Hong Sang-soo

Hong Sang Soo (홍상수, born 25 October 1960) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter.

This is a Korean name; the family name is Hong.

Hong Sang-soo
Hong Sang-soo on the set of Night and Day, 5 September 2007
Born (1960-10-25) 25 October 1960
Seoul, South Korea
OccupationFilm director, screenwriter
Years active1996–present
Spouse(s)
Unnamed
​
(
m. 1985;
sep. 
2016)
[1][2]
Children1
Korean name
Hangul
Hanja
Revised RomanizationHong Sang-su
McCune–ReischauerHong Sangsu

Early life

Hong's parents owned the film production company Cinetel Soul.[3] Hong took the entrance exam and entered the theater department at Chung-Ang University in South Korea. He then studied in the United States where he received his bachelor's degree from the California College of Arts and Crafts and his master's at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.[4][5][6]

Career

Hong made his directorial debut at age 35 with The Day a Pig Fell into the Well in 1996. Woman is the Future of Man (2004) was his first film to screen in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.[3]

Hong's films have also screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, and the Locarno Film Festival.[7]

He has received the Prix Un Certain Regard at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival for Hahaha, the Silver Leopard Award for Best Director at the 2013 Locarno International Film Festival for Our Sunhi, and the Golden Leopard at the 2015 Locarno International Film Festival for Right Now, Wrong Then. His 2020 film The Woman Who Ran won him the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival.[8]

Film style

There are certain elements that are commonly found in Hong's films. A typical Hong film highlights a theme of domestic realism with many of the scenes set on residential streets, cafes, hotels, schools, and in the stairwells of apartment buildings.[3] Characters in the film are seen walking around the city, drinking soju, and having sex. The main characters in his films are often movie directors or actors, and scenes typically consist of a single shot, often beginning and ending with a camera zoom. The budgets for his movies average about $100,000.[7]

Hong is often spontaneous when shooting, delivering the day's scene on the morning of the shoot and frequently changing stories while on set.[3] He rarely prepares scripts in advance. Hong instead begins with a basic guideline and writes his scenes on the morning of the filming day, making changes throughout the day.[7] Hong starts the filming day at 4 a.m. when he begins to write the dialogue for that day's shoot.[5] Hong also develops close relationships with the actors over alcohol and cigarettes and sometimes shoots certain scenes while the actors are under the influence.[9]

Hong's style has been compared to Eric Rohmer's, and it has even be argued that allusions to Rohmer's films appear in some films directed by Hong.[10]

Personal life

In 2016, Hong was reported to be having an extramarital affair with actress Kim Min-hee, who appeared in his 2015 film, Right Now, Wrong Then.[11] Hong admitted to the affair in March 2017, at the Seoul premiere of On the Beach at Night Alone. He filed a divorce suit from his wife in December 2016, but the court rejected his request in June 2019, insisting that only the injured party, Hong's wife, could initiate a legal separation.[12][13]

Filmography

Awards

National awards

International awards
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gollark: I think if people were allowed to directly choose that breakdown, they would focus on the most politically-salient-to-them things, which for a lot of people *is* probably going to be stuff like "public order and safety", "defence" and whatever (remember, the country voted in favour of Brexit), and probably dismiss things like transport and industry and whatever.

References
  1. "Director Files for Divorce Over May–September Romance". Chosunilbo.
  2. "Director Hong Sang-soo fails to settle divorce, going to court". Hancinema.net.
  3. Carew, Anthony (2015). "Expectedly unexpected: Repetition and understatement in the films of Hong Sang-Soo". Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine (186): 82–87. ISSN 0312-2654. OCLC 7128543000.
  4. "Alum's Film Wins Top Prize at Jerusalem Film Festival". School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  5. Lopate, Phillip (7 December 2017). "The Discreet Charm of Hong Sang-soo". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  6. "Hill of Freedom". SFFILM. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  7. Rapold, Nicolas (17 May 2017). "Films of Hong Sang-soo Capture Pleasures and Pratfalls of Attraction". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  8. Meza, Ed (29 February 2020). "'There Is No Evil' Wins Golden Bear at Berlin Film Festival". Variety. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  9. Marshall, Colin (11 June 2013). "The Films of Sangsoo Hong". Quarterly Conversation. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  10. Marco Grosoli, “Moral Tales from Korea: Hong Sang-Soo and Eric Rohmer,” Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies 3 (2010), 95–108.
  11. Kim, Kristen Yoonsoo (26 April 2019). "In the Maze of Love: Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee's Intricate Tales of Romance". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  12. "Court dismisses filmmaker Hong Sang-soo's divorce suit". Korea Times. 14 June 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  13. Agent France Press (14 June 2019). "Film Director Cannot Divorce Wife Over Affair, Rules Court". NDTV.com. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
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