Hong Sang-soo's (Turning Gate, MIFF 2003) latest film arrives direct from its slot in Official Competition at Cannes. Taking its title from a work by French poet Louis Aragon, Woman is the Future of Man is an elegiac snapshot at the friendship of three young people'à la Jules et Jim'forging a path in contemporary urban Seoul.

It's winter and the first snow has fallen in the South Korean capital. Mun-ho, a young plastic-arts university lecturer, meets up with his old friend Hun-joon, a penniless filmmaker recently returned from the USA. Over a meal at a Chinese restaurant they saunter down a memory trail, chatting about old times. When the conversation turns to Seon-hwa, a painter they both knew when they were students, the two men decide to track her down. Hearing that she is running a bar, they set off in search of her'

'The fifth film by Hong Sang-soo seems his most playful, and very close at times to the classic Tales of French auteur Eric Rhomer' [it's] an elegant jeu, played and constructed with an almost Gallic lightness heightened by Jeong Yong-jin's burts of music, all bouncy piano and pizzicato.' -Variety

Please note: contains scenes that may offend some viewers

D/S Hong Sang-soo P Hanna Lee WS MK2 L Korean w/English subtitles TD 35mm/Col/2004/87mins

Hong Sang-soo was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1960. Films include: The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (MIFF 1997), Virgin Stripped Bare of Her Bachelors (MIFF 2001).