The films ‘The Vegetarian’ and ‘Scars’, based on novels by author Han Kang, will be screened for special occasions in some theaters to commemorate the author‘s winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The special screenings of ‘The Vegetarian’ and ‘Scars’, which were prepared amid heightened public interest due to the author’s winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, will be held from October 17 at some art house cinemas including CGV, CineQ, Art Nine, and The Soop Art Cinema. Since the two films were released in theaters in 2010 and 2011 respectively and were not available online, many viewers, including Han Kang‘s readers, are expected to welcome their reunion on the big screen.

The film ‘The Vegetarian’, based on the novel of the same name by Han Kang, who heated up the world by winning the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, was first released at the ‘Korean Cinema Today - Panorama’ section of the 2009 Busan International Film Festival and received an enthusiastic response from audiences. It was also officially invited to the ‘World Cinema Drama Competition’ section of the 26th Sundance Film Festival in 2010.

‘Scar’ is a film based on the medium-length novel ‘Baby Buddha’ included in novelist Han Kang’s short story collection ‘The Fruit of My Woman’. It is a story about the female protagonist‘s self-identity, but the director said, “As a director, I also wanted to talk about wounds and our attitude toward dealing with them.” It is said that the title of the film was changed to ‘Scar’ because the message was to convey that everyone lives with wounds in their hearts, but if they are not properly healed, they will eventually become scars.


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com