LEE Chang-dong’s Latest Begins North American Awards Circuit
LEE Chang-dong’s acclaimed new feature
BURNING has been earning accolades since it debuted in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May and now it has begun its North American awards campaign in style, after securing a nomination for Best International Film at the 2019 Film Independent Spirit Awards.
BURNING is nominated alongside Alice ROHRWACHER’s
Happy as Lazzaro, Alfonso CUARÓN’s
Roma, KORE-EDA Hirokazu’s
Shoplifters and Yorgos LANTHIMOS’
The Favourite.
BURNING is the third Korean film to be nominated for the prize, following LEE’s earlier work
Oasis (2002) and
BONG Joon-ho’s
Mother (2009). No Korean film has ever won the category. LEE’s work has also been selected as Korea’s official submission to the foreign language film category of this year’s Academy Awards.
To date,
BURNING as won the FIPRESCI Prize and the Vulcan Award for the Technical Artist from the Cannes Film Festival, Best Director and Best Music from the Buil Film Awards, Best Film from the Grand Bell (Daejong) Film Awards and the Best Cinematography and FIPRESCI Prizes from the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards, among others.
Based on the short story ‘Barn Burning’ by MURAKAMI Haruki, LEE’s work, his first in eight years following Cannes Best Screenplay Award winner
Poetry (2010), features
YOO Ah-in as a poor aspiring writer who become infatuated with an old acquaintance (played by newcomer
JUN Jong-seo), who then introduces him to her mysterious and rich friend Ben (
Steven YEUN).