Park Chan-wook’s new film up for competition in Cannes

A scene from director Park Chan-wook’s new film “The Handmaiden”

SEOUL, (Yonhap) — South Korea’s award-winning filmmaker Park Chan-wook’s new thriller “The Handmaiden” was invited to the competition section for this year’s Cannes Film Festival on Thursday.

The festival’s organizing committee announced the lineup for films to be shown at the 69th edition of the event during a news conference that was broadcast live on YouTube from the French city of Cannes.

This year’s festival is set to be held from May 11 to 22.

“The Handmaiden” is the first Korean film to be shortlisted for the festival in four years since Im Sang-soo’s “The Taste of Money” and “In Another Country” by Hong Sang-soo.

Park captured the Grand Prix honors at Cannes in 2004 with the thriller “Oldboy.”

Set in 1930s Korea and Japan during the period of Japan’s colonial occupation, “The Handmaiden” starring Kim Jin-hee, Kim Tae-ri and Ha Jung-woo revolves around a love story between a mistress and her handmaiden. It was inspired by Sarah Waters’ Victorian-era lesbian crime novel “Fingersmith.”

A scene from director Na Hong-jin’s new film “Goksung”

“Bu-san-haeng,” an action film by director Yeon Sang-ho, and Na Hong-jin’s mystery-thriller “Goksung” are other Korean films chosen for screening. They were invited to the “Midnight Screening” and an out-of-competition section of the festival, respectively.

“Bu-san-haeng” depicts people striving to survive against the spread of a strange virus in a KTX bullet train bound for the southern port city of Busan.

“Goksung” is a mystery-thriller featuring a rural village plagued with mysterious murders after the arrival of a stranger.

“1 Kilogram” by Park Young-ju, a film student of the Korea National University of Arts, was among the 18 short films chosen to be shown in the “Cinefondation” category, the organizer announced on its website earlier in the day.

The “Cinefondation” is the competition section for short films by students of various film schools around the world.

No South Korean films have been shortlisted for the Cannes’ competition section for short films by professional directors, however.

“1 Kilogram” is about Min-young (Lee Seung-yeon) who lives a gloomy life after losing her son five years ago. She gradually changes after meeting a woman (Park Hyeon-young) in a gathering of mothers who lost their children. The movie is based on “1 Kilogram of Seafood” listed in “Night Passes,” a collection of South Korean novelist Pyun Hye-young’s short stories.

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