Host and Guest Domestic Release

The film Host and Guest will be released in Korean cinemas after featuring at numerous international film festivals. The film about minorities in Korean society is the feature film debut of writer/director SHIN Dong-il.

Director SHIN stated that he wanted to portray people who hadn't conformed to "the standardized rules of society". He said, "I want to open the door that is shut fast to these strangers." Working on the film made him reflect upon these issues more and he added, "It even helped me to overcome my own prejudice and intolerance of 'others' and 'minorities' in our society."

Host and Guest portrays a door-to-door missionary who knocks on the door of a divorced and unemployed intellectual. The uninvited and unwanted missionary is harshly rebuked at the door by the confused and angry man. The two meet again and an unlikely bond starts to develop.

Host and Guest premiered at the 2005 Pusan International Film Festival and went on to be invited world wide, including the 56th Berlin International Film Festival. At the 32nd Seattle International Film Festival director SHIN received the Grand Jury Prize for Best New Director.

SHIN's next film titled My Friend and His Wife was selected for this year's Pusan International Film Festival and received positive criticism from the press. Among his earlier short films, The Holy Family featured at the 2001 Cannes International Film Festival.

Yi Ch'ang-ho (KOFIC)