The Berlin International Film Festival, considered one of the world‘s top three film festivals along with Cannes and Venice, will begin its 10-day journey with the opening ceremony held on the 13th (Korean time). A total of seven Korean films, including director Bong Joon-ho’s Hollywood production ‘Mickey 17’ and director Hong Sang-soo‘s new film ‘What the Nature Says To You’, which has advanced to the competition section and is aiming for an award, will meet global filmmakers at this film festival.

Bong Joon-ho’s new film revealed for the first time

The most talked-about film is definitely director Bong Joon-ho‘s ‘Mickey 17’. It has been 11 years since director Bong visited Berlin, after ‘Snowpiercer’ was screened in the Forum section in 2014. Although it will be introduced in the Special Gala section, a non-competitive section unrelated to the award, it is receiving more attention than the films that entered the competitive section because it is the next work after ‘Parasite’, which swept the top prize at both the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Awards in 2019.

‘Mickey 17’ is a sci-fi film that depicts the unpredictable story that unfolds as Mickey, an expendable human clone (the Expendables) who is deployed for a dangerous job that risks his life, experiences his 17th near-death crisis. It will be released for the first time through a world premiere on the 16th.

‘Breakthrough’, directed by Min Kyu-dong and starring Lee Hye-young, will also be screened in the Special Gala section on the 14th. ‘Breakthrough’, based on the novel of the same name by author Koo Byung-mo, tells the story of a middle-aged female killer. This is Lee Hye-young’s first time walking the Berlin red carpet since ‘Scorching Sun’ in 1985, 40 years ago.

‘Spring Night’ (directed by Kang Mi-ja), in which Han Ye-ri plays an alcoholic, and the documentary ‘The Sense of Violence’ (directed by Kim Moo-young) will be introduced in the Forum section, while the mid-length films ‘Chang-gyeong’ (directed by Lee Jang-wook) and ‘Photosynthesizing Death’ (directed by Cha Jae-min) will be introduced in the Forum Expanded section. The short film ‘Paranmanjang’, co-directed by director Park Chan-wook and his younger brother, media artist Park Chan-kyung, will be screened in a special short film program.

Will Hong Sang-soo win his 6th award?

Among the Korean films invited to Berlin this year, the only one to have advanced to a competitive section with a chance of winning an award is director Hong Sang-soo‘s 33rd feature film ‘What Is the Nature Saying to You’. This is the 9th time Director Hong has been invited to the Berlin International Film Festival, and he is aiming for his 6th award with this film.

The film depicts what happens when a young woman takes her boyfriend to her family, and stars Ha Sung-kook, Kwon Hae-hyo, and Jo Yoon-hee. After the world premiere on the 21st, the award winner will be announced at the closing ceremony on the 23rd.

This film also draws attention as the 16th collaboration between Director Hong and Kim Min-hee, who have been in an affair since 2017. Since the two recently shocked everyone with the news of their pregnancy, attention is focused on whether they will appear together at this film festival. The two have shown their unchanging affection by accompanying each other whenever they have been invited to overseas film festivals for their collaborative works.


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.