Song Kang-ho and Song Joong-ki to Cannes... Geumijip and Hwalan invited to the 76th Cannes Film Festival

Actors Song Kang-ho and Song Joong-ki will walk the red carpet side by side at the Cannes Film Festival.

On the afternoon of the 13th (Korean time), the Cannes Film Festival Secretariat announced the official selection list for the 76th edition. Thierry Fr?maux, the executive director, revealed that the Korean films Geomi Jip (director Kim Ji-woon) and Hwalan (director Kim Chang-hoon) were invited to the Un Certain Regard section and the Directors' Fortnight section, respectively.

Song Kang-ho (left) Song Joong-ki [Photo by AP·Yonhap News, AFP·Yonhap News]

Hwalan was invited to the Directors' Fortnight section, which showcases films with unique formats. In this section, Korean films Ha Ha Ha (2010) and Arirang (2011) have won the top prize.

Kim Chang-hoon's feature debut Hwalan is a noir film depicting the story of a boy, Yeon-gyu, who wants to escape a hellish reality and meets the organization's middle boss, Chigeon, leading them to share a precarious world. The film stars Song Joong-ki, newcomer Hong Sa-bin, and Bibi. Director Kim was also nominated for the Cam?ra d'Or, an award given to first-time directors at Cannes.

Kim Ji-woon's new film Geomi Jip was selected for the non-competitive section. The director, who first received an invitation to Cannes with A Bittersweet Life (2005), has been invited again after 15 years since The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008).

Song Kang-ho has set a record by being invited to Cannes for the seventh time, following Miryang (2007), The Good, the Bad, the Weird, Thirst (2010), Parasite (2019), Emergency Declaration (2021), and Broker (2022). He served as a jury member at the 74th Cannes Film Festival and won the Best Actor award last year for Broker.

Geomi Jip is set in the 1970s and tells the story of director Kim (played by Song Kang-ho), who is obsessed with reshooting the ending of his completed film Geomi Jip to make it better. Amidst interference from censorship authorities and challenging conditions with actors and producers who do not understand the changes, the film portrays the chaotic shooting process. The cast includes Song Kang-ho, Im Soo-jung, and Oh Jung-se.

Additionally, Korean films are likely to be invited to this year's Critics' Week and Directors' Fortnight, with announcements to follow.

The 76th Cannes Film Festival will be held from May 16 to 27 in the southern French city of Cannes. The opening film is Jeanne du Barry (director Ma?wenn), and the jury president is Swedish director Ruben ?stlund, who won the Palme d'Or last year for Triangle of Sadness.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.