FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 16, 2022

CINEMA GUILD ACQUIRES HONG SANGSOO’S BERLIN GRAND JURY PRIZE WINNER THE NOVELIST’S FILM

NEW YORK, NY (Feb 16, 2022) – Cinema Guild announced today the acquisition of U.S. distribution rights for Hong Sangsoo’s The Novelist’s Film. Winner of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival, the film marks three Silver Bears in three consecutive years for Hong, who won Best Director for The Woman Who Ran in 2020 and Best Screenplay for Introduction in 2021. Cinema Guild has released the last ten features by the director, all made in the last seven years.

The film stars Lee Hyeyoung, last seen in Hong’s In Front of Your Face, as Junhee, a novelist who has grown disenchanted with her writing. On a trip to see an old friend, she runs into a film director who was set to adapt one of her novels before the project fell through. One chance encounter leads to another and soon she finds herself having lunch with Kilsoo (Kim Minhee), a well-known actress also questioning her role as an artist. It’s then that Junhee has an epiphany: she will make a film starring Kilsoo. It won’t be like other films. It will be the novelist’s film.

For his 27th feature, Hong holds a mirror up to his own artistic process and asks what exactly we’re looking for from a work of art. As his characters discuss their lives and work and the ways they intertwine, Hong sets down a sort of manifesto for his own inimitable oeuvre before exploding it (or perhaps fully realizing it) in a moving final flourish. With deeply felt performances from Lee, Kim and an incredible cast of Hong regulars, The Novelist’s Film is a summation of Hong’s career-long artistic project, even as it signals bold new directions.

"For anyone who thinks they’ve seen everything that Hong Sangsoo can do," said Cinema Guild President Peter Kelly. "The Novelist’s Film proves once again that there is no end to the surprises and delights this director has in store for audiences."

The deal was negotiated by Peter Kelly of Cinema Guild with Youngjoo Suh of Finecut.

Cinema Guild is a premier distributor of world cinema, independent films and documentaries, whose upcoming releases include Fern Silva’s Rock Bottom Riser and Ramon and Silvan Zürcher’s The Girl and the Spider. Recent releases include Payal Kapadia’s A Night of Knowing Nothing, Ernst Karel and Veronika Kusumaryati’s Expedition Content and Hong Sangsoo’s Introduction.

For press inquiries, please contact us at:

(212) 685-6242 or press at cinemaguild dot com

###