Korean thriller “Time to Hunt” has been included in the Berlin International Film Festival’s screening lineup for this year, according to an announcement Tuesday.

Marking its 70th anniversary this year, the event is considered one of the top three film festivals in the world, along with the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival.

The movie is the first Korean work to be shown in the Berlinale’s special gala section, which spotlights films of current topics and creative formats. The special screening aims to give the audience a chance to experience popular international films and to provide a venue for in-depth discussion on the diversity of the cinema industry.

“Time to Hunt,” directed by Yoon Sung-hyun of the highly acclaimed “Bleak Night,” won awards at film festivals at home and abroad in 2011.

The story takes viewers to a dystopian future where the whole country is suffering from grave poverty following a catastrophic financial crisis. While the prospects are especially bad for young people, four men commit crimes in order to survive in dangerous slums.

The film’s cast includes Choi Woo-sik who, along with fellow cast members of “Parasite,” won the best ensemble prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Monday. Other stars in “Time to Hunt” include well-known actor Lee Je-hoon and rising-star Park Jung-min.

Carlo Chatrian, the artistic director of the Berlinale, praised the movie as a “gripping, timely thriller that always keeps viewers on edge of their seats,” according to the movie’s distributor Little Big Pictures.

Other special screenings at this year’s Berlinale include “High Ground,” directed by Stephen Maxwell Johnson, documentary films “The American Sector” and “Golda Maria,” and “Numbers” from Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov.


The 70th Berlin International Film Festival will be held from Feb. 20 to March 1.

By Choi Ji-won  (jwc@heraldcorp.com)