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| Film "Minari" set for release in Korea in March. Courtesy of Pancinema |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Director Lee Isaac Chung's award-winning film "Minari" is set to open in local theaters in March.
Pancinema, the distributor of the film, confirmed its release Friday and also introduced the movie's first Korean-language poster.
"Minari" portrays the life of a South Korean immigrant family ― Jacob (Steven Yeun), his wife Monica (Han Ye-ri), mother (Youn Yuh-jung), and children ― trying to start anew in the United States. The family moves to a remote farm in Arkansas, hoping to pursue their own American dream through farming. But as they try to settle into their new environment, they encounter different struggles in their lives.
Chung's semi-autobiographical film, based on his own upbringing, has received significant acclaim since its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January last year.
Since then, it scored a total of 31 international awards, including best original screenplay at the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards, and 74 nominations.
Actress Youn Yuh-jung, who played the grandmother of the family, won 11 best supporting actress awards from different U.S. film critics associations, including the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards and the North Carolina Film Critics.
The film is also considered to be a strong contender for the Golden Globes and the Oscars.
However, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association ― the organizer of the Golden Globes ― accepted the film in the foreign language film category last month, making it ineligible to compete for best picture. This has stirred a backlash from the U.S. film industry, as the movie involved an American director and was produced and distributed by U.S. companies.
