The Korean film “The Handmaiden” bagged the best foreign film at the 2018 British Academy Film Awards or BAFTAs and its director wants to party when he comes back to his home country.
he cast of 'The Handmaiden' (Korean Film Council)
“The Handmaiden” won the award over “Elle” by Paul Verhoeven, ““First They Killed My Father” by Angelina Jolie, “Loveless” by Andrey Zvyagintsev and “The Salesman” by Asghar Farhadi. It's the first time a Korean film won at the BAFTAs.
However, director Park Chan Wook was not able to attend the ceremony held on Feb. 18 (Feb. 19 in Manila) at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He is currently directing the six-part mini-series “The Little Drummer Girl” produced by The Ink Factory, BBC One and AMC.
“I can feel the weight of this award, especially since I’m working with English people in London,” Park Chan Wook said, according to the Korean JoongAng Daily. “After nicely wrapping this series, I hope to party with ‘The Handmaiden’ staff and actors over naengmyeon (cold noodles).”
“The Handmaiden” was released in Korea in 2016 and stars Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo and Cho Jin-woong. In Korea, it sold 4.28 million tickets and grossed $32.95 million, according to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).
It was screened at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Vulcan Award. It also won the best foreign language film awarded by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, New York Film Critics Online and San Francisco Film Critics Circle.
The movie won Park Chan Wook the grand prize or daesang at the Baeksang Arts Awards. At the Asian Film Awards, Moon So-ri won best supporting actress while Kim Tae-ri won best newcomer.