Hopes are mounting in South Korea that a buoyant local movie industry will mark its coming of age at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
South Korea is among four countries with two or more movies in contention for the prestigious grand prize, the Palme D'Or, joining hosts France, the US and Japan.
A string of domestic blockbusters have stirred interest in an industry packed with talented directors and actors, for whom Cannes is the ultimate international movie mecca.
It also reflects the burgeoning film industry in Asia as a whole, which has a whopping six of the 18 movies running for the Palme at the festival, which runs this year from May 12 to 23.
The South Korean movies in contention -- Old Boy, a thriller, and Woman is the Future of Man, a drama -- mark a departure from past South Korean movies that have appeared in festivals.
Most of the South Korean films that earned international recognition in the past used the country's natural beauty as a backdrop and emphasized specifically Korean, traditional subject matter.
But the recent crop deal with the universal themes of love, betrayal and revenge, and take a hard look at the more sordid corners of life.
In February this year, South Korean director Kim Ki-duk received the best director prize at the Berlin Film Festival with Samaria, a film that dealt with under-age prostitution.
In 2002, Oasis, directed by the incumbent Culture Minister Lee Chang-dong, received the best director award at the Venice Film Festival.
And Korean directors have previously tasted success at the French festival, where Im Kwon-taek won best director award for Chihwaseon in 2002, a year after his film Chunhyang was invited to compete for the Palme d'Or.
The selection of two new South Korean films for Cannes confirms a trend and underlines a progression, according to experts.
"This is another event that proves the deepening maturity of Korean movies," said Jie Myung-hyok of the cinema department of Kookmin University.
South Korea's film industry is riding on a wave of box-office success here.
This year Silmido, a feature film about a group of South Korean commandos training for a mission to North Korea in the early 1970s, attracted more than 10 million viewers in a country with a 43 million population.
Another blockbuster, Taegeukgi, a movie about two brothers who were sucked into the Korean War of 1950 to 1953, is set to outdo Silmido at the box office.
The Cannes contenders are quirkier looks at the fringes of life.
Old Boy, directed by Park Chan-wook, is based on a Japanese comic book character who is held for 15 years in a basement by unknown abductors. He emerges looking for answers and revenge.
In Woman is the Future of Man, two friends seek out the woman they shared a passion for in the past, finding her working as a bar hostess.
The film is directed by Hong Sang-soo, known among foreign critics for The Power of Kangwon Province and Oh! Soo-jung.
"It's a good thing [to be in contention at Cannes] but I don't expect to receive any reward," said Hong Sang-soo.
"I want viewers to see my movies without any preconceived images of my work."
RSS