News
5 Korean Films Announced in Fantasia’s 2nd Wave
ME AND ME and More to Screen at Top North American Genre Film Event
The Fantasia International Film Festival will be returning for its 24th edition on August 20, but this year’s event will be an unusual one as it will take place exclusively online, owing to continued global concerns over the spread of the 2019-nCoV virus. The festival recently revealed its second wave of titles, which included a quintet of recent works from Korea.
Having its North American premiere in Montreal will be the mystery-thriller ME AND ME starring CHO Jin-woong (Believer, 2018). The directing debut of veteran star JUNG Ji-young (King And The Clown, 2005) has gained strong reviews in Korea, where it opened in June, and follows the case of a teacher and his wife who disappear one night from their countryside home and the strange things that happen to the detective assigned to the case.
Jesters: The Game Changers (2019), also featuring CHO Jin-woong in the lead, alongside SON Hyun-ju of Hide and Seek (2013), debuted in Korea last summer. This Joseon Era-set comedy-drama is the second film by KIM Joo-ho (The Grand Heist, 2012).
Han Gong-ju (2014) and THE WAILING (2016) star CHUN Woo-hee leads the high-rise melodrama Vertigo (2019) as a company worker with a fear of heights who becomes fascinated with a mysterious window cleaner. From Love Fiction (2012) director JEON Kye-soo, the film bowed at the Busan International Film Festival last October.
UM Tae-goo of The Age of Shadows (2016) leads JUNG Hyuk-ki’s winning indie My Punch-Drunk Boxer (2019), playing a washed-up boxer who tries to get back in the game with his special blend of fisticuffs and pansori, a traditional Korean form of song and dance. The film debuted at the Jeonju International Film Festival last year.
The animated film Beauty Water, fresh from competition screenings at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, is the debut of director CHO Kyung-hun. It follows a makeup artist with self-esteem issues who is sent a mysterious product that could turn her life around.
Fantasia, which generally features over a dozen Korean titles, will reveal the rest of its lineup in early August. After kicking off on August 20, this year’s online-only event will run until September 2.
Related People
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JEON Kye-soo
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CHO Jin-woong
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KIM Joo-ho
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SON Hyun-ju
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UM Tae-goo
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CHO Kyung-hun
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CHUN Woo-hee
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JUNG Hyuk-ki
