Hong Sang-soo
Hong Sang-soo is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Hong creates slow-paced films about love affairs and everyday dilemmas in contemporary South Korea.
Early life
Hong's parents owned the film production company Cinetel Soul. Hong took the entrance exam and entered the theater department at Chung-Ang University. He then studied in the United States, where he received his bachelor's degree from the California College of Arts and Crafts and his master's at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.Career
Hong made his directorial debut in 1996 with The Day a Pig Fell into the Well. Woman is the Future of Man was his first film to screen in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Hong's films have also screened in the main competition of the Berlin International Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, and the Locarno Film Festival. They are also regularly screened in non-competitive festivals, such as the New York Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival.Hong received the Prix Un Certain Regard at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival for Hahaha. In 2013, he won the Silver Leopard Award for Best Director for Our Sunhi, and, in 2015, the Golden Leopard for Right Now, Wrong Then, both at the Locarno Film Festival. Most recently, his 2020 film The Woman Who Ran won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, Introduction won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay, The Novelist's Film won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival, and A Traveler's Needs won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival.
In June 2018, Hong was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In April 2025, Hong was announced as a member of the jury for Main Competition section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
Film style
Hong's films often treat themes of domestic realism, with many of the scenes set on residential streets, cafes, hotels, schools, and in the stairwells of apartment buildings. Characters in the film are seen walking around the city, drinking soju, and having sex. The main characters are often movie directors or actors, and scenes typically consist of a single shot, often beginning and ending with a camera zoom. The budgets for his movies average about $100,000.Hong is often spontaneous when shooting, delivering the day's scene on the morning of the shoot and changing the story on set. He rarely prepares scripts in advance. Hong instead begins with a basic guideline and writes his scenes on the morning of the filming day, making changes throughout the day. He starts the filming day at 4 a.m. when he begins to write the dialogue for that day's shoot. Hong also develops close relationships with the actors over alcohol and cigarettes and sometimes shoots scenes while the actors are intoxicated.
Hong's style has been compared to Eric Rohmer's, with some arguing that some of his films deliberately allude to Rohmer's.
Personal life
In 1985, Hong married his wife and they had one daughter together.In 2016, Hong was reported to be having an extramarital affair with actress Kim Min-hee, who had appeared in his 2015 film Right Now, Wrong Then. Hong admitted to the affair in March 2017, at the Seoul premiere of On the Beach at Night Alone. It was also reported that after he told his wife and daughter about his relationship with Kim, that he left their home in September of that year, although some sources reported that the couple had lived separately for years, prior to the relationship with Kim. He filed for divorce from his wife in December 2016, but the court rejected his request in June 2019, insisting that only the injured party, Hong's wife, could initiate a legal separation.
On January 14, 2025, after Hong was seen accompanying Kim to an obstetrics clinic, it was reported by news outlets that Hong and Kim were expecting their first child. Kim later gave birth to a son on April 8, 2025.