A still from the film "Lost Paradise" [CJ ENM]
A still from the film "Lost Paradise" [CJ ENM]

Director Yeon Sang-ho's upcoming film "Lost Paradise" has been invited to the Toronto International Film Festival ahead of its October theatrical opening.

According to distributor CJ ENM, "Lost Paradise" will screen in the Special Presentations section of the 51st Toronto International Film Festival, which opens in September.

Yeon attended the festival last year with his film "Face." Earlier this year, his film "Colony" received an official invitation to the Midnight Screening section of the 79th Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere.

CJ ENM said the Toronto selection means Yeon has set a notable record — placing two commercial films at the world's two leading international film festivals in the same year, one in each half.

"Lost Paradise" is a psychological thriller that begins when Ryu Seon-u — the son of Ryu So-young, a mother who lost her child in a camping school bus disappearance nine years earlier — miraculously returns alive.

Kim Hyun-ju plays Ryu So-young, reuniting with Yeon after the "Hellbound" series, "Jung_E" and "Seonsan." Bae Hyeon-seong takes on the role of son Ryu Seon-u in his first lead film role.

In a trailer released alongside the Toronto announcement, Yeon said the film is the darkest work he has made. "While making 'The King of Pigs,' 'The Fake' and 'Face,' I have been thinking about the dark side of human nature," he said. "This film is the darkest story I have ever told — it is about a mother's desperate struggle as she falls into a dark abyss, caught between a child brought back to life through AI and her real son who returns nine years later."

"Lost Paradise" opens in theaters in October.


balme@heraldcorp.com