A film directed by Korea’s art house favorite Jeon Soo-il has been invited to the upcoming Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, according to the film’s local production house.

The film, titled “El Condor Pasa,” tells the story of a Catholic priest (played by Cho Jae-hyun) who gets involved with a rape and murder case of a teen who used to attend his church. 

The priest, whose last name is Park, feels extremely bad for the young victim and gradually forms a special bond with her grieving older sister, Soo-hyun. The movie reaches its climax as the two learn who the murderer is.

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. It has risen recently to become one of Europe’s most prestigious film events. First founded in 1946, it is also one of the oldest film festivals in the world.

This isn’t Jeon’s first time being invited to the festival. His 2008 movie, “Himalaya, Where the Wind Dwells,” was included in the festival’s competition lineup in 2009.

A graduate of Kyungsung University’s film and theater program in Busan, Jeon is said to have spent his teenage years in a seminary. He earned his master’s and Ph.D. in film science at Paris Diderot University in Paris, France. He started making films in the ’90s, and has been creating cutting-edge works that dig deep into the human condition.

Jeon won a number of awards from international film festivals over the years. His 2007 drama “With a Girl of Black Soil,” a tale of a little girl living with her ill father and a brother with an intellectual disability in a remote mining town, won the Best Film Award at the Deauville Asian Film Festival in 2008.

His 1999 film “The Bird Who Stops in the Air,” a tale of a disillusioned film professor who is in search of meaning in his life, won the Grand Prix award at the Fribourg International Film Festival in 2000 and the Netpac Award at the Busan International Film Festival in 1999. The film is also one of the significant early film works of actor Sol Kyung-gu.

“El Condor Pasa” is Jeon’s ninth film.

This year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival runs from June 28 to July 6. For more information about the upcoming edition, visit www.kviff.com.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)