A little late, but someone needs to talk about the screenings we had with So Ji-Sub because they were nuts. Never before have so many fans descended on the IFC Center is such huge numbers. So Ji-Sub is the star of ROUGH CUT and we had no idea this film would sell out both screenings within a few days of going on sale. There were long lines outside the theater, and after he got his “Rising Star of Asia” award they mobbed the back gate and kept his car from leaving until security could clear them away. That’s exactly the kind of thing that makes having a star to the festival a huge amount of fun. We don’t want anyone to get hurt, but this kind of crazy enthusiasm is a lot of fun to be around and it’s as contagious as swine flu.

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Fans: the folks who make the world go round!

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It was great to have so many people here who were so genuinely delighted and excited. Having an actor to the festival takes a lot of work on our part and it’s the kind of thing we can’t pull off on a regular basis, but it’s fun to do it every now and then. After the amazing YATTERMAN world premiere earlier this year with Takashi Miike and Sho Sakruai as our guests, we sort of knew what to expect but the huge number of So Ji-Sub fans took us by surprise. So an enormous “Thank you,” to all of you who showed up.

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Magic Marker Rembrandt interprets the

timeless beauty of So Ji-Sub.

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I did want to point out, though, that the folks in the front row at the second screening of ROUGH CUT who won a disproportinate number of prizes suck hard. When we went through the prize box later we discovered that they’d stuffed the box with multiple ballots. While onstage it didn’t occur to me that someone in our audience would be so incredibly rude and inconsiderate of the rest of the fans who were there to see So Ji-Sub, and who also wanted a fair chance to win one of his autographs. Our audience has always been the best: considerate, polite and completely awesome. These four or five individuals were rude brats, and I hope I never catch them at another one of our screenings.

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When you stuff the ballot box,

So Ji-Sub cries.

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