A Few Details on Im Kwon-Taek's 101st

The hype surrounding Im Kwon-Taek's all important 100th film, the quietly powerful 천녁학 (Beyond the Years), was not what you'd expect, particularly considering all the vicissitudes which marked the project in its pre-production stage, and the meaningful milestone itself. Barely registering a blip at the box office and generally receiving positive reviews which didn't exactly brim with enthusiasm, the minimalist charm of Im's latest made it his most accomplished work - along with 취화선 (Chwihwaseon), which seems to gain gusto with repeated viewings - since 1996's 축제 (Festival), but in this cinematic frenzy led by the Bong Joon-Hos, Park Chan-Wooks and Kim Jee-woons of the world, uber-veteran Im has strangely been ignored, despite the fact he hasn't made a stinker in ten years. Courtesy of a poster on the Extreme Movie board, who probably scanned some kind of festival guide of sorts, we finally have some details on his 101st film, which was so far only known as the 한지 프로젝트 (Hanji Project), Korea's traditional paper.

The film will be entitled 달빛 길어올리다 (Raising the Moonlight), deal with hanji as it was expected, and has already cast Im regular Kang Su-Yeon and Park Joong-Hoon as the leads, while DP Hwang Gi-Seok of 형사 Duelist and 친구 (Friend) will lens the film, which is Im's first ever digital project. No other details other than the fact that shooting will start next month for what is likely to be a Cannes premiere, considering the kind of project we're dealing with.