Screen rounds up the Korean titles available to buyers during this year’s Cannes virtual market, which runs June 22-26.
With the Parasite phenomenon still fresh in everyone’s minds and Train To Busan follow-up (and Cannes 2020 selection) Peninsula already a sellout title around the world, Korea’s sales agents are feeling buoyant heading into the virtual Marche du Film with a host of new films available to buyers.
Beyond The Mountain
Dir. Choi Jong-tae
Based on the childhood of the late Catholic cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (aka Soonhan), this dramatised biographical film stars child actor Lee Kyung-hun, Lee Hang-na (Fourth Place) and An Nae-sang (Killed My Wife). Director Choi (Fly Daddy Fly) follows Soonhan – who was born in 1922 and whose grandfather was martyred in the 1860s for his faith when Catholicism was prohibited in Korea – as an eight year old living in poverty with his family. Although his mother wants both of her sons to grow up to be priests, Soonhan chooses not to go to church one Sunday and instead embarks on a journey beyond the hill that has so far marked the edge of his world.
Contact: Vicky Lim, Little Big Pictures vicky@little-big.co.kr
Deliver Us From Evil
Dir. Hong Won-chan
From the director of Office, which premiered in Cannes 2015’s Midnight section, Hong’s crime action film stars Hwang Jung-min (Veteran), Lee Jung-jae (Assassination) and Park Jung-min (Time To Hunt). When a former black ops agent-turned-mercenary (Hwang) finds out a young girl’s kidnapping in Thailand is closely connected to him, he flies there to track her down with the help of expat Yui (Park), while being pursued by a relentless killer (Lee) who is out for vengeance against him. Currently in post-production, the film is aiming for an August release locally, depending on the Covid-19 situation.
Contact: CJ Entertainment filmsales@cj.net
Emergency Declaration
Dir. Han Jae-rim
The director of local hits such as The King and The Face Reader, Han’s disaster film portrays what happens when an airplane is forced to declare an emergency landing after an astonishing incident occurs mid-flight. The film stars Parasite lead Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun (The Man Standing Next), Jeon Do-yeon (The Housemaid), Kim Nam-gil (Memoir Of A Murderer), Yim Si-wan (The Merciless), Kim So-jin (The Spy Gone North) and Park Hae-jun (Bring Me Home). It is currently in production, having started shooting on May 30.
Contact: Showbox sales@showbox.co.kr
Fighter
Dir. Jéro Yun
Yun’s North Korean refugee drama Beautiful Days opened the Busan International Film Festival last year. His new film explores similar themes as it follows Jina, a new refugee from the North who faces discrimination as she tries to earn money to bring her father to the South, too. Her life changes when she gets a cleaning job at a boxing gym and is introduced to the world of the young, confident female boxers who train there. Lim Seong-mi (My Punch-Drunk Boxer) and Baek Seo-bin (Dad Is Pretty) star.
Contact: M-Line Distribution sales@mline-distribution.com
Hero
Dir. JK Youn
Youn, the director of local hits including Ode To My Father and Haeundae, has adapted this Korean stage musical about an independence activist and his comrades-in-arms as they fight for freedom against the Japanese in the early 1900s – and what happens when he devises a bold plan to assassinate Japanese general Ito Hirobumi, who plans to fully annex the peninsula. Based on historic events, the film stars Chung Sung Hwa from the original stage version, Kim Go-eun (Coin Locker Girl) and Na Moon-hee (I Can Speak) and is currently in post-production.
Contact: CJ Entertainment filmsales@cj.net
Heaven: To The Land Of Happiness
Dir. Im Sang-soo
Selected for the Cannes 2020 official selection in ‘The Faithful’ category, The Housemaid director Im’s latest is a humorous drama starring Choi Min-sik (Old Boy) and Park Hae-il (The Host) – both stars who would have been returning to the Croisette as well as the director. Park plays a character called Nam-sik, who goes from hospital to hospital stealing the medicine he can’t afford to treat his terminal illness, while Choi plays “203”, a man in prison for embezzlement who finds out he has less than two weeks to live. When 203 makes a run for it, Nam-sik joins him on a final search for happiness.
Contact: Finecut cineinfo@finecut.co.kr
Hostage: Missing Celebrity
Dir. Pil Gam-sung
This thriller features Hwang Jung-min – the Korean A-lister who has fronted local hits such as Ode To My Father and Veteran – as a Korean movie star of the same name who is kidnapped following a VIP film premiere. At first he thinks it’s a prank, but the kidnappers’ cruelty and brutality – more extreme than anything he’s seen in the movies – quickly convince him otherwise and he desperately tries to find a way out as they demand a huge ransom within 24 hours. Produced by Filmmakers R&K (Veteran), Pil’s feature debut is currently in post-production.
Contact: Contents Panda sales@its-new.co.kr
Josée (working title)
Dir. Kim Jong-kwan
A Korean remake of Inudo Isshin’s 2003 Japanese cult film Josee, The Tiger And The Fish, this story of a lonely youth who has a once-in-a-lifetime romance with a physically challenged woman stars Han Ji-min (The Age Of Shadows) and Nam Joo-hyuk (The Great Battle). Produced by Vol Media and backed by Warner Bros Korea, the film is currently in post-production.
Contact: K-Movie Entertainment sales@kmovieenter.com
Love And Busking
Dirs. Bobby Choy, Steve Lee
Korean-American singer/songwriter Bobby Choy (aka Big Phony) portrays himself in this musical drama, following his journey as a first-generation New Yorker who feels like a stranger in the country he was born in. After his father’s death, he starts writing melancholy indie-folk songs but he doesn’t really discover a place for himself until he visits the country where his parents came from. Revamped from 2018’s Fiction And Other Realities, the film is planned for local release in Q4 2020.
Contact: Jason Chae, Mirovision/Studio Bonanza jason@mirovision.com
Seobok (working title)
Dir. Lee Yong-zoo
Lee’s sci-fi thriller stars Gong Yoo (Train To Busan) and Park Bo-gum (TV’s Reply 1988) in the story of a former secret agent who reluctantly comes out of retirement to transfer the world’s first cloned man to a safe location while ruthless groups with conflicting agendas try to chase them down. The film is currently in post-production.
Contact: CJ Entertainment filmsales@cj.net
Voice Of Silence
Dir. Hong Eui-jeong
This crime drama stars Yoo Ah-in (Burning, Veteran) and You Chea-myung (aka Yu Jae-myeong from Bring Me Home) as two crime-scene cleaners – one of whom has lost his voice – who unexpectedly get tasked with looking after an 11-year-old girl who’s a kidnap victim. Produced by Lewis Pictures (Okja), Broedmachine and Broccoli Pictures, the film is director Hong’s feature debut and is currently in post-production for local release later this year.
Contact: Contents Panda sales@its-new.co.kr
Yaksha: Ruthless Operations
Dir. Na Hyun
This spy thriller from the director of The Prison stars Sul Kyung-gu (Man Of Men) and Park Hae-soo (Time To Hunt). Casting the city of Shenyang in northeast China as a silent, central battlefield of spies, it follows a notoriously merciless black-ops leader (Sul) who goes by the nickname Yaksha – after a human-devouring spirit – and the prosecutor (Park) sent to investigate him, who uncovers a mission that could shake up the entire continent.
Contact: Showbox sales@showbox.co.kr
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