First entry since Kim Ki-duk’s 'Pietà'. Second time in 20 years for Park’s work. Minhyuk Che’s VR Film Also Invited

Director Park Chan-wook’s new film No Other Choice has been invited to the Competition section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, which opens on August 27.

The Venice Film Festival office announced on the 22nd (local time) via a live-streamed press conference on YouTube that No Other Choice is one of 21 films selected for the Competition section.

It marks the first time in 13 years that a Korean film has entered the Competition section at Venice, since the late Kim Ki-duk's Pieta in 2012.

The festival introduced No Other Choice as “a story about a fired office worker who tries to eliminate his competitors as he seeks re-employment.”

This is Park Chan-wook’s second time in the Competition section of the festival, and his first in 20 years. In 2005, he was invited with Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, the final film in his vengeance trilogy, and received three unofficial awards: the Young Lion Award, Best Innovation Award, and Future Film Award. Prior to that, in 2004, he was invited to the non-competition section with the omnibus film Three, Monster.

<Poster of Park Chan-wook’s new film 'No Other Choice'. Provided by CJ ENM.>

Regarding the official invitation, Park commented, “Now that the film is complete and it’s been invited to Venice, I feel glad that I didn’t give up on this project after all those years.”

Lee Byung-hun expressed, “I’m so eager to see the finished film.” Son Ye-jin added, “To have my first overseas film festival experience be at Venice is overwhelming and such an honor.”

No Other Choice follows the story of Man-soo, a company employee living a satisfying life, who is suddenly fired. In order to protect his wife Mi-ri and their two children, he sets out to find a new job—leading to a series of events. This marks Park’s first film in three years since Decision to Leave (2022), and is based on the novel The Ax by American author Donald Westlake.

Actor Lee Byung-hun plays the role of Man-soo, while Son Ye-jin plays his wife Mi-ri—the first time the two are acting as a married couple. Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yum Hye-ran, and Cha Seung-won also appear in the film.

Park mentioned at the end of filming this past January that this was “the project I most wanted to make.”

 [Screen capture from the Venice Film Festival’s official YouTube livestream]>

The Hollywood remake of director Jang Joon-hwan’s feature debut Save the Green Planet! (2003), titled Bugonia, was also invited to the Competition section alongside.

Bugonia tells the story of two conspiracy theorists who become convinced that the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company is an alien trying to destroy Earth and decide to kidnap him.

Directed by acclaimed Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, known for Poor Things (2023) and The Lobster (2017), the film stars Emma Stone and is a global project co-produced by CJ ENM.

Other films invited to the Competition section include After the Hunt, directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Julia Roberts, and Father Mother Sister Brother by director Jim Jarmusch.

François Ozon’s L'Étranger and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, both based on novels of the same name, will also compete.

The Venice Film Festival is considered one of the “Big Three” international film festivals, alongside Cannes and Berlin. Films in the Competition section will vie for the Golden Lion (Best Film Award) until the closing day, September 6.

In 2012, Pietà became the first Korean film to win the Golden Lion.

 <Poster of the film Save the Green Planet! (2003). Provided by CJ ENM.>

Director Minhyuk Che’s VR Film Evening at 8PM and the Cat Invited to Venice Film Festival

 <Director Minhyuk Che’s '8PM and the Cat', invited to the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. 

Provided by Korea National University of Arts. >

The Korea National University of Arts (K-Arts) announced on the 21st that 8PM and the Cat, a VR film by director Minhyuk Che, has been invited to the Immersive Competition section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival.

8PM and the Cat is an audience-participatory work that uses real-time image and monologue generation technology to depict the mourning process of a cartoonist who has lost a lover in an accident.

Director Minhyuk Che is currently a student in the Multimedia Imaging Department at K-Arts’ School of Film, TV & Multimedia, and completed the project through the Art & Technology Lab (AT Lab)’s creative-technology convergence program.

Che stated, “I wanted to involve the audience in protagonist Haru’s journey of grief and remembrance.”

The festival praised the film as “a creative and moving piece that uses artificial intelligence (AI) poetically and delicately to evoke deep emotions.”

The Venice Film Festival’s Immersive section showcases immersive storytelling works using technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), rather than traditional theater-format video content.