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Sean Gilman: I had a particularly Hongian experience as I readied myself to write this first dispatch to you, Evan, about Introduction. Right after finishing the movie, I took a brief nap. This is a regular part of my pre-writing process: the twenty minutes of calm and quiet help me organize my thoughts, and the dreaminess helps with my creativity. I had the whole thing planned and written out in my head. I assure you it was brilliant, funny and clever and insightful. Then when I woke up, I had forgotten all of it. Not just what I was going to write, but the movie itself was gone. I’ve been trying to piece it all back together over the past 24 hours, and in doing so I’ve been wondering if this is a bit like how Hong constructs his films in the first place. It’s well-documented that he...

Leading South Korean film sales firm Finecut has boarded “Toxic,” a fact-based drama-thriller about a mysterious outbreak that killed thousands. The firm, which is also representing Hong Sang-soo’s Berlin competition title “Introduction,” will unveil the new title to buyers at next month’s European Film Market.

The film is the dramatization of events between 1994 and 2011 in which at least 1,600, and possibly as many as 14,000, people in Korea died. Consumer goods companies including the U.K.’s Reckitt-Benckiser sold tens of millions of humidifier-disinfectants for everyday use. Some included medicinal claims such as the suggestion that they would be good for people suffering from the common cold. Instead, with possible government complicity, the products skipped proper testing and were later found to contain chemicals that caused irreversible lung damage.

The film centers on an ER doctor whose wife may have lost her life because of the product. Along with other victims,...

Director Lee Kwang-kuk is a regular of Busan Film Festival where all his films have premiered. His feature debut, the convoluted Escher-inspired love story “Romance Joe” (2011) won him the Citizen Reviewer’s Award in Busan, the Best New Director Award at the Buil Film Awards, and the Best Screenplay Award at the Busan Film Critics’ Awards. “A Tiger in Winter” (also scripted and produced by Lee) is no exception with its Busan opening and so far it has been well received in the festival circuit.

“A Tiger in Winter” has been chosen to complement the 2018 London Korean Film Festival Programme Launch Ceremony.

Gentle soul Gyeong-yu (Lee Jin-uk) has been living for a while at his girlfriend’s place, jumping from a job to another and nursing a comforting feeling of self-commiseration. One winter morning though, he wakes up to a storm in his teacup-kind-of-life. His girlfriend wants him out because...

“The Day After” is a film that we’ve been following for a long time. After its premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, we’ve been waiting for the official release Stateside. And with the film finally making its debut this May, we now are pleased to bring you an exclusive trailer and poster for the film.

Read More: Hong Sang-soo’s ‘Grass’ Is Brief But Dense With Ideas [Berlin Review]

From filmmaker Hong Sang-soo, perhaps best known for his films “Hahaha” and “Right Now, Wrong Then,” “The Day After” is an absolutely beautiful film.

Hahaha Review [Sfiff]

Hahaha, which means, "Summer Summer Summer" in Korean (where the film hails from), won director Sang-Soo Hong the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival. In previous years, the prestigious award has gone to films like Dogtooth, and Tulpan. Understandably, I expected much more than a mild comedy about a group of young people that get drunk and have sex. A lot. This does seem, after all, to be a bit of business as usual for twenty somethings. I'll give Sang-Soo Hong the quirky way he told the story. The film initially begins as two friends meet to discuss recent trips they both went on. As the stories are told, the audience gets to see exactly what happened, and how. Immediately, we find out that these two friends spent much time with the same people, but don't know it. However, we're never really shown the two...

The Miff (Melbourne International Film Festival) proceedings begins today. Even for non-members, all sessions are now open to purchase tickets for as screenings commence the 22nd and conclude August 8th. I thought it a prudent time to post my viewings (Ok not all of them but the highlights) and talk a little about the great line-up this year, which has turned out to be very diverse and a tiny bit disappointing.

Last years program included 'Love Exposure' which at the time I was desperate to see, so it was a relief that it was included and turned out to be the festivals best film, if not, dare I say the best film ever, and also a relief that brilliant distributors Third Window Films released on DVD soon after.

This year my must-see movie is Nakashima's school revenge tale 'Confessions' which was not on the program, nor was the...

South Korean comedy Hahaha (no, we’re not laughing, that’s the title of the winner!) received the top prize during the Un Certain Regard section of the 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival!

Hahaha

So, Asia picked up its first Cannes honors on Saturday, and director Hong Sangsoo has a lot of reasons to be satisfied. That’s why we’re here today to have a little chat about his interesting project, and to share the rest of winners in this category….

The latest film by Hong Sang-soo is about “old buddies Mun-kyeong and Jung-sik who reunite after a long time. They realize that they both recently travelled to Tongyeong, where they each got involved in a series of romantic mishaps. It turns out however that they crossed paths with the same people”.

Official Hahaha synopsis: Filmmaker Jo Munkyung plans to leave Seoul to live in Canada. So days before his departure,...

The Palme d’Or isn’t given out until Sunday but awards are starting to come in from Cannes. The Un Certain Regard award, created in 1998, was chaired this year by director Clair Denis and this year’s winner is Hahaha by Hong Sangsoo. The film beat out such competition as the Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams film Blue Valentine and the new film by Jean-Luc Godard. The biggest surprise, however, came from the International Federation of Film Critics who awarded theirFIPRESCI prize to Tournee (“On Tour”) by Mathieu Amalric, a film that opened the first day of Cannes and was largely derided in most quarters as inconsequential fluff.

Un Certain Regard: Hahaha by Hong Sangsoo

Cinefoundation Awards:

1st Prize: Taulukauppiatt (“The Painting Sellers”) by Juho Kuosmanen

2nd Prize: Coucou-Les-Nuages (“Anywhere Out of the World”) by Vincent Cardona

3rd Prize (tie): Hinkerort Zorasune (“The Fifth Column”) by Vatche Boulghourjian...

Cannes -- South Korean director Hong Sangsoo's "Hahaha" laughed its way through the Festival de Cannes' Un Certain Regard awards on Saturday, taking the top prize from the Fondation Groupama Gan.

"Hahaha" follows two men who meet by chance in Canada and share travel stories then realize they've met the same people along the way.

A jury presided by Claire Denis saw 19 films from 21 directors hailing from 19 different countries in the Un Certain Regard category.

The Jury Prize went to Peruvian brothers Daniel and Diego Vega for their film "October." The prize for the best performance in the sidebar went to the actresses of Ivan Fund and Santiago Loza's "The Lips," Adela Sanchez, Eva Bianco and Victoria Raposo.

The 63rd Cannes Film Festival is just over two weeks away as I'll be touching down in Nice on May 11 and will be staying in Cannes through the 23rd. In preparation I am slowly beginning to piece together the films and have recently added a few images from three of the festival's films and thought I'd share the information as I go along.

Takeshi Kitano in Outrage

Photo: Celluloid Dreams

First off is Outrage from Zatoichi helmer Takeshi Kitano. I have only seen Kitano's Zatoichi and Sonatine as I reviewed the double feature DVD back in 2004 is Miramax used the release of Kill Bill to build awareness. Sonatine didn't impress me much, but Zatoichi was solid, though the CG blood was a bit of a distraction. However, Kitano is a big name and I am anxious to check out his latest feature.

Along with the image above I was also...