FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 8, 2022

CINEMA GUILD ACQUIRES HONG SANGSOO’S TIFF OFFICIAL SELECTION WALK UP

NEW YORK, NY (Aug 8, 2022) – Cinema Guild announced today the acquisition of North American distribution rights for Walk Up, directed by Hong Sangsoo. The film will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month and will also play in competition at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Cinema Guild will open the film in theaters next year following its release of Hong’s other 2022 title, the Berlinale Silver Bear-winning The Novelist’s Film, this fall.

In his ninth film for Hong Sangsoo, Kwon Haehyo plays Byungsoo, a film director who goes with his daughter Jeongsu (Park Miso), an aspiring interior designer, to a building owned by an old friend (Lee Hyeyoung) already established in the design field. She gives them a tour of the property, which includes a restaurant and cooking studio on the first two floors, her office in the basement, a residence on the third floor and an artist’s studio at the top. The three of them chat and drink amicably until a business call pulls Byungsoo away. When he returns, it’s the same place, but a different time, and the building owner invites him up to the second floor.

With Walk Up, Hong Sangsoo returns to an interest in structure that has been a defining characteristic of his work from the beginning. And this time the structure is a literal one. As Byunsgoo makes his way up the floors of the building, Hong fills these spaces with a profusion of everyday details spanning art, love, career, religion, dietary decisions and home renovations.

“With each new film, Hong Sangsoo continues to find new ways to surprise and delight us,” said Cinema Guild President Peter Kelly. “We can’t wait to see audiences react to Walk Up, a film strikingly original and strikingly Hong.” The deal was negotiated by Peter Kelly of Cinema Guild with Youngjoo Suh of Finecut.

The premiere of Walk Up will cap a banner year for Hong Sangsoo. 2022 has seen the premieres of two new films (The Novelist’s Film and Walk Up), the release of three films in the United States (Introduction, In Front of Your Face and The Novelist’s Film), a complete retrospective of his work at Film at Lincoln Center and the release of Dennis Lim’s Tale of Cinema, a monograph from Fireflies Press exploring Hong’s body of work.

Cinema Guild is a premier distributor of world cinema, independent films and documentaries, whose upcoming releases include Juan Pablo González’s Sundance Prize-winning Dos Estaciones. Recent releases include Ramon and Silvan Zürcher’s The Girl and the Spider, Fern Silva’s Rock Bottom Riser and Payal Kapadia’s A Night of Knowing Nothing.

For press inquiries, please contact Cinema Guild at: (212) 685-6242 or press at cinemaguild dot com.

For press inquiries, please contact us at:

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

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