Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee, "Depart for Paris together and join the Berlin Film Festival"

Director Hong Sang-soo (64) and actress Kim Min-hee (41) accompany each other on overseas schedules and continue their unchanging relationship as lovers and partners.

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." He added, "Afterwards, he will be attending the Berlin International Film Festival (19th). “I plan to attend the Encounter section (~26th),” 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 have been in a relationship for eight years now, sharing work and love together. This couple, who is rarely seen at official events in Korea, has always become a hot topic as they do all of their overseas schedules together, especially at the Berlin International Film Festival, and do not hide their affection for each other.

Director Hong has a wife whom he married in 1985 and a daughter.

According to the Berlin International Film Festival, director Hong Sang-soo's new film 'In Water' was invited to the Encounters section at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival, which will be held starting on the 16th. 'In the Water' is director Hong's 29th feature film and 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