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Hong Sang-soo's New Film Invited to Cannes Fest

By Kim Ki-tae
Staff Reporter

Filmmaker Hong Sang-soo's latest film "Tale of Cinema" (Kukchangjon) received a surprise invitation to the competition section of the Cannes Film Festival just about a week before the festival opens.

Hong's sixth film is on the final list of films invited, the international film festival said on its homepage on Tuesday. The festival is scheduled to take place May 11-22 in Cannes, France.

The film traces a single day in the life of a man who watches a movie and runs into the lead actress of the film when leaving the cinema.

The invitation marks Hong's fourth advance to the Cannes festival. The other three include "The Power of Kangwon Province" and "Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors", invited for the "Un Certain Regard" category. "Woman is the Future of Man" advanced to the last year's feature competition section.

The last-minute invitation brings to eight the number of South Korean films in the line-up at this year's Cannes Film Festival. The other domestically produced movies invited to the festival are: "A Bittersweet Life" by Kim Jee-woon, "The Bow" by Kim Ki-duk, "Crying Fist" by Ryoo Seung-wan, "The President's Last Bang" by Im Sang-soo, short film "Walk on a Little More" by Shim Min-young and the classic "King Boxer" by Chung Chang-hwa. However, "Tale of Cinema" is the only film invited to the competition section, the most prestigious part of the festival. It is to be released May 27 in Korea.

The Chinese-Korean co-production "Grain in Ear" directed by Chinese director Zhang Lu was also invited to this year's Cannes.

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