Neon has nabbed its fifth film in the Cannes Film Festival competition slate with Na Hong-Jin’s Hope.
Neon has taken North American and English-language rights to the next film by the The Wailing director. Neon is said to have been aggressively pursuing the project since an early footage presentation in November.
The film stars Korean star Hwang Jung-min (Deliver Us from Evil), Zo In-sung (Moving), Hoyeon (Squid Game), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Taylor Russell (Bones and All) and Cameron Britton (Umbrella Academy).
The synopsis reads: “In Hope Harbor, a remote village near the Demilitarized Zone, police chief Bum-seok receives alarming news from local youths that a tiger has appeared. As the village erupts into panic, Bum-seok is forced to confront a reality beyond belief.”
The move now brings the total of Neon titles at the festival to six – with Arthur Harari’s The Unknown, Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, and Hirokazu Koreeda’s Sheep in the Box in competition, and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell out of competition. Neon has had the past six Palme d’Or winners.
The Cannes berth marks Na’s fourth return to the festival following his three previous films: The Wailing, which screened Out of Competition in 2016; the crime-thriller The Yellow Sea, which screened in the Un Certain Regard section in 2011; and his thriller The Chaser, also Out of Competition in 2008.
Written and directed by Na, Hope is produced by Na, Saemi Kim and Saerom Kim for Forged Films. It is executive produced by Jeongin Hong and co-executive produced by Eugene Kim, with Plus M Entertainment financing the film. The deal was negotiated by UTA Independent Film Group and Sarah Colvin for Neon.
Eugene Kim, Head of Content at Plus M Entertainment, stated: “We are thrilled to partner with Neon, a distributor that has consistently demonstrated an unparalleled eye for global masterpieces. She further added, “Given the genre-bending nature of Hope, I am eager to see what a powerful impression it will make on North American audiences through Neon’s sophisticated expertise.”
News of Neon’s pursuit began to leak on social media and film blogs today and then was confirmed by our sister publication Variety first.
