Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee to attend the 72nd Berline Film Festival with the new movie “The Novelist’s Film”, will they continue to win an award?
Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee will attend the Berlin Film Festival for the first time after 2 years with “The Novelist’s Film”, in which Kim Min-hee participated as a lead and a producer.
The relationship between director Hong Sang-soo and actress Kim Min-hee, who are lovers, has changed again. Kim Min-hee will appear as a lead in director Hong Sang-soo’s new film “The Novelist’s Film” as before. Unlike how they worked together as production directors of Hong Sang-soo’s latest work “In Front of Your Face”, the two joined hands again but as a director and an actress. Attention is focusing on the appearance of Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee, who will stand side by side at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival.
“The Novelist’s Film” is the newest and also the 27th movie produced by director Hong Sang-soo. It was invited to be premiered in the ‘Competition’ section of the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival on February 10th (local time). “The Novelist’s Film” tells about novelist Jun-hee persuading actress Gil-soo, whom she met after going a long way to the bookstore run by a disappeared junior, to make a movie together. Kim Min-hee will appear as actress Gil-soo, one of the main characters.
Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee have worked together in various projects, such as “Right Now, Wrong Then”, “On the Beach at Night Alone”, “Claire’s Camera”, “The Day After”, “Grass”, “Hotel by the River”, “The Woman Who Ran”, etc. The two openly admitted to being lovers at the press conference for the 2017 film “On the Beach at Night Alone” after rumors of their love affair broke out. This film helped her win the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. After meeting Hong Sang-soo, Kim Min-hee’s acting career began to blossom. However, she is still labeled with the tag of her affair. In 2019, Hong Sang-soo lost to the divorce lawsuit with his wife but continued his relationship with Kim Min-hee.
Since she admitted to dating Hong Sang-soo, Kim Min-hee has been focusing only on his works and didn’t do any other activities. In Hong Sang-soo’s 25th work, Kim Min-hee said she wanted to step down as a supporting role, then became a production director. In the 26th work “In Front of Your Face”, her position was changed to Head of Production Team. She is diligently playing the role of Hong Sang-soo’s muse by expanding her acting to the producer field. In the new movie “The Novelist’s Film”, apart from being the production director, she will once again appear as an actress, showing her capability of a “multi muse”.
Regardless of their reputation in Korea, the reputation of the two as film creators in the global market is at its highest level. Hong Sang-soo’s work is well-received for quietly and delicately illuminating the value of everyday life. Regarding his upcoming “The Novelist’s Film,” Berlin Film Festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian praised, “He talks about the importance of integrity in the dishonest film world while praising the beauty of coincidental encounters.” He also praised Hong Sang-soo as “one of the most consistent and innovative storytellers in modern movies.”
According to the film industry, Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee will attend this year’s Berlin Film Festival. It is the first time in two years the two have appeared together in public. Two years ago, they attended the 70th Berlin Film Festival for the movie “The Woman Who Ran” and were seen holding hands affectionately while wearing couple rings. At that time, when Hong Sang-soo was called the winner of the Silver Bear awards, the two had no hesitation to do skinship in public, such as hugging.
Last year, the 71st Berlin Film Festival was held online, so Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee could not be seen together. Instead, Hong Sang-soo released a video of a snail, saying, “I found a young snail while walking on the street with Kim Min-hee a long time ago.” The video showed a snail moving slowly on the street with the song “Que Sera Sera” playing. “Que Sera Sera” means “be as you can.” People are focusing their attention on whether these two artists walking “their own way” will be able to attend the film festival together and achieve another Silver Bear.
