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2015｜102 MIN | Thriller, Drama
DIRECTOR HONG Seok-jae

CAST BYUEN Yo-han, LEE Ju-seung
RELEASE DATE March 12, 2015
CONTACT Korean Academy of Film Arts(KAFA)/CJ Entertainment
Tel +82 2 371 8147  | Fax  +82 2 371 6340 
E-mail justinkim@cj.net

 

Sociaphobia is the debut film from director HONG Seok-jae which deals with the social issues of internet culture among the youth of the 21st century. The internet becomes a source to investigate the death of an individual while trying to determine if it was a suicide or murder as the individual had suffered a witch hunt over social media. It is also about the protagonist named Ji-woong who gets involved in this unlikely case and is introduced to an unfamiliar world. To the young who are more accustomed to typing on the keyboard rather than handwriting, the fictional cyber space called the internet becomes reality.

 

In the online world, one can simply type on the keyboard to praise or criticize others. However, the pain that comes from this act of digital abuse is very much real. HONG partners with rising stars BYUEN Yo-han and LEE Ju-seung to dissect the aftermath of the lonely youths who are being eaten away in distorted reality.

 

When a soldier commits suicide, the whole country becomes outraged. In the midst of this commotion, a person nicknamed ‘Lena’ writes a negative comment about the death online and creates a bigger uproar. Two young men who aspires to become policemen, Ji-woong (BYUEN) and Yong-min (LEE), get involved in the picture and the situation takes on a snowballing effect. While trying to chase ‘Lena,’ Ji-woong and Yong-min finds her breathless and others start to blame the two for her death. In order to save themselves from being eliminated from the police exam, the two search for clues to prove that her death was a homicide.

 

Through BYUEN and LEE, HONG paints a delicate but suspenseful story about a witch hunt that happens over social media. Due to the great performances made by the actors the film has been recognized through multiple awards including Directors Guild of Korea Award and the NETPAC Award during the 19th Busan International Film Festival as well as Audience Award and Actor Award during the 40th Seoul Independent Film Festival.

 

Through this film HONG was able to “see how much human beings long for attention. On Social media, anyone can easily express themselves. The film was inspired by real events and I wanted to cinematize the story in order to save the next victim from digital abuse.”