Historic La Cinef winner marks rare theatrical run for Korean student film
Multiplex chain Megabox will exclusively screen "First Summer," the Korean short film that won top prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival's La Cinef competition, starting Aug. 6, the company announced Tuesday.
The 31-minute short from Korean Academy of Film Arts graduate Heo Ga-young will screen across around 50 Megabox theaters nationwide. Tickets will be priced at 3,000 won.
"First Summer" made history in May as the first Korean film to win the top award in La Cinef, the Cannes section dedicated to student films. The competition selected 16 titles from 2,679 submissions and awarded first, second and third place honors.
The film follows Yeong-sun, an elderly woman caught between attending her granddaughter’s wedding and her boyfriend’s memorial service. Veteran actor Heo Jin leads the cast, with Jung In-ki in a supporting role. Director Heo has said the story was inspired by conversations with her grandmother.
Megabox will host special screenings and offer limited merchandise giveaways as part of the release. The exhibitor previously screened Joung Yu-mi’s Cannes-selected short "Glasses" in June as part of its ongoing push into curated short film programming.
“We saw clear interest from audiences for Heo Ga-young’s award-winning work,” said Kim Joo-hong, head of content planning at Megabox. “We’ll continue to expand our curated offerings to bring more diverse content to theaters.”
moonkihoon@heraldcorp.com
