Once again, Rialto's own youth editorial team LA RIOT will be on hand during WCA on Wednesday, August 24. This time with a program around the South Korean Next Sohee by July Jung, a gripping crime drama about a large internet provider. LA RIOT editorial board member Wayne de Boer will introduce the film and do a Q&A with July Jung afterwards.
Next Sohee
In 2014, Korean director July Jung was a guest at WCA to present her now award-winning debut feature A Girl at My Door to the audience. The story revolved around a police officer, played by South Korean actress Doona Bae, who has to deal with an assault case. Jung's second feature, Next Sohee, again focuses on a female detective, also played by Doona Bae. The film had its world premiere at the last Cannes Film Festival, where it received a seven-minute standing ovation.
When high school student Sohee gets a job at a large Internet provider's call centre one of her dreams seems to come true. However, the dream soon turns into a nightmare; she is facing an extremely heavy workload, while only earning a fraction of the normal salary. Sohee cannot handle the stress and she takes her own life. In her determination to get to the bottom of Sohee's death, detective Oh Yu-jin (Doona) makes some staggering discoveries.
JULY JUNG (1980, South Korea) studied visual media arts at Sungkyunkwan University and completed a graduate programme at the Korea National University of Arts. After a decade spent making shorts her first feature, A Girl at My Door, was invited to Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and played at WCA in 2014. Next Sohee closed the 2022 Cannes Film Festival International Critics' Week.
