns to central Otago for his father's funeral. The appearance of Celia, who has connections with his past, prompts him to stay and he battles his past while discovering the truth about his childhood and the demons that lie within it.

Film festival

A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon the festival's focus, can include international and domestic releases. Some festivals focus on a specific film-maker or genre (e.g., film noir) or subject matter (e.g., horror film festivals). A number of film festivals specialise in short films of a defined maximum length. Film festivals are typically annual events. Some film historians do not consider Film Festivals as official releases of film, like Jerry Beck. The best known film festivals are the Venice Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival, the latter being the largest film festival worldwide, based on attendance. The Venice Film Festival is the oldest major festival. The Melbourne International Film Festival is the largest film festival in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the oldest in the world. A 2013 study found 3,000 active films festivals worldwide—active defined as having held an event in the previous 24 months.

Brad McGann

Brad McGann MNZM (22 February 1964 – 2 May 2007), was a New Zealand film director and screenwriter.

McGann was born in New Zealand in 1964. He completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Otago and in 1988 completed a one-year post-graduate course at the Swinburne School of Film and Television (now a part of the Victorian College of the Arts) in Melbourne. He directed the drama It Never Rains in 1996 as well as co-directing the documentary Come As You Are for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and the award-winning short film Possum.

In 2004 and 2005 McGann won international acclaim for his first full-length feature film, In My Father's Den, which was based on Maurice Gee's novel. McGann both wrote the screenplay and directed the film.

The film won the Fipresci Prize at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival and the Mercedes Benz Youth Jury Prize at the 52nd San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain in the same year, and the Special Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2005. It became one of the top 10 grossing New Zealand films.

Matthew Macfadyen

David Matthew Macfadyen (born 17 October 1974) is a BAFTA award-winning English actor, known for his roles as MI5 Intelligence Officer Tom Quinn in the BBC television drama series Spooks, Fitzwilliam Darcy in the 2005 film of Pride & Prejudice and Daniel in the Frank Oz comedy Death at a Funeral. He is also known for portraying John Birt in the political drama Frost/Nixon, as well as Detective Inspector Edmund Reid in the BBC series Ripper Street. In 2015 he starred in the Sky Living series The Enfield Haunting as Guy Lyon Playfair.

Early life

Macfadyen was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the son of Meinir (née Owen), a drama teacher and former actress, and Martin Macfadyen, an oil executive. His paternal grandparents were Scottish and his maternal grandparents were Welsh. Macfadyen was brought up in a number of places, including Jakarta, Indonesia, as a result of his father's occupation. He attended schools in England (including in Louth, Lincolnshire), Scotland and Indonesia, and went to Oakham School in Rutland, before being accepted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at 17.