Woman Is The Future Of Man: Film Facts

Hong Sangsoo, Writer/Director
Born in 1960, Hong Sangsoo studied cinema at Chungang University in Seoul. He then moved to the USA and graduated from the College of Arts and Crafts of California and from the Art Institute of Chicago. He made several short films there and considered devoting himself to experimental film, but changed his mind on discovering Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest. After a few months at the Cinémathèque Française, he returned to Korea and shot his first film in 1996, The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well. Korean critics unanimously hailed the personal vision and artistic ambition of a director that came as a breath of fresh air in Korean film. Noticed by festivals, he received the Dragons & Tigers prize at the Vancouver International Film Festival (1996) and the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 1997. His following film, The Power of Kangwon Province received a special commendation at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard). Shot in hazy black and white, The virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors asserted the coherence of Hong Sangsoo's work and allowed the filmmaker to further explore the possibilities of narration in film. In 2002, Turning Gate continued this work while turning towards comedy and greater sobriety. This film was his first box-office hit in Korea. French audiences discovered him and at last gave him a warm welcome.

2004 Woman is the Future of Man
2002 Turning Gate
2000 The Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors
Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival
1998 The Power of Kangwon Province
Commendation, Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard
1996 The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well

Kim Hyungkoo / Director of Photography
A graduate of the Korean Academy of Fine Arts and the American Film Institute, Kim Hyungkoo is regarded as one of the best directors of photography in Asian movies. He has worked, among others, on Spring in My Hometown by Lee Kwangmo (1998), Peppermint Candy by Lee Changdong (1999), One Fine Spring Day by Hur Jinho (2001) and Bong Junho's thriller, Memories of Murder that will shortly be released in France. He has also worked on all of Kim Sungsoo's films, including Musa, La princesse du désert (2001) and on Chen Kaige's latest film, Together. He is also a lecturer at Sejong University.

Ham Sungwon / Editor
Ham Sungwon has worked on all of Hong Sangsoo's films since The Power of Kangwon Province. He also works with Kim Kiduk for whom he has cut Bad Guy, Address Unknown (2001) and The Coast Guard (2002). His important filmography also includes Park Kihyung's horrors films, Whispering Corridor (1998) and Secret Tears (2000), the musical Dance Dance, the period film Spring in My Hometown by Lee Kwangmo(1998) and the melodramas Christmas in August by Hur Jinho and An Affair by E-J Yong (1998).

Yoo Jitae (Munho)
Born in 1976, Yoo Jitae is one of the most popular actors of his generation. He first came to notice with the triumph of Kim Sangjin's comedy Attack the Gas Station in 1999. Appearing in one hit after another, from the melodrama Ditto by Kim Jungkwon to the action movie Libera Me by Yang Yunho (2000), he has also worked on more intimate projects such as One Fine Spring Day by Hur Jinho (2001). This year, in addition to Woman is the Future of Man, he has starred in Kim Sungho's chiller Into the Mirror and Min Byungchun's science-fiction film Natural City. He will shortly be seen in France in Park Chanwook's new feature, Old Boy. A frequent guest on TV shows, Yoo Jitae is also a personality courted by leading brands that play on his popularity with young Korean audiences.

Kim Taewoo (Hunjoon)
Born in 1971, Kim Taewoo made his debut on television before appearing on the big screen for the first time in The Contact by Jang Yoonhyun, the biggest box-office hit of 1997. Since then, he has appeared, among others, as a tortured soldier in Park Chanwook's blockbuster, Joint Security Area (presented at the Berlin Festival), and as a neurotic husband in Hyun Namseop's comedy Saving My Hubby.

Sung Hyunah (Sunhwa)
Miss Korea 1994 and a face familiar to Korean TV audiences, Sung Hyunah made her film debut in Halleyuya by Shin Seungsoo (1997) then appeared in Boss X File by Kim Seungduk (2002). Woman is the Future of Man marks her first leading role.

Miracin Korea and Uni Korea
Founded in the mid-1990s, these two independent production companies endeavor to alternate art-house films and popular box-office hits. Therefore, Miracin is behind the futuristic superproduction Yesterday, while Uni Korea produced the romantic comedy Singles, the hit of the summer of 2003, and the time-travel melodrama Il Mare in 2000. Miracin and Uni Korea are above the producers of numerous works by key filmmakers of Korean cinema in the last few years. Uni Korea has notably produced the last two films by Lee Changdong, Peppermint Candy and Oasis, while Miracin has produced two films by Jang Sunwoo, A Petal, which relates the massacre of the inhabitants of Kwangju in 1980, and Bad Movie, a fake documentary on the homeless and teenagers of the streets of Seoul. Miracin was behind Hong Sangsoo's second film, The Power of Kangwon Province. The two companies co-produced The Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors and Turning Gate. They have worked with MK2 for Woman is the Future of Man.