RYOO Scores 6th Sitges Invite with THE BATTLESHIP ISLAND

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RYOO Scores 6th Sitges Invite with THE BATTLESHIP ISLAND

Sep 11, 2017

Writer by Pierce Conran
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WWII Escape Drama Travels to Catalonia for 50th Anniversary

RYOO Seung-wan’s The Battleship Island is the first Korean film that has been confirmed for this year’s 50th edition of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, the world’s leading genre film event. The invitation marks Director RYOO’s sixth invitation to the festival.

Starring HWANG Jung-min, SONG Joong-ki, SO Ji-sub, LEE Jung-hyun and KIM Su-an, The Battleship Island takes place on Hashima Island during World War II, when it was a forced labor mining camp run by the Japanese military. Several Korean characters from different backgrounds toil on the island before a Korean independence fighter tries to mount an escape.

The big-budget film scored the largest opening day of all time at the Korean box office when it welcomed over 970,000 viewers. To date, the action blockbuster has brought in 6.58 million viewers (USD 44.66 million).

Sitges has long admired the work of action maestro RYOO, who has won the Best Asian Film award for three of his six selections: The Unjust (2011); the omnibus Mad Sad Bad (2013); and most recently Veteran (2015). He was also a juror in 2011.

We can expect more Korean tiles to be revealed as Sitges slowly unveils their lineup for this year’s bi-centenary anniversary, which will kick off on October 5th and run until the 15th.

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