“ By the Stream ” (aka “Suyoocheon”), the latest work by prolific South Korean minimalist director Hong Sang-soo , is set to release in North American theaters next year. Rights were acquired by Brooklyn-based distributor Cinema Guild from sales agent, Seoul, Korea-based Finecut. Both companies have handled many of the director’s previous works.
The picture will have its world premiere in competition this month at the Locarno Film Festival . It will subsequently play at the New York Film Festival and other festival berths are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Hong is known for his micro-budget, minimalist drama films that are long on conversation, chance encounters and female protagonists.
He also likes to work with a tight-knit circle of actors. The new film is Hong’s 32nd as director. It takes him back to the campus setting of films like “Oki’s Movie” from 2010 and “Our Sunhi” from 2013.
A press kit made available by Locarno describes the story as turning on a lecturer at a woman’s university who asks her uncle, a blacklisted actor-director, to direct a skit at the university. A longer synopsis provided by Cinema Guild adds more: “In the wake of a scandal involving several of her students, Jeonim (portrayed by Kim Minhee), an artist and lecturer at a women’s university, asks her uncle Chu Sieon (Kwon Haehyo) to step in and direct a short play for the skit festival put on by her department. Her uncle is an actor-director, recently blac.