The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) is keeping Hur Jin-ho‘s “The Assassin(s)” as its opening film, a day after all 109 lawmakers of South Korea’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) asked the festival to pull it.
The festival made no mention of the PPP in a statement issued Wednesday, saying only that it was aware of the debate surrounding the film.
“The film was selected through SGIFF’s independent curatorial process for its artistic merit and contribution to contemporary Asian cinema,” the festival said.
SGIFF noted that the filmmakers have called the film an imagined story that mixes real events with invented characters, and that they have denied any intention to settle history, misrepresent facts or push a political agenda. The festival said it would screen the title on those terms. It also cited Korean Film Council data showing the film has passed roughly 2.5 million admissions at home and posted seat occupancy of around 47% over the Chuseok holiday.
“The Assassin(s),” which world premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was second runner-up for the festival’s international People’s Choice award, will open SGIFF on Oct. 21. Hur is due to attend with cast members Shim Eun-kyung and Park Sung-hoon.
The PPP letter, sent Tuesday under the name of floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik and addressed to SGIFF executive director Jeremy Chua, expressed deep regret over the selection and urged the festival to reverse it immediately. It argued that by leaving room to read then-President Park Chung-hee as linked to the killing of his wife, the film distorts history “in a manner that runs deeply counter to public sentiment in the Republic of Korea.”
The letter cited a survey of 1,017 adults in which 58.2% called the film a distortion of history and 27.6% considered it a matter of creative freedom. It also pointed to objections from Park Ji-man, chairman of EG Group and the son of Park and Yuk, and to demands from foundations tied to the couple for an apology and an end to screenings. Jeong wrote that the party respects artistic freedom and festival independence, but argued that presenting the film with the weight of an opening gala to overseas audiences unfamiliar with modern Korean history could carry the damage seen in Korea to the rest of the world.
The row has already reshaped the film’s festival run at home. On Oct. 1, the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) called off “Actors House: Lee Min-ho,” a career conversation with the film’s star, citing unavoidable circumstances. A day later, distributor Hive Media Corp. withdrew the cast and crew from all BIFF appearances, including the opening ceremony and an outdoor stage greeting, on safety grounds. That day, a conservative group also said it would picket actor Yoo Hae-jin’s home every day until the end of the month.
The Producers Guild of Korea (PGK) and the Cinematographers Guild of Korea (CGK) issued separate statements that evening. The PGK said the dispute had gone past criticism of the film and now amounted to threats against everyone who worked on it, from the producers and director to the cast and crew.
“Exposing the personal details and family relationships of individuals who participated in a project, or exerting pressure on their normal activities, goes far beyond legitimate criticism and can never be justified,” the PGK said.
“The Assassin(s)” opened in Korea on Sept. 23. Yoo stars as a police inspector who witnesses the Aug. 15, 1974 shooting at the National Theater, where Yuk Young-soo, the wife of Park Chung-hee, was killed during Liberation Day celebrations, and goes on to lead the investigation. Park Hae-il plays the head of a newspaper’s social affairs desk, and Lee Min-ho a rookie reporter. The official inquiry blamed Mun Se-gwang alone, saying he acted on instructions from Pyongyang and Chongryon, the pro-North Korean residents’ association in Japan. Hur’s film declines to name a culprit, and its detractors argue the open ending points to Park or his government.
Lee Jong-bae, a former PPP Seoul city councilor, has asked Seoul police to investigate Hur, Hive Media Corp. CEO Kim Won-kuk and writers Kwon Ki-jun and Lee Ji-min for defamation. PPP lawmakers also tried to summon Hur to testify at the annual parliamentary audit, a move the Democratic Party blocked on creative freedom grounds.
In a Sept. 28 statement, the producers said: “Nowhere in the film is any specific individual defined as being behind the incident, and the film’s hypotheses and dramatic settings are not presented as historical fact.”
The Directors Guild of Korea (DGK) has also come to the defense of the filmmakers, arguing that the backlash has spilled over from the film to the lives and livelihoods of the people who made it.
“Cinema must carry on as a place where different ideas and voices meet, even when it stirs up debate,” the DGK said. “If that freedom disappears, it becomes hard for new films and new stories to be born.”
