Another win for Korean genre cinema on the European festival circuit
Park Hoon-jung’s action thriller “Tristes Tropiques” won a Silver Raven in the international competition at the 44th Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, organizers announced Saturday at the closing ceremony held at Brussels Expo.
Held annually in the Belgian capital since 1983, BIFFF ran this year from April 3 through Saturday, screening horror, sci-fi and thriller titles across feature and short competitions. “Tristes Tropiques” shared the Silver Raven with Matt Johnson’s comedy “Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie.”
It was the only Korean title in this year’s international competition lineup. The top Golden Raven went to Dave Boyle’s Japanese feature “Never After Dark.”
Past Korean winners of the festival’s top Golden Raven prize include Kim Ki-duk’s “The Isle” (2001), Jang Joon-hwan’s “Save the Green Planet!” (2004) and Bong Joon-ho’s “The Host” (2007). Kim Jee-woon’s “I Saw the Devil,” which Park wrote, took the prize in 2011.
A go-to name in Korean genre filmmaking, Park has built a following for his noir and action work. His credits include “New World,” “V.I.P.,” “The Witch” franchise, “Night in Paradise” and “The Childe,” as well as the recent Disney+ series “The Tyrant.”
Starring Kim Myung-min, Lee Shin-young and Park Yu-rim, his latest follows a group of young assassins raised in the rainforest who grow to turn on one another. It is currently in post-production ahead of a domestic release, and was invited to the Orbita section of the 58th Sitges Film Festival in October.
Seoul-based Finecut is handling international sales for “Tristes Tropiques.”
moonkihoon@heraldcorp.com
