From left clockwise: Urigroove's parody of "Sunny," Dongnaenyeosekdeul's parody of "Welcome to Waikiki," TchabaBaguette's parody of "Kill Me, Heal Me" and Alinea TV's Team's parody of "Extraordinary You" (screen capture from YouTube channels of URIGROOVE, mrosen, Alinea TV and Serena)

By Kim Yeojin and Lee Jihae

A unique contest in France has featured contestants parodying Korean dramas and movies.

Yonhap News on July 13 said 86 teams participated in the competition, the first of its kind in Europe and hosted by the Korean Cultural Center (KCC) in Paris.

The judging panel including Bastian Meiresonne, former artistic director of the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas, selected four winners from among 74 teams parodying K-dramas and 12 lampooning movies.

The grand prize went to Urigroove, which parodied the 2011 film "Sunny." Both members of the French duo played multiple characters and received praise for their scene in which the characters curse and argue among themselves.

Second prize went to Dongnaenyeseokdeul (Neighborhood Dudes) for its parody of the 2018 series "Welcome to Waikiki." Tying for third place were Alinea TV's Team for parodying the 2019 drama "Extraordinary You" and TchabaBaguett for parodying the 2015 series "Kill Me, Heal Me."

The most parodied K-dramas in the contest were "Descendants of the Sun" (2016), "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" (2016-17) and "It's Okay to Not Be Okay" (2020) with four entries each. "Parasite" (2019) by director Bong Joon-ho and "Burning" (2018) by director Lee Chang-dong led all Korean movies with two each.

KCC director John Hae-oung said this contest was a chance to reaffirm high interest in Korean films and dramas.

lvzhen@korea.kr