South Korea picks
gay-themed film for Oscar campaign

South Korea selected a gay-themed movie that became an unexpected domestic box-office hit to put forward as its candidate for the Best Foreign Film category at the U.S. Academy Awards, the country's state-run film agency in Seoul said Thursday. King and the Clown, a tale about an effeminate male clown caught between the affections of a despotic king and the love of a fellow performer, is the number 2 film in all-time ticket sales in South Korea, surpassed just this month for the top spot by The Host, a thriller about a family's fight against a mutant monster. The Korean Film Council said it reviewed the two films and another, Time by internationally renowned director Kim Ki-duk, and decided to pick King and the Clown because it was believed to have a better chance of winning an Oscar nomination. Nominated films are scheduled to be announced in January, the council said. A Korean film has never been nominated for an Academy Award. (AP)