Korean War Biopic 작은 연못 (A Little Pond) Gets New Poster, and Release?

Looking at the dusty annals of Korean history, even only from the 19th century onwards, you'll find plenty of fodder for controversies, but the Nogeun-ri Massacre would probably end up in the Top 10, if not higher (you can read about it here). It's rather peculiar Chungmuro didn't get there a few years ago, taking advantage of the atmosphere vis-a-vis the presence of American forces in the peninsula which was drenching the Korean psyche between 2002 and 2007. One film did get there around that time, 작은 연못 (A Little Pond), but it took so long to complete it that many just forgot about it (I'll freely admit I haven't thought about it in quite some time myself). Well, what do you know, in the strangest possible environment for a film like this to be released (considering who occupies the Blue House now), it seems like theater veteran Lee Sang-Woo's tour de force might indeed end its long march leading to Korean theaters much sooner than later.

I say "might" because all we have for now is a tidbit noting that the film will be screened as part of the Gala Presentation of the upcoming PIFF, but that should lead to a theater release around early next year, if we're lucky. Lee is one of the most influential stage producers in Korea, with a past as a screenwriter in Chungmuro -- writing the script for Yeo Gyun-Dong's 세상 밖으로 (Out to the World), for instance - and managed to put together a pretty strong cast (although the subject was probably another big factor), including Moon Sung-Geun, Moon So-Ri, Park Won-Sang, Jeong Suk-Yong, Kim Roi-Ha, the late Park Gwang-Jung, Lee Dae-Yeon, Kang Shin-Il, and even cameos by Song Kang-Ho and Yoo Hae-Jin. To reflect the ensemble cast feeling of the production, whose motto from day one has been that of faithfully recreating the event, even the new poster has been produced that way.

After seven years of production made of four years alone spent interviewing the survivors and investigating the facts, three months of pre-production, three months of shooting and a painstakingly long two years of post-production, it seems like we'll finally get to see this one soon enough.