Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee, 'affairing' together in work and love for 8 years

Director Hong Sang-soo (64) and actress Kim Min-hee (41) have been working and loving together for eight years, accompanying each other on overseas schedules such as Paris and Berlin.

On the 8th, an official from Jeonwonsa told Ten Asia, "Director Hong Sang-soo will leave for Paris on the 13th and attend the 'Retrospective Exhibition of Director Hong Sang-soo's Previous Works' (13th to 19th) at the Paris Cinematheque. Afterwards, he will be attending the Berlin International Film Festival (19th to 26th). “I plan to attend the Encounter section on Sunday,” he said. He added, “Actress Kim Min-hee will accompany director Hong Sang-soo on this schedule.”

Director Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee will first depart for Paris together on the 13th to attend the 'Retrospective Exhibition of Director Hong Sang-soo's Previous Works' and then move on to the Berlin Film Festival on the 19th to join the actors of 'In the Water'.

Director Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee became lovers through the 2015 film ‘Right Now, Wrong Then’. The two made headlines by admitting to having an affair in 2017. Director Hong, who married his wife in 1985 and has a daughter, filed for divorce from his then-wife, but it was dismissed in 2019.

Director Hong Sang-soo has given up on appealing the divorce case and is maintaining a romantic relationship with Kim Min-hee while maintaining a legal marital relationship with his wife. Eyewitness accounts of seeing the two people continued to flow in, including at an apartment in Oksu-dong, a supermarket near Gyeonggi-do, the Konkuk University campus, and Incheon Airport.

Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee are a couple who are extremely reluctant to be exposed in Korea, but their affection for each other ignites abroad. They say that overseas, where they are relatively free from public attention, they do all their schedules together and do not hide their expressions of affection. In particular, Director Hong gave credit to Kim Min-hee by nominating her after winning the Silver Bear Award for 'Novelist's Film' last year.

Meanwhile, Kim Min-hee is not working as an actress at all and is only focusing on Hong Sang-soo and his movies. Kim Min-hee served as the head of production for director Hong Sang-soo's new film 'In Water' and took care of the overall production of Hong Sang-soo's film.

'In the Water', in which director Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee participated as production directors, was invited to the Encounters section at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival. This work is director Hong's 29th feature-length film, and is attracting attention as it has been invited to the Berlin Film Festival for four consecutive years, following 'The Woman Who Ran' (2020), 'Introduction' (2021), and 'The Novelist's Film' (2022).

'Inside the Water' stars Shin Seok-ho, Ha Seong-guk, and Kim Seung-yoon, and director Hong's lover Kim Min-hee serves as the production manager. 'In the Water', which aired in Jeju last April, tells the story of a man who dreamed of becoming an actor and takes on the challenge of directing a movie to test his creativity. The story is about a man who heads to Jeju Island with two people, meets a woman who is picking up trash on the beach, and creates a story through that meeting.

Director Hong has a deep connection with the Berlin International Film Festival, having entered the festival's competition section six times since 'Day and Night' (2008). Among them, four films, including ‘On the Beach at Night Alone’ (Silver Bear Award for Best Actress), ‘The Woman Who Ran’ (Silver Bear Award for Best Director), ‘Introduction’ (Silver Bear Award for Best Screenplay), and ‘Novelist’s Film’ (Silver Bear Award for Jury Award) won trophies. I also held him in my arms.

Meanwhile, the works of two Korean directors were listed side by side in the competition section, the main section of this year's Berlin International Film Festival. These are ‘The Shadowless Tower’ by director Jang Ryul, a second generation Korean-Chinese Korean, and ‘Past Lives’ by Korean-Canadian director Celine Song. Among them, actor Teo Yoo played the lead role in ‘Past Life’.

The Berlin Film Festival is considered one of the world's three largest film festivals, along with Cannes and Venice. It will be held from the 16th to the 26th.

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr