Iris, the petite enigma at the center of “A Traveler’s Needs,” dresses at once to be noticed, and to disappear. Over a bright sundress, spattered all over with red and violet blossoms, she wears a cardigan of a most assertive, eye-searing green. It’s the grassy hue, in fact, of green-screen backdrops, as we notice when she fades into the foliage of a city park in full summer leaf, or is consumed by the paint job of a tennis court-like roof terrace. Nobody knows exactly where she has come from, beyond the clue of her thick French accent, and even she seems uncertain as to where she’s going: One imagines her, with that effects-friendly knitwear, being dropped into any number of imagined locations, and looking just as out of place as she does on the streets of Seoul.
But Iris is played, with typically curt, quizzical good humor, by Isabelle Huppert,...
But Iris is played, with typically curt, quizzical good humor, by Isabelle Huppert,...
- 2/19/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Leading Korean rights sales firm Finecut is to handle the international distribution of “A Traveler’s Needs,” which on Monday was confirmed as debuting in the main competition section of next month’s Berlinale. Remarkably, it is director Hong Sang-soo’s sixth selection for Berlin since 2020.
The picture is also the third time that French acting icon Isabelle Huppert stars in a film by the Korean veteran director, following their previous joint efforts “Claire’s Camera” and “In Another Country.”
A synopsis provided reads: “She came from France. She was playing a child’s recorder in a park. With no means of supporting herself she was advised to teach French. She became a teacher to two women. She likes to lie down on rocks and rely on makkeolli [Korean rice wine] for comfort.” Dialog is a mix of Korean, English and French.
Hong is known for his micro-budget, minimalist drama films that are long on conversation,...
The picture is also the third time that French acting icon Isabelle Huppert stars in a film by the Korean veteran director, following their previous joint efforts “Claire’s Camera” and “In Another Country.”
A synopsis provided reads: “She came from France. She was playing a child’s recorder in a park. With no means of supporting herself she was advised to teach French. She became a teacher to two women. She likes to lie down on rocks and rely on makkeolli [Korean rice wine] for comfort.” Dialog is a mix of Korean, English and French.
Hong is known for his micro-budget, minimalist drama films that are long on conversation,...
- 1/22/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
For our most comprehensive year-end feature we’re providing a cumulative look at The Film Stage’s favorite films of 2023. We’ve asked contributors to compile ten-best lists with five honorable mentions––some of those personal selections will be shared in coming weeks––and from tallied votes has this top 50 been assembled.
Without further ado, check out our rundown of 2023 below, our ongoing year-end coverage here (including where to watch many of the below picks, both on streaming and in theaters), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2024.
50. Sick of Myself (Kristoffer Borgli)
Kristoffer Borgli’s first Norwegian feature is a work of disgusting, hilarious, horrifying genius. Signe (played brilliantly by Kristine Kujath Thorp) is an early-20s narcissist who, galled by the success of her equally self-centered boyfriend, spirals into full-on Munchausen syndrome. As timely as it is hard to watch, Sick of Myself doesn’t...
Without further ado, check out our rundown of 2023 below, our ongoing year-end coverage here (including where to watch many of the below picks, both on streaming and in theaters), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2024.
50. Sick of Myself (Kristoffer Borgli)
Kristoffer Borgli’s first Norwegian feature is a work of disgusting, hilarious, horrifying genius. Signe (played brilliantly by Kristine Kujath Thorp) is an early-20s narcissist who, galled by the success of her equally self-centered boyfriend, spirals into full-on Munchausen syndrome. As timely as it is hard to watch, Sick of Myself doesn’t...
- 12/14/2023
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Let’s not be quite so declarative as to insist there are only two types of cinephile, but among the many varieties that exist, there are those who have never managed to connect with Hong Sang-soo’s ongoing movie project, and those who can watch a minutes-long sequence of Kim Min-hee petting and feeding an already portly cat, and think ecstatically “This is cinema!” The former type will know by now to steer wide clear of “In Our Day,” which will look to them like yet another reinvention of Hong’s eternal mandala-wheel of talky two-shots, unadorned aesthetics and glancing, enigmatic, echoing themes. The latter type will love it for much the same reasons, and may even find themselves surprised by a film that, while not as robust in construction as recent career highlight “Walk Up,” does work in new elements, amongst so much that is welcomingly familiar.
One obvious new development is intertitles,...
One obvious new development is intertitles,...
- 10/11/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Following the announcement of the London Korean Film Festival’s (Lkff) upcoming 18th edition which gives special commemoration to the 40th Anniversary of the Korean Academy of Film Arts (Kafa), the festival is delighted to reveal its 2023 programme. At the BFI Southbank, the London Korean Film Festival will host the Opening and Closing ceremonies in celebration of the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UK and Korea.
The Festival runs from 2 November – 16 November 2023 with a programme of 40 films comprising the following strands: Cinema Now, Special Focus : 40th Anniversary of Kafa, Women’s Voices, Special Screenings and Korea Season.
A Normal Family by Hur Jin-ho will open the festival on the 2nd November at BFI Southbank with the director in attendance. The story is based on the celebrated Dutch novel Het Diner (The Dinner) by Herman Koch, which has sold over a million copies. The latest...
The Festival runs from 2 November – 16 November 2023 with a programme of 40 films comprising the following strands: Cinema Now, Special Focus : 40th Anniversary of Kafa, Women’s Voices, Special Screenings and Korea Season.
A Normal Family by Hur Jin-ho will open the festival on the 2nd November at BFI Southbank with the director in attendance. The story is based on the celebrated Dutch novel Het Diner (The Dinner) by Herman Koch, which has sold over a million copies. The latest...
- 10/6/2023
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Hong Sang-soo’s In Our Day is composed of two alternating strands, both pivoting on conversations between artists and their acolytes. The film has no plot in the conventional sense, even by Hong’s spare standards, and the audacious structural gamesmanship of films like Walk Up has been abandoned. In Our Day is meant to feel tossed-off, though Hong’s braiding of scenes—by echoes, symbols, and subjects—is characteristically deliberate.
The uninitiated may find In Our Day baffling or uneventful, as inscrutability is a risk that Hong is willing to run for his art, but for the admirer the familiarity of Hong’s subjects and patterns is pleasing and reflective of a working ethos so obsessive that it’s become a life philosophy. Hong keeps chipping away at the mandates of commercial narrative cinema, fashioning a radical cinema aesthetic that abounds in the fleeting observational textures of poetry or journals.
The uninitiated may find In Our Day baffling or uneventful, as inscrutability is a risk that Hong is willing to run for his art, but for the admirer the familiarity of Hong’s subjects and patterns is pleasing and reflective of a working ethos so obsessive that it’s become a life philosophy. Hong keeps chipping away at the mandates of commercial narrative cinema, fashioning a radical cinema aesthetic that abounds in the fleeting observational textures of poetry or journals.
- 9/22/2023
- by Chuck Bowen
- Slant Magazine
Exclusive: Cinema Guild has acquired North American distribution rights for Portuguese director Pedro Costa’s short film The Daughters of Fire, following its buzzy world premiere in Cannes this year.
Set against the backdrop of Costa’s stomping ground of the Atlantic Ocean island of Cape Verde, the film follows three sisters who are separated by the eruption of the local Fogo Volcano.
They remain bound in spirit, singing the same words: one day, we will know why we live and why we suffer.
The Daughters of Fire received an enthusiastic reception in Cannes when it played as Special Screening Jean-Luc Godard’s Trailer of the Film that Will Never Exist: “Phony Wars” and Wang Bing’s 2023 Palme d’Or contender Man in Black.
For its North American theatrical release in late 2023 or early 2024, Cinema Guild is planning to play the short alongside Korean director Hong Sangsoo’s Berlinale 2023 Encounters title In water,...
Set against the backdrop of Costa’s stomping ground of the Atlantic Ocean island of Cape Verde, the film follows three sisters who are separated by the eruption of the local Fogo Volcano.
They remain bound in spirit, singing the same words: one day, we will know why we live and why we suffer.
The Daughters of Fire received an enthusiastic reception in Cannes when it played as Special Screening Jean-Luc Godard’s Trailer of the Film that Will Never Exist: “Phony Wars” and Wang Bing’s 2023 Palme d’Or contender Man in Black.
For its North American theatrical release in late 2023 or early 2024, Cinema Guild is planning to play the short alongside Korean director Hong Sangsoo’s Berlinale 2023 Encounters title In water,...
- 7/25/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
“In Our Day,” the new Hong Sang-soo film premiering later this week as the Cannes Film Festival’s closing night film, has been acquired by Cinema Guild. A theatrical release is planned following its North American festival premiere later this year.
The picture stars Kim Min-hee, Song Seon-mi, Gi Ju-bong and Ha Seong-guk. This character dramedy marks Hong’s 30th feature film, this time using long, elaborate takes to articulate simple pleasures like an interspecies encounter, the discovery of a new drink and a game of rock, paper, scissors.
Also Read:
Rebel Wilson to Make Directorial Debut With Musical Comedy ‘The Deb’
“Adding to the rich tableau of his work, Hong Sang-soo’s ‘In Our Day’ not only makes us laugh, it makes us think about what it means to be alive,” Cinema Guild president Peter Kelly said in a statement. “It’s a gift that we hope continues and continues.
The picture stars Kim Min-hee, Song Seon-mi, Gi Ju-bong and Ha Seong-guk. This character dramedy marks Hong’s 30th feature film, this time using long, elaborate takes to articulate simple pleasures like an interspecies encounter, the discovery of a new drink and a game of rock, paper, scissors.
Also Read:
Rebel Wilson to Make Directorial Debut With Musical Comedy ‘The Deb’
“Adding to the rich tableau of his work, Hong Sang-soo’s ‘In Our Day’ not only makes us laugh, it makes us think about what it means to be alive,” Cinema Guild president Peter Kelly said in a statement. “It’s a gift that we hope continues and continues.
- 5/24/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
Hong Sang-soo’s latest film “In Our Day,” which will premiere on closing night of Cannes’ Directors Fortnight, has been acquired by Cinema Guild for North America.
Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year.
“In Our Day” stars Kim Minhee as Sangwon, an actress who has recently returned to South Korea and is temporarily staying with her friend, Jungsoo (Song Sunmi), and her cat, Us. Elsewhere in the city, the aging poet Uiju (Ki Joobong) lives alone, his cat having recently passed away. On this ordinary day, each of them has a visitor: Sangwon is visited by her cousin, Jisoo (Park Miso) and Uiju, by a young actor,
Jaewon (Ha Seongguk). Each of them wants to learn about a career in the arts, but they also
have bigger questions.
Hong’s 30th feature outing, “In Our Day” demonstrates a new...
Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year.
“In Our Day” stars Kim Minhee as Sangwon, an actress who has recently returned to South Korea and is temporarily staying with her friend, Jungsoo (Song Sunmi), and her cat, Us. Elsewhere in the city, the aging poet Uiju (Ki Joobong) lives alone, his cat having recently passed away. On this ordinary day, each of them has a visitor: Sangwon is visited by her cousin, Jisoo (Park Miso) and Uiju, by a young actor,
Jaewon (Ha Seongguk). Each of them wants to learn about a career in the arts, but they also
have bigger questions.
Hong’s 30th feature outing, “In Our Day” demonstrates a new...
- 5/24/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Hong’s 30th feature premieres at Cannes on May 25.
Cinema Guild has acquired North American distribution rights Hong Sangsoo’s In Our Day, the closing night film of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, in a deal with South Korea’s Finecut.
Cinema Guild said it will release Hong’s 30th feature film in theatres following its North American festival premiere later this year.
The South Korean film follows an actress and old poet who each host a visitor and dodge questions posed by their guests using food, drink and games.
The feature has already sold to key territories, including France (Capricci), Spain...
Cinema Guild has acquired North American distribution rights Hong Sangsoo’s In Our Day, the closing night film of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, in a deal with South Korea’s Finecut.
Cinema Guild said it will release Hong’s 30th feature film in theatres following its North American festival premiere later this year.
The South Korean film follows an actress and old poet who each host a visitor and dodge questions posed by their guests using food, drink and games.
The feature has already sold to key territories, including France (Capricci), Spain...
- 5/24/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Leading indie sales agent Finecut has picked up international rights to “In Our Day” by idiosyncratic South Korean director Hong Sang-soo. The film is set as the closing title of the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar of the Cannes festival.
Hong, who works on low budgets, controls much of the production process and makes repeated use of a small pool of actors, is one of the most prolific feature directors in the world. This is already his second feature this year. His earlier, “In Water” played in the Encounters section at Berlin in February
His films are known for their minimalist style, a focus on female characters, serial chance encounters and oblique references to the media industry. On paper, “In Our Day” fits exactly in that groove.
Finecut pitches the synopsis as: “A woman in her early 40s, is temporarily living at the home of a friend, who is raising a cat.
Hong, who works on low budgets, controls much of the production process and makes repeated use of a small pool of actors, is one of the most prolific feature directors in the world. This is already his second feature this year. His earlier, “In Water” played in the Encounters section at Berlin in February
His films are known for their minimalist style, a focus on female characters, serial chance encounters and oblique references to the media industry. On paper, “In Our Day” fits exactly in that groove.
Finecut pitches the synopsis as: “A woman in her early 40s, is temporarily living at the home of a friend, who is raising a cat.
- 4/18/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Above: Original French release poster for Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Designer unknown.Jeanne Dielman wins again! Posted on the day that Chantal Akerman’s masterpiece was announced as the surprise come-from-behind winner of Sight and Sound’s decennial Greatest Films of All Time poll, the original poster for the film racked up close to 3,000 likes on my Movie Poster of the Day Instagram (helped perhaps by being paired with this photo of Akerman pensively smoking in front of the same poster back in the day). I have no doubt that any poster for the film posted on that day would have gotten a lot of attention, but I’d like to believe that some of the likes were for the poster itself: unassuming yet elegant (like Jd herself), foregrounding that radically mundane title, and containing nothing surplus to requirements, just Mrs. Dielman at her dining room table, waiting patiently,...
- 4/6/2023
- MUBI
The pace of arthouse /smart-house releases accelerated this weekend as wide-for-specialty openings like A Good Person and The Lost King joined a handful of solid single-theater openings from distributors Greenwich Entertainment, Sideshow/Janus Films, Mubi, Abramorama and Cinema Guild – all set for some expansion.
MGM released Killer Films and Elevation Pictures’ A Good Person on 530 screens with a $834k cume for the film by writer/director Zach Braff starring Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman. It’s got a 96% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, indicating continued playability at commercial smart-house locations as an alternative to current tentpole programming.
Pugh is Allison, whose life falls apart after her involvement in a fatal accident but is revived by a unlikely relationship she forms with her would-be father-in-law (Freeman). Deadline review here.
The Lost King from IFC Films, by Stephen Frears, and starring Sally Hawkins as an amateur historian who unearthed the 500-year-old remains of Richard III,...
MGM released Killer Films and Elevation Pictures’ A Good Person on 530 screens with a $834k cume for the film by writer/director Zach Braff starring Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman. It’s got a 96% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, indicating continued playability at commercial smart-house locations as an alternative to current tentpole programming.
Pugh is Allison, whose life falls apart after her involvement in a fatal accident but is revived by a unlikely relationship she forms with her would-be father-in-law (Freeman). Deadline review here.
The Lost King from IFC Films, by Stephen Frears, and starring Sally Hawkins as an amateur historian who unearthed the 500-year-old remains of Richard III,...
- 3/26/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Cinema Guild has acquired North American rights for Belgian director Bas Devos’s film Here which won best film in the Berlin Film Festival’s Encounters section last month as well as the Fipresci prize.
The film revolves around a Romanian construction worker living in Brussels who is making preparations ahead of his return home to visit his mother for the holidays, not knowing if he will come back to the city.
While waiting for his car to be fixed, he meets a Belgian-Chinese woman bryologist, or expert in the study of moss and lichen, who is preparing her doctorate while working in her aunt’s restaurant. Her attention to the near-invisible stops him in his tracks.
Like Devos’s previous 2019 film Ghost Tropic, Brussels is inherent to the storyline as the director explores ideas of longing in contemporary urban life and the potential for enchantment that still exists...
The film revolves around a Romanian construction worker living in Brussels who is making preparations ahead of his return home to visit his mother for the holidays, not knowing if he will come back to the city.
While waiting for his car to be fixed, he meets a Belgian-Chinese woman bryologist, or expert in the study of moss and lichen, who is preparing her doctorate while working in her aunt’s restaurant. Her attention to the near-invisible stops him in his tracks.
Like Devos’s previous 2019 film Ghost Tropic, Brussels is inherent to the storyline as the director explores ideas of longing in contemporary urban life and the potential for enchantment that still exists...
- 3/14/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Cinema Guild has nabbed North American rights to the feature doc Our Body directed by Venice prize winner Claire Simon (The Competition), which premiered to critical acclaim at last month’s Berlin Film Festival before touching down stateside at MoMA’s Doc Fortnight as well as True/False. Pic is slated for release in theaters later this year.
Related Story Tribeca Prize-Winning Abortion Dramedy ‘Cherry’ Acquired By Entertainment Squad Related Story Cinema Guild Acquires Jacquelyn Mills' Berlin Prize-Winning Doc 'Geographies Of Solitude' Related Story Cinema Guild Acquires Rodrigo Reyes Documentary 'Sansón And Me'
Simon looks, with Our Body, at the everyday operations of the gynecological ward in a public hospital in Paris. In the process, she questions what it means to live in a woman’s body, filming the diversity, singularity and beauty of patients in all stages of life. We see cancer screenings and fertility appointments,...
Related Story Tribeca Prize-Winning Abortion Dramedy ‘Cherry’ Acquired By Entertainment Squad Related Story Cinema Guild Acquires Jacquelyn Mills' Berlin Prize-Winning Doc 'Geographies Of Solitude' Related Story Cinema Guild Acquires Rodrigo Reyes Documentary 'Sansón And Me'
Simon looks, with Our Body, at the everyday operations of the gynecological ward in a public hospital in Paris. In the process, she questions what it means to live in a woman’s body, filming the diversity, singularity and beauty of patients in all stages of life. We see cancer screenings and fertility appointments,...
- 3/8/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Looks like summer is starting early again with franchises galore this March. Studios are trying to hit the ground running as Oscar season finally comes to a close and theaters desperately look for safe, brand-name IP to get patrons through their doors to purchase the rapidly growing trend of alcoholic beverages. Seems to be working so far with Regal still keeping most of its announced closures open for business well past their shutter dates.
All the more reason to try and wow audiences with a good campaign that sets you apart from the rest like Brian Hung’s Walk Up—once again releasing his new poster with only a couple weeks to spare and thus well after I already set my picks for this feature. Especially in small-to-medium markets like my own here in Buffalo, I’ve never seen so many independent films filling the marquees here. Theaters seem to...
All the more reason to try and wow audiences with a good campaign that sets you apart from the rest like Brian Hung’s Walk Up—once again releasing his new poster with only a couple weeks to spare and thus well after I already set my picks for this feature. Especially in small-to-medium markets like my own here in Buffalo, I’ve never seen so many independent films filling the marquees here. Theaters seem to...
- 3/3/2023
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Just a few months after The Novelist’s Film hit theaters, prolific South Korean director Hong Sangsoo returns with Walk Up. Both films were programmed during the 60th edition of the New York Film Festival this past fall, and as such Film at Lincoln Center will open Walk Up on March 24. A trailer from The Cinema Guild arrives today. The film’s official synopsis reads: In his ninth film for Hong Sangsoo, Kwon Haehyo plays Byungsoo, a film director who goes with his daughter Jeongsu (Park Miso), an aspiring interior designer, to a building owned by an old friend (Lee Hyeyoung) […]
The post Trailer Watch: Hong Sangsoo’s Walk Up first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Trailer Watch: Hong Sangsoo’s Walk Up first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 3/1/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Just a few months after The Novelist’s Film hit theaters, prolific South Korean director Hong Sangsoo returns with Walk Up. Both films were programmed during the 60th edition of the New York Film Festival this past fall, and as such Film at Lincoln Center will open Walk Up on March 24. A trailer from The Cinema Guild arrives today. The film’s official synopsis reads: In his ninth film for Hong Sangsoo, Kwon Haehyo plays Byungsoo, a film director who goes with his daughter Jeongsu (Park Miso), an aspiring interior designer, to a building owned by an old friend (Lee Hyeyoung) […]
The post Trailer Watch: Hong Sangsoo’s Walk Up first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Trailer Watch: Hong Sangsoo’s Walk Up first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 3/1/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
As The Novelist’s Film stays fresh and in water just begins screening, it might be easy to overlook Walk Up in the current constellation of Hong Sangsoo. Don’t be deterred: it’s a typically enlivening, zig-zag character study with a classic Hong twist that recontextualizes the seemingly mundane. Cinema Guild will begin rolling out Walk Up on March 24 at Film at Lincoln Center, and we’re thrilled to debut a surprisingly jaunty trailer with great keypad work.
As our TIFF review said, “There’s something very relaxing in the languid rhythms of Walk Up. Though ditching the lo-fi aesthetics of his two 2021 entries, Introduction and In Front of Your Face, there’s still not a ton to look at per se, yet the precision and attention to gestural detail remains. A boozy dinner table scene remains in a fixed position for what seems like ten-to-fifteen minutes––this critic...
As our TIFF review said, “There’s something very relaxing in the languid rhythms of Walk Up. Though ditching the lo-fi aesthetics of his two 2021 entries, Introduction and In Front of Your Face, there’s still not a ton to look at per se, yet the precision and attention to gestural detail remains. A boozy dinner table scene remains in a fixed position for what seems like ten-to-fifteen minutes––this critic...
- 3/1/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo’s latest film, “In Water,” has been bought by Cinema Guild for North American distribution on the heels of its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
The film played in the Encounters section and is expected to have its North American premiere at a festival later this year. Cinema Guild will be releasing “In Water” theatrically, despite a below-standard run time of just 61-minutes.
Described by Cinema Guild as Hong’s “most overtly experimental work to date,” “In Water” follows Seongmo (Shin Seokho), a young man who recently gave up acting and has decided to make a film with his own money. He and his two friends venture to the rocky shores of a large island to shoot the movie together. His former classmate, Sangguk (Ha Seongguk), will operate the camera and Namhee (Kim Seungyun) will act in it. The only problem is that Seongmo...
The film played in the Encounters section and is expected to have its North American premiere at a festival later this year. Cinema Guild will be releasing “In Water” theatrically, despite a below-standard run time of just 61-minutes.
Described by Cinema Guild as Hong’s “most overtly experimental work to date,” “In Water” follows Seongmo (Shin Seokho), a young man who recently gave up acting and has decided to make a film with his own money. He and his two friends venture to the rocky shores of a large island to shoot the movie together. His former classmate, Sangguk (Ha Seongguk), will operate the camera and Namhee (Kim Seungyun) will act in it. The only problem is that Seongmo...
- 2/22/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy and Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
“Music,” Angela Schanelec’s German drama, has been bought by Cinema Guild for North
American distribution following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year. The film tells the story of a a pair of wayward young people who abandon their
newborn child on a stormy night in the mountains of Greece. Taken in by a family of farmers, Jon grows up without knowing his father or mother. Years later, after a tragic accident, he is sent to prison, where he meets Iro. The two form a connection, expressed through music, that will, by turns, haunt them and uphold them the rest of their days. Freely inspired by the story of Oedipus, Schanelec’s latest is as terrifying as myth and as gentle as a folk song.
“With Music, Angela Schanelec continues to...
American distribution following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year. The film tells the story of a a pair of wayward young people who abandon their
newborn child on a stormy night in the mountains of Greece. Taken in by a family of farmers, Jon grows up without knowing his father or mother. Years later, after a tragic accident, he is sent to prison, where he meets Iro. The two form a connection, expressed through music, that will, by turns, haunt them and uphold them the rest of their days. Freely inspired by the story of Oedipus, Schanelec’s latest is as terrifying as myth and as gentle as a folk song.
“With Music, Angela Schanelec continues to...
- 2/21/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy and Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Finecut, the leading Korean independent film sales agent, is to represent international rights on “In Water,” the latest film by auteur Hong Sang-soo.
The film will have its world premiere in Berlin as part of the festival’s Encounters section. Its sales launch is set for the accompanying European Film Market.
This follows three successive years in which Hong has appeared in Berlin’s main competition, with: “The Woman Who Ran,” which earned Berlin’s silver bear for best director; 2021 title “Introduction” which won another silver bear, for best screenplay, at that year’s delayed festival; and “The Novelist’s Film” which won a Grand Jury Prize in 2022.
Hong, who works on low budgets, controls much of the production process and makes repeated use of a small pool of actors, is one of the most prolific feature directors in the world. In addition to the four recent Berlin titles, his “In Front of Your Face...
The film will have its world premiere in Berlin as part of the festival’s Encounters section. Its sales launch is set for the accompanying European Film Market.
This follows three successive years in which Hong has appeared in Berlin’s main competition, with: “The Woman Who Ran,” which earned Berlin’s silver bear for best director; 2021 title “Introduction” which won another silver bear, for best screenplay, at that year’s delayed festival; and “The Novelist’s Film” which won a Grand Jury Prize in 2022.
Hong, who works on low budgets, controls much of the production process and makes repeated use of a small pool of actors, is one of the most prolific feature directors in the world. In addition to the four recent Berlin titles, his “In Front of Your Face...
- 2/9/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
This is the customary sentence noting it can be easy to take Hong Sangsoo for granted. The prolificacy of which should tell us he’s as appreciated as ever, and so if he’s not, in actuality, taken for granted it’s still easy to lose the forest for the trees–certainly when 2022 brought The Novelist’s Film (one of his best in years) and Walk Up, which was not a personal favorite but nifty character piece all the same.
All this said: I do suspect something special is brewing with this month’s Berlinale selection in water, which from title (every source presents all-lowercase) to 61-minute runtime (his shortest-ever feature) alone suggests a shift. But sources also tell us the entire film is out-of-focus, a rumor the brief teaser and Berlin’s description lean towards entirely. As Hong’s lovely Letter to the New York Film Festival let on his...
All this said: I do suspect something special is brewing with this month’s Berlinale selection in water, which from title (every source presents all-lowercase) to 61-minute runtime (his shortest-ever feature) alone suggests a shift. But sources also tell us the entire film is out-of-focus, a rumor the brief teaser and Berlin’s description lean towards entirely. As Hong’s lovely Letter to the New York Film Festival let on his...
- 2/7/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Walk Up.“Surprising”: that’s how a character in Hong Sang-soo’s Walk Up describes the decision to hold a film festival in 2022. Filmmaker Byung-soo (Hae-hyo Kwan) has just been invited to attend a complete retrospective of his work overseas, but he and his partner are discussing what this would actually entail: the couple would need to pay her way since the cinematheque can only cover one plane ticket, and Byung-soo would need to quarantine upon returning home to South Korea. The trip would be expensive, “complicated.” They hash it out over greens in a sparsely decorated apartment, boxed into a deeply unglamorous, black-and-white medium shot. Initially, Walk Up left a very light impression on me, but it was on my mind more than most films as I departed TIFF. Byung-soo is a proxy for Hong, and the plainness of his—and Walk Up’s—fatigue with filmmaking is wryly bourgeois,...
- 9/21/2022
- MUBI
While we’re in the middle of the fall festival season, with Telluride, Venice, and TIFF in the rearview, and NYFF, BFI London, and AFI Fest on the horizon, it’s time to round up some of our early favorites. We’ve polled our contributors from Venice and TIFF to share their top picks, which one can see below along with our ongoing coverage here.
David Katz (@davidfabiankatz)
1. Saint Omer (Alice Diop)
2. Trenque Lauquen (Laura Citarella)
3. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)
4. Master Gardener (Paul Schrader)
5. The Whale (Darren Aronofsky)
6. Love Life (Kôji Fukada)
7. Blonde (Andrew Dominik)
8. A Couple (Frederick Wiseman)
9. In Viaggio (Gianfranco Rosi)
10. The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg)
Luke Hicks (@lou_kicks)
1. Bones and All (Luca Guadagnino)
2. Other People’s Children (Rebecca Zlotowski)
3. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)
4. The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg)
5. Athena (Romain Gavras)
6. White Noise (Noah Baumbach)
7. The Banshees of Inisherin...
David Katz (@davidfabiankatz)
1. Saint Omer (Alice Diop)
2. Trenque Lauquen (Laura Citarella)
3. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)
4. Master Gardener (Paul Schrader)
5. The Whale (Darren Aronofsky)
6. Love Life (Kôji Fukada)
7. Blonde (Andrew Dominik)
8. A Couple (Frederick Wiseman)
9. In Viaggio (Gianfranco Rosi)
10. The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg)
Luke Hicks (@lou_kicks)
1. Bones and All (Luca Guadagnino)
2. Other People’s Children (Rebecca Zlotowski)
3. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)
4. The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg)
5. Athena (Romain Gavras)
6. White Noise (Noah Baumbach)
7. The Banshees of Inisherin...
- 9/21/2022
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
If one thing of late really sets Hong Sang-soo apart, it’s his unglamorous depiction of the film director. Appropriate to the small-scale of his corpus, these artists live far from the fantasy of 8½, but instead in the mundanity between projects. Hong’s avatar in Walk Up is Byungsoo (Hae-hyo Kwon), who’s visiting an apartment building owned by Ms. Kim (Lee Hyeyoung) with the company of his estranged daughter Jeong-su (Park Mi-so).
In making their way through the different parts of the building and not forgetting to down one bottle of white wine after another (instead of soju as usual) with his female partners, the vulnerability that comes out when buzzed—a central Hong theme—is very apparent. And so lots and lots of talking ensues to varying degrees of interest, a particular highlight being when Byungsoo notes a dream where God told him to move to Jeju and make films.
In making their way through the different parts of the building and not forgetting to down one bottle of white wine after another (instead of soju as usual) with his female partners, the vulnerability that comes out when buzzed—a central Hong theme—is very apparent. And so lots and lots of talking ensues to varying degrees of interest, a particular highlight being when Byungsoo notes a dream where God told him to move to Jeju and make films.
- 9/18/2022
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
Of contemporary Korean filmmakers, Hong Sang-soo is as prolific as he is accomplished. Over the last 25 years, he completed over 30 features and shorts, and in recent years, he has gleaned prizes with almost each and every one of them. In Berlinale 2020, he famously won the Silver Bear for Best Directing in “The Woman Who Ran”; earlier this year, he took home the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for “The Novelist’s Film” (2022). Now, at Toronto International Film Festival, he premieres his latest work: “Walk Up,” or alternatively called “Top”.
Walk Up is screening at Toronto International Film Festival
Like much of Hong Sang-soo’s recent filmography, “Walk Up” underscores a black-and-white drama at the dinner table. The famous and ever-bemused Byungsoo (Kwon Hae-hyo) engages with three notable women in a single building. He first beseeches elegant interior designer Ms. Kim (Lee Hae-young) to take on his alienated daughter (Park Mi-so) as an apprentice.
Walk Up is screening at Toronto International Film Festival
Like much of Hong Sang-soo’s recent filmography, “Walk Up” underscores a black-and-white drama at the dinner table. The famous and ever-bemused Byungsoo (Kwon Hae-hyo) engages with three notable women in a single building. He first beseeches elegant interior designer Ms. Kim (Lee Hae-young) to take on his alienated daughter (Park Mi-so) as an apprentice.
- 9/17/2022
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
This year’s Korean selection at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is remarkably split. Three of them — by trustworthy auteurs Hirokazu Koreeda, Hong Sang-soo, and Park Chan-wook — are noticeably quiet, sophisticated tales about a found family (“Broker”), a homebody filmmaker in conversation (“Walk Up”), and a murder mystery (“Decision to Leave”). First-time actors-turned-directors Lee Jung-jae (known for “Squid Game”) and Jung Woo-sung, however, clearly lack the elegance of the former. They seem to capitalize upon Hollywood-esque sensationalism instead, showing a penchant for senseless violence — and in turn, incredibly boring movies.
A Man of Reason is screening at Toronto International Film Festival
In Jung Woo-sung’s “A Man of Reason,” Jung himself stars as Su-hyuk, a previously-incarcerated criminal who simply wants to live a normal life. His history with the underworld haunts him, however – threatening to swallow his former girlfriend and daughter whole. These provocations motivate Jung to fight fire with fire.
A Man of Reason is screening at Toronto International Film Festival
In Jung Woo-sung’s “A Man of Reason,” Jung himself stars as Su-hyuk, a previously-incarcerated criminal who simply wants to live a normal life. His history with the underworld haunts him, however – threatening to swallow his former girlfriend and daughter whole. These provocations motivate Jung to fight fire with fire.
- 9/15/2022
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Glenn Close no longer will preside over the San Sebastian jury and has canceled her trip to the festival due to a family emergency.
“I deeply regret that I will not be able to take part in the Festival as there has been a family emergency for which I must stay home,” Close said in a statement. “I apologize to the Festival, the Jury, the filmmakers, the Donostia honorees, and the festival audience, that I will not be there to celebrate with you all.”
Argentinian producer Matías Mosteirín, who already was announced as part of the jury, will serve as the president. Mosteirin’s feature film as a producer, Bolivia, received the Young Critics Award at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes. He recently executive produced Marcelo Piñeyro’s series El Reino (The Realm) for Netflix.
The jury will be filled out by French casting director and filmmaker Antoinette Boulat,...
“I deeply regret that I will not be able to take part in the Festival as there has been a family emergency for which I must stay home,” Close said in a statement. “I apologize to the Festival, the Jury, the filmmakers, the Donostia honorees, and the festival audience, that I will not be there to celebrate with you all.”
Argentinian producer Matías Mosteirín, who already was announced as part of the jury, will serve as the president. Mosteirin’s feature film as a producer, Bolivia, received the Young Critics Award at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes. He recently executive produced Marcelo Piñeyro’s series El Reino (The Realm) for Netflix.
The jury will be filled out by French casting director and filmmaker Antoinette Boulat,...
- 9/13/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Guy Maddin's Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux (1988/2022).Returning to the Toronto International Film Festival after a three-year personal pandemic pause—the event took place virtually in 2020 and in a hybrid edition last year—the promise of the end of summer event is as clear as it's ever been: a bounty of movies, 203 features in total, in theaters with audiences, and a hopeful return to moviegoing normality. The only major festival to simultaneously emphasize top-level highlights that premiered elsewhere during the year, along with its own selection of world premieres, the approach emphasizes the festival’s image as audience oriented, rather than prioritizing the industry. With so many films, a defined programming line is impossible and the main hope must be to try and be all things to all audiences. As an incredibly large and multifaceted cultural institution, such a broad remit is best suited to face the pressure to cater to diverse needs,...
- 9/10/2022
- MUBI
Hong Sangsoo’s film Walk Up has been acquired by Cinema Guild, the distributor confirmed today. The movie will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month and will also play in competition at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Cinema Guild will open the film in theaters next year following its release of Hong’s other 2022 title, The Novelist’s Film.
“With each new film, Hong Sangsoo continues to find new ways to surprise and delight us,” said Cinema Guild President Peter Kelly. “We can’t wait to see audiences react to Walk Up, a film strikingly original and strikingly Hong.”
In Walk Up, Sangsoo’s ninth film, Kwon Haehyo plays Byungsoo, a film director who goes with his daughter Jeongsu (Park Miso), an aspiring interior designer, to a building owned by an old friend (Lee Hyeyoung) already established in the design field. She gives them a tour of the property,...
“With each new film, Hong Sangsoo continues to find new ways to surprise and delight us,” said Cinema Guild President Peter Kelly. “We can’t wait to see audiences react to Walk Up, a film strikingly original and strikingly Hong.”
In Walk Up, Sangsoo’s ninth film, Kwon Haehyo plays Byungsoo, a film director who goes with his daughter Jeongsu (Park Miso), an aspiring interior designer, to a building owned by an old friend (Lee Hyeyoung) already established in the design field. She gives them a tour of the property,...
- 8/9/2022
- by Armando Tinoco
- Deadline Film + TV
Cinema Guild has acquired the North American distribution rights for Hong Sangsoo’s upcoming film “Walk Up.” The film will world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and will also play in competition at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Cinema Guild will open the film in theaters in 2023 following its release of Hong’s other 2022 title, “The Novelist’s Film,” this fall.
Kwon Haehyo, in his ninth film for Hong, plays Byungsoo, a film director who goes with his daughter, an aspiring interior designer, to a building owned by an old friend who is already established in the design field. The film dives into Hong’s interest in structure — a defining characteristic of his work to date — this time exploring the literal structure of the building which serves as a central figure to the plot. Throughout the film, Byunsgoo works his way up the floors of the building,...
Kwon Haehyo, in his ninth film for Hong, plays Byungsoo, a film director who goes with his daughter, an aspiring interior designer, to a building owned by an old friend who is already established in the design field. The film dives into Hong’s interest in structure — a defining characteristic of his work to date — this time exploring the literal structure of the building which serves as a central figure to the plot. Throughout the film, Byunsgoo works his way up the floors of the building,...
- 8/8/2022
- by EJ Panaligan
- Variety Film + TV
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