Indie Breakout ALONERS Invited to New Directors Section in Spain

The San Sebastián International Film Festival is taking a trip back to Korea’s golden age of cinema this year after revealing that their upcoming 69th edition will feature a seven-title retrospective dedicated to classic Korean films.

Current Korean cinema will also be represented at the event through Hong Sungeun’s acclaimed debut indie film Aloners (2021), which will screen in San Sebastián’s New Directors section. Aloners debuted in the Korean Competition at the Jeonju International Film Festival earlier this year, where lead Gong Seungyeon earned one of the Best Actor Prizes. The film is also set to be featured at the Toronto International Film Festival next month as part of the Discovery lineup.

The “Flowers in Hell: The Golden Age of Korean Cinema” retrospective takes its name from Shin Sangok’s seminal noir drama The Flower in Hell (158), a transgressive and technically advanced work that signaled a new dawn for Korean cinema and ushered in the so-called Golden Age of the early 1960s.

Elsewhere in the program will be signature works from several master filmmakers of the period, including Kim Kiyong’s bourgeoisie satire The Housemaid (1960), Yu Hyunmok’s neorealist An Aimless Bullet (1961), Im Kwontaek's debut film Farewell Duman River (1962), Lee Manhee’s dark thriller Black Hair (1964), Kim Keeduk’s youth film The Barefooted Young (1964) and Kim Sooyong’s literary drama Mist (1967).

This year, San Sebastián International Film Festival will be held offline from Sep. 17 to 25 in San Sebastian, Spain.