Director Hong Sang-soo’s latest film “Walk Up” has received an invitation to the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.
The movie’s overseas distributor Finecut on Aug. 3 said Hong’s film was invited to the festival’s Official Selection section. To run from Sept. 16-24, the event will see about 20 films, including “Walk Up,” vie for the top prize of the Golden Shell.
Hosted in San Sebastian, a resort city in northern Spain, the festival is considered the leading event of its kind in the Spanish-speaking world.
Hong has been invited 12 times to the festival’s Official Selection section since his first in 2016, when he won the Silver Shell for Best Director for “Yourself and Yours.”
“Walk Up” is also invited to the Special Presentations section of the 47th Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from Sept. 8-18 in Toronto, Canada. The director will also mark his 12th invitation to this event.
Four of the 45 films to be screened in the category are Korean: “A Man of Reason” by director Jung Woo-sung, “Broker” by Hirokazu Kore-eda, “Decision to Leave” by Park Chan-wook and “Walk Up.”
On Hong’s latest movie, the Toronto festival said on its website, “Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo adds a new chapter to his impressive body of work, taking a gently delightful new perspective on themes dear to his poetics.”
“Walk Up” is the 28th feature film by Hong and stars actors from his previous works like Kwon Hye-hyo and Lee Hye-young from “The Novelist’s Film” (2022), Song Seon-mi from “The Woman Who Ran” (2020) and Shin Seok-ho from “Introduction” (2021).
Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism