Horror comedy is directed by Nam Dong-hyub.
Korean sales company Contents Panda is to launch sales on horror comedy Handsome Guys at the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm) in Busan.
The film stars Lee Sung-min and Lee Hee-jun, who both starred in Woo Min-ho’s The Man Standing Next – South Korea’s entry to the Oscars in 2021. Lee Sung-min is also known for his role in Yoon Jong-bin’s Cannes 2018 title The Spy Gone North. The cast also includes Gong Seung-yeon (Aloners).
A first look at the feature can be seen above.
It marks the feature directorial debut of Korea’s Nam Dong-hyub,...
Korean sales company Contents Panda is to launch sales on horror comedy Handsome Guys at the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm) in Busan.
The film stars Lee Sung-min and Lee Hee-jun, who both starred in Woo Min-ho’s The Man Standing Next – South Korea’s entry to the Oscars in 2021. Lee Sung-min is also known for his role in Yoon Jong-bin’s Cannes 2018 title The Spy Gone North. The cast also includes Gong Seung-yeon (Aloners).
A first look at the feature can be seen above.
It marks the feature directorial debut of Korea’s Nam Dong-hyub,...
- 10/7/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Jina (Gong Seung-yeon) is the top employee at a call center, but despite talking to customers all day, she has shut out the world beyond her headset; she lives alone, eats alone, sleeps alone, and her cell phone is her constant companion. When one day she’s tasked with training a friendly and naive new hire (Jung Da-eun), her icy armor is threatened. At the same time, she must navigate an incessantly ingratiating new neighbor, and increasingly urgent phone calls from her father, leaving Jina teetering on the edge of an existential crisis, forcing her to confront why she has isolated herself all these years.
Riffing on the Korean “honjok”—a phenomenon of young people who live alone and skirt social interaction—to examine the personal traumas of loss and alienation, this subtly poetic directorial debut is a “stirring portrait of the cages we build for ourselves and questions how...
Riffing on the Korean “honjok”—a phenomenon of young people who live alone and skirt social interaction—to examine the personal traumas of loss and alienation, this subtly poetic directorial debut is a “stirring portrait of the cages we build for ourselves and questions how...
- 8/13/2023
- by Slant Staff
- Slant Magazine
Set in pre-pandemic Seoul, Hong Sung-eun’s sensitive drama “Aloners” is a reflective interrogation into modern loneliness, as well as the silent brutalities of today’s urban life defined by competition, technology and nonstop productivity. The film follows a depressed young woman named Jina (Gong Seung-yeon), who works at a call center. She is currently the top employee in the office and is praised for having handled the greatest number of calls despite having lost her mother recently. Productivity is the most-valued trait in her workplace, and Jina knows this well. She treats all her clients equally, whether they happen to be deranged, abusive or pleasant. Her voice is always polite and calm regardless of how her often-entitled clients behave, but her eyes appear soulless. She looks like someone with a serious but completely asymptomatic disease.
Jina speaks to no one unless it’s necessary. She clearly comes from a...
Jina speaks to no one unless it’s necessary. She clearly comes from a...
- 6/8/2023
- by Claire Lee
- Variety Film + TV
Save The Date
Film Movement has announced the festival favourite directorial debut from Hong Seong-eun premieres via VOD and Digital on June 9, 2023.
Synopsis
Jina (Gong Seung-yeon) is the top employee at a call center, but despite talking to customers all day, she has shut out the world beyond her headset; she lives alone, eats alone, sleeps alone, and her cell phone is her constant companion. When one day she's tasked with training a friendly and naive new hire (Jung Da-eun), her icy armor is threatened. At the same time, she must navigate an incessantly ingratiating new neighbor, and increasingly urgent phone calls from her father, leaving Jina teetering on the edge of an existential crisis, forcing her to confront why she has isolated herself all these years. Riffing on the Korean ‘honjok' – a phenomenon of young people who live alone and skirt social interaction – to examine the personal traumas of loss and alienation,...
Film Movement has announced the festival favourite directorial debut from Hong Seong-eun premieres via VOD and Digital on June 9, 2023.
Synopsis
Jina (Gong Seung-yeon) is the top employee at a call center, but despite talking to customers all day, she has shut out the world beyond her headset; she lives alone, eats alone, sleeps alone, and her cell phone is her constant companion. When one day she's tasked with training a friendly and naive new hire (Jung Da-eun), her icy armor is threatened. At the same time, she must navigate an incessantly ingratiating new neighbor, and increasingly urgent phone calls from her father, leaving Jina teetering on the edge of an existential crisis, forcing her to confront why she has isolated herself all these years. Riffing on the Korean ‘honjok' – a phenomenon of young people who live alone and skirt social interaction – to examine the personal traumas of loss and alienation,...
- 5/27/2023
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
"Do you make a habit of being pissed off all the time?" Film Movement has revealed an official US trailer for an indie thriller from Korea called Aloners, marking the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Hong Seong-eun. This premiered in 2021 and opened in Korea that year, while also playing at the Toronto, Zurich, San Sebastian, and Hamburg Film Festivals. It's finally getting a release on VOD in this US this summer - after waiting a few years. Jina is the top employee at a call center, despite talking to customers all day, she has shut out the world beyond her headset. When training a friendly new hire, her icy armor is threatened forcing her to confront why she isolates herself. The film is riffing on the Korean 'honjok' – a phenomenon of young people who live alone and skirt social interaction – to examine the personal traumas of loss and alienation. This stars Gong Seung-yeon,...
- 5/24/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
A selection at the Toronto International Film Festival, Golden Horse Film Festival, Torino Film Festival (where Gong Seung-yeon picked up Best Actress), San Sebastian International Film Festival, and more, Hong Sung-eun’s directorial debut Aloners comes to U.S. shores next month with much acclaim. Also starring Jung Da-eun, Seo Hyun-woo, Park Jeong-hak, and Kim Hannah, the film explores a modern life of isolation in Korea. Ahead of a June 9 release from Film Movement, we’re pleased to exclusively debut its new U.S. trailer.
Here’s the synopsis: “Jina (Gong Seung-yeon) is the top employee at a call center, but despite talking to customers all day, she has shut out the world beyond her headset; she lives alone, eats alone, sleeps alone, and her cell phone is her constant companion. When one day she’s tasked with training a friendly and naive new hire (Jung Da-eun), her icy armor is threatened.
Here’s the synopsis: “Jina (Gong Seung-yeon) is the top employee at a call center, but despite talking to customers all day, she has shut out the world beyond her headset; she lives alone, eats alone, sleeps alone, and her cell phone is her constant companion. When one day she’s tasked with training a friendly and naive new hire (Jung Da-eun), her icy armor is threatened.
- 5/22/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Stars of ‘Decision To Leave’ and ‘Squid Game’ were among those on the red carpet.
The 24th Jeonju International Film Festival opened tonight (April 27) with stars on the red carpet, a dramatic taekwondo performance onstage, and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne greeting the audience at the Sori Arts Center of Jeollabuk-do before the screening of opening film Tori And Lokita.
“Thank you for welcoming us and for defending cinema in the world,” said the Belgian filmmaking duo on their much-anticipated first trip to the country. “Thank you also to the cinema of Korea, because we did not know South Korea except...
The 24th Jeonju International Film Festival opened tonight (April 27) with stars on the red carpet, a dramatic taekwondo performance onstage, and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne greeting the audience at the Sori Arts Center of Jeollabuk-do before the screening of opening film Tori And Lokita.
“Thank you for welcoming us and for defending cinema in the world,” said the Belgian filmmaking duo on their much-anticipated first trip to the country. “Thank you also to the cinema of Korea, because we did not know South Korea except...
- 4/27/2023
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
There is no denying that the infamous saying of modern technology being able to bring us together while also dividing us at the same time rings truer than ever in times of a worldwide pandemic. While the term “social distancing” has become increasingly popular in the present, the idea itself is nothing new as our technological gadgets, from cell phones to tablets and computers, have paved the way for an era of the disconnected. Even jobs today, with a few exceptions, make contact with people less necessary, especially since the majority of customers rather call or send an e-mail rather than attempting to solve an issue face-to-face. In her feature debut, director Hong Sung-eun explores this aspect of modern life, how technology forces us into a state of isolation and how we might welcome this development. At the same time, the story also deals with the apparitions and ghosts that...
- 2/4/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
“Aloners,” a critically-acclaimed debut feature about loneliness, is set to receive a theatrical release in North America in early 2022. All rights in the region were acquired by Film Movement.
The film, directed by South Korea’s Hong Sung-eun, reflects on the growing phenomenon of one-person households and tells a tale of an anti-social woman who is forced out of her shell.
It was produced by the Korean Academy of Film Arts and represented in international markets by M-Line Distribution. Film Movement plans a theatrical outing in North American theaters that will be followed by releases to all leading home entertainment and digital platforms.
The film made its first appearance at the Jeonju International Film Festival, where it won the Cgv Arthouse Award Distribution Support prize and the best actress prize for Gong Seung-yeon. Gong also won the Korean Association of Film Critics prize for best new actress in the central role.
The film, directed by South Korea’s Hong Sung-eun, reflects on the growing phenomenon of one-person households and tells a tale of an anti-social woman who is forced out of her shell.
It was produced by the Korean Academy of Film Arts and represented in international markets by M-Line Distribution. Film Movement plans a theatrical outing in North American theaters that will be followed by releases to all leading home entertainment and digital platforms.
The film made its first appearance at the Jeonju International Film Festival, where it won the Cgv Arthouse Award Distribution Support prize and the best actress prize for Gong Seung-yeon. Gong also won the Korean Association of Film Critics prize for best new actress in the central role.
- 12/9/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Turkish director Selman Nacar’s “Between Two Dawns,” a taut moral thriller exploring ethical and familial responsibilities over the course of one 24-hour period, took home the top honor at the 39th edition of the Torino Film Festival, which ran from Nov. 26 – Dec. 4.
Chaired by director Ildikó Enyedi, and made up of actor Alessandro Gassmann, composer Evgueni Galperine and sales exec Isabel Ivars, this year’s jury commended Nacar’s filmmaking, calling the winning title “a mature film, directed with intelligent sobriety, which reveals a new, big talent.” The prize came with a purse of €18,000.
No doubt glad to return to in-person, restriction free screenings after last year’s online only edition, the jury spread the love around, offering special jury prizes to both Omar El Zohairy’s “Feathers” and Amalia Ulman’s “El Planeta.” Ulman’s film also won the Fipresci prize. Acting honors went to South Korea’s Gong Seung-yeon,...
Chaired by director Ildikó Enyedi, and made up of actor Alessandro Gassmann, composer Evgueni Galperine and sales exec Isabel Ivars, this year’s jury commended Nacar’s filmmaking, calling the winning title “a mature film, directed with intelligent sobriety, which reveals a new, big talent.” The prize came with a purse of €18,000.
No doubt glad to return to in-person, restriction free screenings after last year’s online only edition, the jury spread the love around, offering special jury prizes to both Omar El Zohairy’s “Feathers” and Amalia Ulman’s “El Planeta.” Ulman’s film also won the Fipresci prize. Acting honors went to South Korea’s Gong Seung-yeon,...
- 12/5/2021
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
In a capitalist system, it’s easier to succeed if one is alone. One can then move around to wherever there is opportunity and fit into any schedule required. One is less likely to be emotionally distracted. Indeed, the less one engages emotionally, the easier it is to take the abuse frequently targeted at front line workers by frustrated customers. In her role providing telephone support for people having problems with their credit cards, Jin-ah (Gong Seung-yeon) is always effortlessly polite, contrite and sympathetic on behalf of her employer, completing calls quickly and maximising customer satisfaction. She’s the perfect productive unit. But how much room does that leave for her to be a person?
Perhaps it’s personhood that Ji-na dislikes. She’s estranged from her father, dutifully watching over him by means of a camera he knows nothing about. Her mother’s death is frustrating because it interrupts...
Perhaps it’s personhood that Ji-na dislikes. She’s estranged from her father, dutifully watching over him by means of a camera he knows nothing about. Her mother’s death is frustrating because it interrupts...
- 11/8/2021
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s period action drama “Wife of a Spy” was the biggest winner at the 15th edition of the Asian Film Awards. It collected three major prizes including the best film award.
The 18 prizes were handed out Friday evening at a hybrid ceremony with the in-person component held at Busan’s Paradise Hotel. Organizers said that 80 nominees attended either in person or online. Among those in Busan to tread the Afa red carpet were Korean stars and prize-winners Lee Byung-hun and Yoo Ah-in.
Directors Lee Chang-dong and Hamaguchi Ryusuke were also in attendance, along with Korean stars Jun Jong-seo, Park Jeong-min, Jang Yoon-ju, Kim Hyun-bin and Gong Seung-yeon.
“Wife of a Spy” was conceived as a TV film. A theatrical version debuted last year at the Venice Film festival and there won the Silver Lion. It enjoyed a high-profile festival career with subsequent stops at San Sebastian, El Gouna and Hainan,...
The 18 prizes were handed out Friday evening at a hybrid ceremony with the in-person component held at Busan’s Paradise Hotel. Organizers said that 80 nominees attended either in person or online. Among those in Busan to tread the Afa red carpet were Korean stars and prize-winners Lee Byung-hun and Yoo Ah-in.
Directors Lee Chang-dong and Hamaguchi Ryusuke were also in attendance, along with Korean stars Jun Jong-seo, Park Jeong-min, Jang Yoon-ju, Kim Hyun-bin and Gong Seung-yeon.
“Wife of a Spy” was conceived as a TV film. A theatrical version debuted last year at the Venice Film festival and there won the Silver Lion. It enjoyed a high-profile festival career with subsequent stops at San Sebastian, El Gouna and Hainan,...
- 10/8/2021
- by Patrick Frater and Rebecca Souw
- Variety Film + TV
Does choosing to be alone truly mean we are better off? Hong Sung-eun, director of the thought-provoking melodramatic film “Aloners,” begs to differ. “We are all connected anyway, so a decent farewell is a mere act of courtesy to close out a chapter,” says Hong.
“Aloners” tells a story about Jina, a top-notched employee at a credit card company call center. She chooses a solitary lifestyle and avoids building relationships with the people around her until the death of her lonely neighbor pushes her to address these relationships one by one. While the theme of loneliness pulsates throughout the film, Jina’s outlook is juxtaposed against her father (played by Park Jeong-bak), her rookie coworker Sujin (Jung Da-eun) and her new neighbor Seonghun (Seo Hyun-woo). All serve as reminders of human connectivity, notably during arduous times.
Premiered at the 22nd Jeonju Intl. Film Festival, and sold by M-Line Distribution, “Aloners” scored two awards.
“Aloners” tells a story about Jina, a top-notched employee at a credit card company call center. She chooses a solitary lifestyle and avoids building relationships with the people around her until the death of her lonely neighbor pushes her to address these relationships one by one. While the theme of loneliness pulsates throughout the film, Jina’s outlook is juxtaposed against her father (played by Park Jeong-bak), her rookie coworker Sujin (Jung Da-eun) and her new neighbor Seonghun (Seo Hyun-woo). All serve as reminders of human connectivity, notably during arduous times.
Premiered at the 22nd Jeonju Intl. Film Festival, and sold by M-Line Distribution, “Aloners” scored two awards.
- 9/11/2021
- by Rebecca Souw
- Variety Film + TV
The Academy (Afaa) revealed the nominees for the 15th Asian Film Awards today. Thirty-six films from eight Asian regions will compete for 16 awards. China’s One Second, South Korea’s The Book of Fish, India’s The Disciple, and two Japanese films, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and Wife of a Spy, compete for this year’s “Best Film Award.”
Three Hong Kong films were nominated for this year’s Afa, including Drifting, directed by Jun Li, nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Actress. Limbo, directed by Cheang Pou-soi, was nominated for Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design and Best sound; Adam Wong’s The Way We Keep Dancing was nominated for Best Original Music.
The Afaa is honoured that legendary South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong will be this year’s Jury President. Lee was the lifetime award recipient at the 13th Asian Film Awards.He won the “Best...
Three Hong Kong films were nominated for this year’s Afa, including Drifting, directed by Jun Li, nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Actress. Limbo, directed by Cheang Pou-soi, was nominated for Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design and Best sound; Adam Wong’s The Way We Keep Dancing was nominated for Best Original Music.
The Afaa is honoured that legendary South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong will be this year’s Jury President. Lee was the lifetime award recipient at the 13th Asian Film Awards.He won the “Best...
- 9/9/2021
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Spain’s San Sebastian Festival, the most important film meet in the Spanish-speaking world, has unveiled the 13 title lineup of its 2021 New Directors lineup, which includes awaited debuts such as Argentine Mara Pescio’s “That Weekend” and Spaniard Javier Marco’s “Josephine” plus Jeonju Fest double winner “Aloners.”
Here are the titles and some descriptions. More details to come:
“Aloners”
Winner at May’s Jeonju Intl. Film Festival of the best actor prize for Gong Seung-yeon who plays a loner woman working at a customer call center who discourages any social contact. A psychological study in solitariness, “Aloners” also scooped the Cgv Arthouse award.
“Between Two Dawns”
A standout and eventual double winner at San Sebastian’s 2020 Wip Europa, Nacar’s debut, about a man struggling to do the right thing following an accident in his family’s business.
“Carajita”
Set in the Dominican Republic and the Argentine directorial duo’s follow-up to 2017 “Tigre,...
Here are the titles and some descriptions. More details to come:
“Aloners”
Winner at May’s Jeonju Intl. Film Festival of the best actor prize for Gong Seung-yeon who plays a loner woman working at a customer call center who discourages any social contact. A psychological study in solitariness, “Aloners” also scooped the Cgv Arthouse award.
“Between Two Dawns”
A standout and eventual double winner at San Sebastian’s 2020 Wip Europa, Nacar’s debut, about a man struggling to do the right thing following an accident in his family’s business.
“Carajita”
Set in the Dominican Republic and the Argentine directorial duo’s follow-up to 2017 “Tigre,...
- 7/28/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Documentaries and pictures made by female filmmakers dominated the prize ranks of South Korea’s Jeonju International Film Festival. Some, including “Splinters” which won the festival’s Grand Prize, were qualified on both counts.
“Splinters” aka “Esquirlas,” is an Argentinian-made documentary about the military-industrial complex, which premiered last year at the Mar Del Plata festival. It emerged as an expansion of a home video shot by director Natalia Garayalde, who recorded the explosion of an arms factory in 1995, when she was 12 years old.
Another documentary, Marta Popivoda’s “Landscapes of Resistance,” took the best picture award in the festival’s international competition.
A third film, “Friends and Strangers,” took the special jury prize. Directed by James Vaughan, the black comedy is pitched as a depiction of current day Australia from the viewpoint of Millennials.
The festival kicked off on April 29, 2021 and runs until Saturday (May 9) when it will close with...
“Splinters” aka “Esquirlas,” is an Argentinian-made documentary about the military-industrial complex, which premiered last year at the Mar Del Plata festival. It emerged as an expansion of a home video shot by director Natalia Garayalde, who recorded the explosion of an arms factory in 1995, when she was 12 years old.
Another documentary, Marta Popivoda’s “Landscapes of Resistance,” took the best picture award in the festival’s international competition.
A third film, “Friends and Strangers,” took the special jury prize. Directed by James Vaughan, the black comedy is pitched as a depiction of current day Australia from the viewpoint of Millennials.
The festival kicked off on April 29, 2021 and runs until Saturday (May 9) when it will close with...
- 5/6/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.