'Next Sohee,' starring Bae Doona, invited to Critics' Week at Cannes

Actor Bae Doo-na in a scene from the film "Next Sohee" / Courtesy of Twinplus Partners

By Kwak Yeon-soo

The upcoming detective drama "Next Sohee," starring Bae Doo-na and directed by Jung July, has been chosen as the closing film of the Cannes International Film Festival's parallel sidebar Critics' Week, according to production house Twinplus Partners, Thursday.

The Critics' Week program, which was introduced in 1962, is dedicated to filmmakers' first and second features from all around the world. A total of 11 Korean films have been invited so far, including Hur Jin-ho's "Christmas in August" (1998), Jung Ji-woo's "Happy End" (1999) and Han Jun-hee's "Coin Locker Girl" (2015).

"Next Sohee" is Jung's second film, following the 2014 detective drama "The Girl at My Door," which was invited to the "Un Certain Regard" selection of the 67th Cannes Film Festival that year.

It revolves around Sohee (Kim Si-eun), a high school student who starts training for a subcontracted position at a call center. Sohee cannot bear the highly stressful work culture, and a mysterious incident leads to her death. Detective Oh Yu-jin (Bae) starts to investigate Sohee's death.

This film marks a reunion for Jung and Bae, who collaborated on "A Girl at My Door."

"I am grateful that we can present the film on a brilliant spring day. All the cast and crew worked hard last winter, and I hereby proudly introduce our jewel-like actors to audiences around the world," Jung said.

Bae said, "From the moment I first read the script of 'Next Sohee,' I was convinced that it would resonate with international audiences. I'm very happy that our film will premiere at such an honorable place. I love this film as much as I love director Jung. I would like to congratulate her on getting the film to premiere during Critics' Week at Cannes."

Huh Moon-young, director of the Busan International Film Festival / Courtesy of BIFF

The actress has been invited to Cannes with two films, including Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Broker," which will compete for the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes, which will be held from May 17 to 28.

Meanwhile, Huh Moon-young, director of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), has been appointed as a juror for this year's Critics' Week. In 2011, the film auteur Lee Chang-dong headed the jury of Critics' Week.

Huh will join four other judges, including Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, to select winners in four categories.

Huh is a film critic and has until recently been the program director of the Busan Cinema Center. He was previously a Korean cinema programmer at the BIFF for five years from 2002 after having built his journalism career at film magazine Cine21.

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