Director Na Hong-jin’s ‘Hope’ is stealing the spotlight as one of the most talked-about films at the 79th Cannes Film Festival! Local buzz is already calling it a “strong candidate for the Palme d’Or” and the “most anticipated work in the competition category this year.” With the Korean film industry currently in a slump, all eyes are on whether ‘Hope’ can truly bring new hope to the scene.
The Cannes Film Festival kicked off its 12-day celebration with an opening ceremony on the 12th (local time) at the Lumiere Grand Theatre in Cannes, France. This year’s competition features new works from world-renowned masters, including Na’s ‘Hope’, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s ‘Minotaur’, and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘Sheep in a Box’.
The invitation of ‘Hope’ to the competition category is the first for a Korean film in four years, since Director Park Chan-wook’s ‘Decision to Leave’. Director Na is also returning to Cannes after 10 years since ‘The Wailing’. While ‘The Chaser’, ‘The Yellow Sea’, and ‘The Wailing’ were all invited to Cannes, this marks his first time entering the competition category.
There are even rumors in the film industry that Cannes delayed the competition deadline just to accommodate ‘Hope’. Although the final submission was delayed due to post-production schedules, the festival reportedly waited for the film to be completed. Industry insiders see this as a symbolic sign of how much Cannes is anticipating ‘Hope’.
As of the 13th, the US prediction platform Kalshi has ranked ‘Hope’ as the number one most likely film to win this year’s Palme d’Or. The UK film betting site Jigsaw Lounge has also listed ‘Hope’ as a leading candidate.
The official red carpet and world premiere for ‘Hope’ will take place on the 17th. With a star-studded global cast including Hwang Jung-min, Jo In-sung, Jung Ho-yeon, Michael Fassbender, and Alicia Vikander, the local media frenzy is expected to be intense!
Director Yeon Sang-ho’s ‘Swarm’ was invited to the Midnight Screening category and will have its first official screening on the 15th. This is Director Yeon’s fourth visit to Cannes, following ‘The King of Pigs’, ‘Train to Busan’, and ‘Peninsula’. Director Jung Ju-ri’s ‘Dora’ has also been named in the Directors’ Fortnight. The new work from Director Jung, who gained attention for ‘Do-hee’ and ‘Next Sohee’, will be unveiled on the 17th.
Most notably, Director Park Chan-wook has further elevated the status of Korean cinema by becoming the first Korean to serve as the Jury President for the competition category. In an interview with AFP the day before the opening, Director Park emphasized, “Awards should go to works that will remain for 50 or 100 years,” adding, “I will evaluate based solely on the value of the work itself, not external factors like nationality, genre, or political ideology.”
Additionally, Director Choi Won-jung’s ‘Bird’s Rhapsody’ and Director Nadine Mi-song Jin’s ‘Silent Voices’ were invited to the student short film competition ‘La Cinef’. In the Immersive competition, the VR short ‘Buuu-Peee’ by directors Woo Hyun-ju and Park Ji-yoon has also made the cut.
Pop culture critic Kim Heon-sik noted, “Director Na Hong-jin’s strength in blending popular creature features with cinema is likely to lead to positive results, as it aligns with Cannes’ recent trend of focusing on genre films.”
