Director Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie thriller “Peninsula” has been invited to the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia in Spain.

According to the 2020 lineup announcement released by the festival organizers Tuesday, the film will compete at the 53rd edition of the festival slated to take place Oct. 8-18.

Sitges is considered one of the top three fantasy genre film festival in the world, along with Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival of Belgium and Oporto International Film Festival of Portugal.

In 2016, Yeon won the awards for best director and best special effects at Sitges with “Train to Busan,” the prequel to the recently released “Peninsula.” Also an active animation director, Yeon’s 2013 animation “The Fake” received the best animation award at the Spanish festival, and in 2016, “Seoul Station” -- a prequel to “Train to Busan” -- was nominated for the official fantastic competition.

While the film festival usually takes place annually in October at the coastal town of Sitges, Spain, it remains unclear whether the event will proceed as scheduled as the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to force film festivals to cancel or change plans. The 73rd Cannes Film Festival for which “Peninsula” made the official selection list scrapped its mid-May event due to the virus situation.

Meanwhile, the film hit theaters in Korea on Wednesday and anticipates releases in over 180 countries.



By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)