On the Beach at Night Alone, the first of three Hong Sangsoo films to premiere this year, was recently invited to the 34th Jerusalem International Film Festival, where it went on to pick up the Wilf Family Foundation Award (worth USD 20,000) for Best International Film.

The festivals’ jury, which was comprised of Israeli filmmaker Nadav LAPID, actress Evgenia Dodina, and Deborah Young, international editor for The Hollywood Reporter, gave the following comment with the award: "Using the simplest of cinematic tools, Hong Sangsoo creates a mysterious magic, rooted in the heart of daily life. Love, hatred, affection, rage, sexuality, loneliness and deep pain are reflected in the face and body of a young woman, the main character, one of the deepest descriptions of a human being we've seen in cinema in recent years.”

On the Beach at Night Alone features KIM Min-hee as an actress who goes to Germany where she waits for a man she’s carrying on an affair with. She later returns to Korea following the end of the romance. The film co-stars SEO Young-hwa, KWON Hae-hyo, JUNG Jae-young and MOON Sung-keun.

The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival this year, where it earned the Silver Bear for Best Actress for KIM’s performance. Hong then premiered two films in Cannes in spring, The Day After in competition and Claire’s Camera in Special Screenings, both of which also feature KIM.

Hong’s Yourself and Yours, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016, also screened in Jerusalem in the Masters section.