Hong Sangsoo’s Berlin Competition Pic ‘Introduction’ Lands At Cinema Guild U.S. distribution rights to “Introduction”, Hong Sangsoo’s latest feature that was selected in this year’s competition program at the Berlin International Film Festival has landed at Cinema Guild. Shot in black and white, “Introduction” is South Korean minimalist Hong’s fifth movie to compete at the Berlin International Film Festival. A character study and sly family portrait, the movie doesn’t really reveal its intentions until late on, deliberately sidestepping expectations.
“From the very beginning director Hong has been a maker of highly personal films, but with Introduction he seems to be drawing us even closer,” said Cinema Guild President Peter Kelly. “We’re so excited to share this film with audiences and to continue our special relationship with Hong Sangsoo.”
The movie, Hong Sangsoo’s twenty-fifth film as a director, follows Youngho (Shin Seokho): he goes to see his father who is tending to a famous patient; he surprises his girlfriend, Juwon (Park Miso), in Berlin where she is studying fashion design; he goes to a seaside hotel to meet his mother and brings his friend Jeongsoo (Ha Seongguk) with him. In each instance, he anticipates an important conversation. But sometimes a shared look, or a shared smoke, can mean as much as anything we could say to those close to us.
Hong won the best director prize at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival for “The Woman Who Ran,” which stars Kim Min-hee. Kim appears in “Introduction” as well. With the win, Hong became the second South Korean filmmaker to earn the best director prize. The late Kim Ki-duk won in 2004 with “Samaritan Girl.”
Other movies from Hong that competed at the Berlin festival were “Night and Day” (2008), “Nobody’s Daughter Haewon” (2013) and “On the Beach at Night Alone” (2017).
Related Read to Hong Sangsoo: Berlin Film Festival 2021: Unveils Competition Lineup and Encounters Full List (updated)
“Introduction” is scheduled to hit local theaters in the first half of this year. The film will screen at further festivals this year before receiving a theatrical release. The deal was negotiated by Peter Kelly of Cinema Guild with Youngjoo Suh, CEO of Finecut.
The 71st Berlin International Film Festival will be held online March 1-5 due to COVID-19.
Based in New York City, Cinema Guild is a distributor of Independent, foreign and documentary films. Since 1968, the Cinema Guild has been a distributor of both documentary and fiction films, offering distribution in all markets, including educational, non-theatrical, theatrical, television, cable, internet, and home video.
Credit Source: Deadline
